UE Local 255 members negotiated wage gains, and retained their current healthcare, in the annual wage and healthcare reopener of their contract with the Hunger Mountain Food Co-op.
The local’s contract is a three-year agreement, but provides for annual negotiations over wages and health insurance. The employer came into this year’s talks offering a 6 cent raise. “We analyzed their financials and according to what we found, we said, ‘How about 60?’” recalls Local President Jonah Neale. “Eventually we got to keep our healthcare, pretty much status quo, and got a 40 cent raise. So that worked out pretty good, I think.”
The local bargaining committee negotiated the reopener on its own, without much help from the UE staff, although Neale says they will have union staff assistance next year when they bargain the full contract. Neale gave particular credit for this year’s successful bargining to committee member Bob Heald, who, he said, is “quite brilliant when it comes to numbers.” Heald took the store’s financial statements home and worked on them “for hours and hours.”
The bargaining committee included Pres. Jonah Neale, Bob Heald, Beck Norman, Bob Messing and Robyn Pierce. Local 255 represents some 85 employees of the co-op.