UE members at Graham Packaging have been hard-hit by the economic downturn, with two-thirds of them laid off, some since September. Yet when the company came after them in negotiations with a determined attack on their pension, healthcare, and their civil liberties, Graham workers responded with a high level of unity and militancy, and turned the tide of battle.
Graham came to the bargaining table with a concessionary agenda that it never dropped until the bitter end. It intended to freeze the pension, force members to pay part of their insurance premiums, and impose two tiers of employee heathcare cost shifting. Under the company’s proposal, new hires would be forced to pay a percentage of the health insurance premium that would be unilaterally determined by the company, and which the company could unilaterally increase every year. The company also insisted on a draconian corporate drug policy which would allow it to randomly search workers’ bodies, possessions and cars, without cause.
Although the company complained about its rising pension costs, it never actually pled poverty or claimed that it was being forced to dump the pension by either the Pension Protection Act or FASB accounting rules. Instead, the words of company negotiators made it clear that the company had chosen to stop providing a pension to its workers: “We no longer wish to be in the pension business.”
The company also complained about its rising insurance costs, but the UE bargaining committee would have none of it. UE negotiators blasted the company for not supporting single-payer national healthcare, presented the UE worksheet with the calculation of how much money Graham would save if single payer were enacted. As long as you continue supporting the current healthcare system designed to maximize insurance company profits, the company was told, don’t come crying to us – and don’t expect us to pay the costs of the dysfunctional corporate healthcare system. Members wore UE’s “Hand Off Our Healthcare” stickers and buttons, and circulated and discussed UE educational materials about the real causes of the healthcare crisis and the need for single payer.
MEMBERS MOBILIZE
A sizable majority of the members actively participated in the campaign to win a fair contract – including many laid-off workers. A contract support committee was led by two laid off members and one working member. The support committee organized shift meetings and an ongoing phone tree that provided bargaining updates. Other contract actions included laid-off workers attending monthly safety meetings, workers wearing stickers in the plant, and decorating the parking lot with posters on their cars.
Each year when Graham and UE Local 1421 negotiate, management refuses to hold bargaining session at or near the shop, in order to avoid contact with or involvement by the rank and file. But large numbers of workers attended the bargaining sessions anyway, and then maintained a vigil at the hotel – forcing company negotiators to walk past groups of union members every time they entered or left bargaining sessions.
“Even though work at Graham is very slow, our members really stepped up and did what had to be done, including the laid-off members,” says Brian Barrington, financial secretary of Local 1421 and chief steward at Graham.
UE Local 1421 is an amalgamated local covering three shops. Local president Bryan Martindale, a Stepan worker, attended the first session as part of the union bargaining committee. Members from Stepan attended Graham bargaining sessions in their Stepan uniforms, and wore stickers and buttons at work showing their solidarity with the fellow UE members at Graham. They signed support petitions and made posters which they brought to Graham negotiations.
STRUGGLE BRINGS SUCCESS
Reaching an agreement took more than twice as many bargaining sessions as usual, and required one extension of the agreement past the expiration date to reach agreement.
But the intensity of worker action brought success at the bargaining table. The union defeated most of the company’s concession demands and achieved a contract that workers can be proud of. “It ended a lot differently than it started,” says Brian Barrington.
The new contract is a three-year agreement with 2 percent raises each year. The union was able to retain the pension without changes, which will provide the opportunity for less senior members to become vested in the plan.
The union maintained the members’ choice of medical plans (two PPOs and one HMO are offered) and dental plans. Employees will for the first time have to make contributions to health insurance premiums, but the contributions are modest and were set in fixed dollar amounts, rather than percentages of the total premium. Members also defeated the company’s push for two-tier health insurance.
Because employment at Graham is now below 50 workers, members are no longer covered by the federal WARN act and a similar California law. But the union negotiated plant closing language that is stronger than these laws. It includes the same notice and pay requirements as the law, but also provides that the company will continue to provide healthcare coverage up to the end of the sixth month after layoff.
The union negotiated a substance abuse policy with significant protections for members. This policy does not allow the company to conduct any of the searches it had sought. In a side agreement, the company agrees to negotiate a maintenance training program and progression schedule to higher pay.
The contract was ratified at a March 9 shop meeting well-attended by both laid off and working members.
The UE negotiating committee included Brian Barrington, who served as chief spokesperson; Mario Ceja; Terrie Clark-White; Jim Lawlor; and Mike Rivera. They were assisted by UE International Rep. Leanna Noble. The committee expressed its appreciation to the UE Research Department for the initial research packet on Graham, and additional pension research that provided ammunition for the fightback. Materials on healthcare from UE’s Education and Publicity departments were also put to good use by the membership.