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Home > About UE > Policy -> Policy Resolution

UE Convention Resolutions
Collective Bargaining

Over the last two years, the economy has gone from bad to worse. Americans suffered significant losses in real wages, as oil-fueled inflation climbed to the highest rate since the 1970s, while wages lagged behind. The financial crisis caused a much deeper blow, wiping out workers' retirement savings and plunging us into the deepest recession in a quarter century. Unemployment is now close to ten percent. Underemployment drives this figure even higher. While there are signs a recovery is beginning, a rebound of jobs is not expected any time soon. This economic crisis has put fear into the hearts of workers. Employers are eager to exploit that fear by reducing wages and benefits. With resolve and militancy, UE members have beaten back concession demands at the bargaining table and managed to make significant gains.

Seventy-five contracts have been bargained by UE members since the last convention. The average wage increase of 3.3 percent was actually higher due to various improvements, such as; to shift differentials, reclassifications, longevity pay increases, equity increases, and other upward adjustments. Inflation over the last two years was 3.5 percent. Meaning UE members got the equivalent of an extra year of real wage growth. UE wage increases were slightly higher than the annual increase for all workers, which averaged 3.1 percent over the same period.

Healthcare remained one of the most difficult bargaining issues. Workers nationwide pay roughly twice what they did for healthcare a decade ago. Employers continue to cut their costs by raising deductibles and other out-of-pocket expenses. Particularly bad are the increasing number of Health Savings Accounts. Under these plans, workers face deductibles of at least $2,300 for family coverage annually.

A clear majority of contracts resulted in some increase in member costs. Still, we have not seen as many agreements with large premium increases as we have in the recent past. This is testament to both the resolve of our membership and the skills imparted through our UE National Mobilization for Health Care and Retirement Security. In a few contracts, notably among paraprofessionals in Connecticut, members made significant headway, winning healthcare for workers formerly deemed too "unimportant" by their employer .

The retirement crisis in America has been building for decades. It has only recently received the attention of the media and politicians. Twenty-five years ago, nearly half of all workers had defined-benefit pension plans. Today one in five have them. Adding injury to insult, the Pension Protection Act (PPA) of 2006 went into effect just as the stock market began its recent crash. PPA created new rules to force employers to fully fund pensions, but no penalties to stop them from eliminating pensions. The funding rules are overly rigid and create new incentives for employers to dump or freeze pensions, sometimes replacing them with 401(k)s. The recent market crash wiped out billions in pension assets for both private and public-sector pensions. Thousands of pension plans will become underfunded overnight. Congress passed a modification to PPA allowing companies to delay reporting these huge losses. It's a one-year delay, so unless we see a miraculous recovery of the market, virtually all defined benefit plans will be "off target" next year facing huge penalties. Given such a negative trend, few private-sector defined benefit plans saw improvement. Members did save many plans which would have otherwise been frozen.

401(k) plans haven't fared much better. They are increasingly seen as a failed retirement vehicle. Before the recession, the average baby boomer had $50,000 in savings in their 401(k), less than a sixth of what is needed for a decent retirement. The downturn affected 401(k)s deeply. $1 trillion was lost in 2008. A recent study, by the Urban Institute, suggests that without a dramatic recovery of the stock market, living standards of baby boomers will be 10 percent lower when they retire. Some employers have suspended their matches due to bad economic performance. In the long run 401(k) plans are not a valid retirement vehicle, but our members have achieved hard-won improvements to 401(k) multipliers and employer contributions in many contracts.

The private sector is not alone in its assault on workers' benefits. Public sector workers are also feeling the pinch. This is particularly the case today, as state and local governments are facing down an even deeper budget crisis than in the early part of this decade. Faced with huge deficits and balanced budget requirements, state and local politicians often attempt to solve budget problems on the back of hard-working public employees. Wage cuts, furloughs, layoffs, privatization, or some combination are being forced on public workers. Such demands have fallen less frequently on UE members than the labor movement at large. Our public-sector contracts continue to outpace our private sector ones in wage growth, and we have beaten back many attempts to gut public services.

We are facing an unprecedented assault at the bargaining table. The power of the labor movement is near historic lows. The organized proportion of the workforce is only 12.4 percent. Despite this reality, UE members continue to apply militant rank-and-file principles, strategies, and tactics to improve our contracts and gain greater leverage at the bargaining table.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT THIS 71st UE CONVENTION:

  1. Calls for education and mobilization of members in preparation for the aggressive campaigns that are necessary for favorable contract settlements;
  1. Calls for broadened contract struggles, with outreach to communities and into political and financial forums, to educate the public and create additional pressure on employers;
  2. Calls for building solidarity with other unions engaged in contract fights;
  3. Calls for continued training, research, and analytical support from the national union to locals engaged in bargaining;
  4. Calls for mounting a determined struggle to achieve our collective bargaining goals, including:
On Wages, Hours and Seniority:
    • A combination of wage increases, shift premiums, and cost-of-living adjustments that significantly increases the real income of members;
    • Time and one-half pay for all hours over eight in one day and on Saturdays, and double time for all work on Sundays, seventh-days, or holidays (in addition to holiday pay);
    • Resistance to speedup, measured day work, mandatory overtime, and the scheduling of overtime when workers are laid off;
    • Opposition to two-tier systems and replacing full-time jobs with part-time work;
    • Support for equal pay for comparable work;
    • Improvements in vacation time, holidays (including cultural holidays), and sick and personal days;
    • Stronger seniority provisions on job bidding, upgrading, bumping, layoffs and recall rights;
    • Resist employer efforts to replace permanent employees with temporary employees;
On Benefits
    • Full employer-paid health insurance protection, including prescription drugs;
    • Defined benefit pensions which, when combined with social security, provide retirement income of at least 75-90 percent of worker's pre-retirement wages, early retirement with full pension and supplements, full medical coverage and life insurance for retirees and their families, and the right to bargain for retirees;
    • Increased employer contributions to defined benefit pension plans, and full investigation and monitoring of all plans;
    • Where defined benefit pension plans are not possible, defined-contribution plans which have an equivalent benefit (company contributions of at least 12 percent annually not dependent on employee match) with full investigation and monitoring of such plans;
    • Improved life, disability and other insurance protections for active and laid off workers;
    • Employer-paid leaves of absence, including absence for injury and illness, jury duty, bereavement and military service;
    • Resisting contract language which pays workers to decline health insurance, or to pay more for "enhanced" plans;
On Workers' Rights:
    • A safer, healthier workplace with real power for union safety representatives and committees;
    • Union negotiation provisions if drug testing in the workplace;
    • Contract prohibitions against covert monitoring of employee email, internet usage, and phone conversations;
    • Employer-paid ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) classes for those workers who desire them;
    • Employer support, including financial support, for workers resolving conflicts between job and family responsibilities, including dependent care and paid, job-protected leave of absence in cases of birth, adoption, or serious illness of a family member;
    • Language that protects the jobs and contract rights of all members regardless of immigration status;
On Job Security:
    • Strong protection against loss of bargaining unit work, including:
      • Contract language that all plant closings, relocation, product line movement or subcontracting decisions require early notice and that they be a mandatory subject of collective bargaining;
      • Contract restrictions on contracting out or privatization of bargaining unit work;
      • Provision for severance pay, extension of insurance benefits, retraining, education, and job placement for those losing their jobs as a result of such events;
On Strengthening the Union:
    • Strong grievance procedures with full rights for shop stewards and grievance committee members;
    • The right to strike on grievances without loss of the right to arbitrate;
    • Ironclad successors and assigns provisions;
    • Full union security;
    • Rejection of the trend toward longer contracts;
    • Expanding or winning union leave and paid time off for union business;
    • Employer neutrality in organizing and union recognition based on card check at shops of the same employer.
 
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