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| Local 718 President Jeff Niceswanger (back to camera) goes over details of the agreement with members prior to the ratification vote. |
The members of UE Local 718 - the maintenance workers at the Ralston Foods plant - have ratified a new three year agreement with wage increases of 2, 2.25 and 2.25 percent. In addition the local negotiated annual skilled trades wage adjustments of 10 cents, 10 cents and 5 cents. These added increases go to all workers on "A" rates, which includes over 90 percent of the membership. And aided by the solidarity of the production workers in UE Local 777, the maintenance workers turned back a company attack on vacations.
The company attempted to take away the sixth week of vacation, which workers earn with 30 years of service, after setting the stage by first taking it away from its salaried employees. The members of UE Local 777 - the production workers at Ralston - recognized that if the company succeeded in stealing a week of vacation from the maintenance workers, they'd face the same concession demand in future negotiations. Members of both locals mobilized to fight back, and Rick Stoltz, then president of Local 777, led his local's executive board in a march to the front office to demand that the company withdraw this proposal. Rank-and-file pressure and unity between the two locals paid off, and the company withdrew the proposal.
Ralston also tried to take away a contract provision that says holiday pay counts towards calculating 40 hours for overtime purposes. The local fought hard to get that proposal withdrawn.
In the contract settlement, health insurance premium contributions were increased by 1 percent, from 22 to 23 percent, but will remain at 23 percent for the duration of the agreement. Sickness and accident pay was increased from 35 percent of the workers' weekly wage to 50 percent. The allowance for work clothing was increased by $25, to $250 a year. The union also improved the funeral leave provision of the contract, and gained workers the option to carry over up to 40 hours vacation to use in the succeeding year.
A major issue for union members was correcting the company's abuse of maintenance days - days when no production is scheduled so that basic maintenance work can be performed. Typically, not all maintenance workers are scheduled to work a maintenance day, and in the past the company would deny some workers the right to take vacation or other benefit time off on a maintenance day while other members who would like to work the maintenance day were not permitted to. "So we negotiated a fairer system, and the company still gets the people they need to work," says Local 718 President Jeff Niceswanger.
Another member of the union bargaining committee, George Clark, says, "The maintenance days were being manipulated for whatever the company wanted, in a way that was not intended when it was first agreed to. They might say they didn't have enough work and force you off on Thursday and Friday, but then force you to work Saturday as a maintenance day." Clark says the persistence of the membership eventually pushed the company to agree to language that is more fair. Niceswanger says that Clark did more than anyone to win the change, calling him "a one-man crusade" who some days went home hoarse from arguing so forcefully on the issue.
The union also added language to correct the unfairness of some workers being scheduled for reduced hours while others must work overtime. "When we have reduced staffing, the company never seems to get it right, they always cut too much," says Jeff Niceswanger. "So the people with enough seniority to work end up living in the plant, to take care of the short staffing, and the junior people are sitting at home, denied the opportunity to work." The new language provides that, in a week when there are junior workers on reduced hours, the senior people won't work more than 40 hours, and the less senior workers, in order of seniority, will be scheduled for the available hours.
Overtime scheduling was another major issue. In the previous contract the union had won a "one-hour rule" - no one could be forced to work mandatory overtime without at least one hour notice. The company wanted to take back that protection, but the union successfully resisted. The union also gained language preventing the company from forcing overtime on a worker's scheduled day off, and improved language on equalization of offered overtime.
In a letter of understanding, the parties agree to set up a joint maintenance committee, with equal representation from the union and company, which will develop a new maintenance progression program. The local also added a letter of understanding on severance. It provides that, if the plant closes, the members will get 40 hours pay for each year or partial year of service, and company-paid health insurance for the same period as the severance pay, up to 12 weeks.
Other language changes were union proposals to make the contract reflect current practices in the maintenance department. "We managed to get quite a lot of the policies into the contract in the last negotiations," says Niceswanger. "We continued on that theme this time, and I'd day that now, 70 to 80 percent of the policies we use on a day-to-day basis are now in the contract."
Niceswanger says the support of Local 777 was critical in fighting off the attack on the sixth week of vacation. "We were prepared for that fight after that took it away from the salaried group six months earlier. We could not let that happen, and Local 777 helped us a lot. They went to managers and expressed their concern, and told them they were standing strong beside us." Niceswanger also thanks Alice Dille, a retiree from the Ralston production unit and former chief steward of Local 777, for her volunteer help during negotiations. She took notes during bargaining sessions - "Alice does a splendid job of writing down every word," says Niceswanger - and she contacted local media to get press coverage for the union during negotiations.
"We were also able to lock the insurance in at 23 percent, Niceswanger adds. "When our members vote on contract proposals before we began bargaining, the health insurance, cost and quality, was the number one issue. It's a pretty good contract. I'm happy with it."
George Clark agrees. "I was pleased with the contract, especially in the economic situation we have today." Clark, who had served on bargaining committees when Ralston workers were represented by a different union, says the local "gets a lot of help in negotiations" as part of UE. He credits International Rep. Dennis Painter for being "well-prepared and making sure that everyone on the team is well prepared." Under the old union, he says, bargaining "wasn't very productive."
Besides Niceswanger and Clark, the union bargaining committee included Chief Steward Dave Durbin, Jim Gill, and alternate Sean Stebble. They were assisted by International Rep. Dennis Painter.