Local 1421 members at Tree Island Wire (formerly Industrial Alloys) put up a strong fight during negotiations, and now have a new three-year contract that includes wage increases and other improvements. But they took a hit on their health insurance. Their plant makes building materials primarily for housing construction – an industry that has been in a severe slump for the past three years.
Workers knew the company would come after their health insurance because another union at a different Tree Island plant in Southern California had recently forced to make healthcare concessions. Local 1421 members had been paying a flat $22 a month for healthcare; the company wanted workers to pay a percentage of the premiums, amounting to $350 a month in the first year.
Members mobilized and fought back. They signed a petition to the company, which a delegation of members delivered to the human resources manager. The same petition was faxed to the corporate office. They wore stickers expressing their opposition to the company’s proposal, and on designated days they expressed their unity by wearing union shirts. Members at Local 1421’s other two shops, Stepan and Graham Packaging, signed petitions in support of the Tree Island workers, which were delivered to the company at a bargaining session by Brian Barrington, the local’s financial secretary and a Graham worker.
As a result of this fightback, the company offered a choice of two health plans; the employee’s monthly cost for the second plan is $150 less than for the first plan.
Realizing that the company was unlikely to retreat further on the healthcare issue, the union bargaining committee set out to win other improvements in the contract, and accomplished a lot.
The company wanted a two-year wage freeze. While the agreement includes no general wage increase until the third year, the local gained significant wage improvements up front. The union negotiated four different wage groups and three pay rates. There are raises of up to $1 up front for employees whose wages are below the new job rates, and 50 cent raises every six months until the emplotee reaches the job rate. These provisions mean raises for approximately 75 percent of the workforce.
Three workers who are already about the job rate will receive payments of $1,000 a year as long as they remain above the job rate. Three maintenance workers received an immediate raise of 75 cents. Two other workers not eligible for the progression raises each recieved a $1,000 signing bonus. In addition to these pay adjustments, in the third year of the contract there will be a 50 cent increase in the starting rates and job rates.
For the first time, workers in this unit will have paid sick days, three a year. They won two days paid bereavement leave for the first time. They gained a $75 annual safety shoe allowance, $10 for safety glasses, and the company will provide all employees with work uniforms. (Previously only maintenance workers received free uniforms.
Seniority language was improved so that every worker’s seniority starts on the day he or she was hired, not the date of transfer to the Pomona plant. (About half the workers previously worked in another plant owned by the same company.) The company will now be required to provide bilingual health and safety training for those workers not proficient in English. New language on cross training requires the company to develop a timely plan to train all workers who request it, and for involvement of the shop steward in this process.
Other new language clarifies what workers will be paid after job bumps and when bidding into another job. The company cannot reduce the pay of a worker on a temporary transfer.
The union bargaining committee consisted of Rudy Acuna, Vicente Zavala, and Jose Guardado, assisted by Field Organizer Fernando Ramirez.