Stepan Workers Beat Two Tier, Negotiate Raises, Other Gains

December 13, 2013

Local 1421 members at Stepan have a new three-year contract with 2.5 percent raises each year. The contract was settled in just two bargaining sessions.

“We really didn’t give anything back,” says Local 1421 President Bryan Martindale. “We made one concession in order to fight off a greater evil.” The company tried to impose a two-tier wage system, calling the lower tier a “training wage.” “They wanted to hire people at $6 less per hour. We beat them on that.”

The company said workers starting at $6 below rate would get $1.50 each year in addition to the general wage increases, and claimed that meant they’d catch up in four years. “I don’t know how stupid they think we are, but if someone is making $6 less, and there’s a 2 ½ percent wage increase, that person gets less of a wage increase,” said Martindale. “I did the calculation, and over a four-year period it could be 50 to 75 cents less, and they’d catch up.”

“The committee did a great job and Fernando did a great job,” said Martindale. The company managed to get the Teamsters at a Stepan plant in Illinois to agree to the “training wage” proposal, “and they tried to shove it down our throats, too.” 

We had a two session negotiations this year with the company.  The negotiations went fairly well.  We reached TA’s in a lot of changes and articles fairly quickly.  The Bargaining Committee did fairly well in pushing the company in language and economic proposals.

The local has one member in the position of warehouse, who handles shipping and receiving, at an hourly pay rate of $30. The company wanted to hire new people in that position at $15. “There’s never going to be more than one warehouser, and the guy in there is going to be on the jobs for probably 10 more years,”said Martindale. To get the “training wage” off the table, and after the company increased the proposed warehouser wage to $20, the union reluctantly accepted the company’s proposal. The $20 rate will increase with the negotiated general wage increases, and by the time the position opens up the union may be able to increase the rate further.

The union also negotiated increases in the meal allowance and short term disability benefits.  The grievance procedure was improved to require management to contact the union to set the time for a meeting within 10 days of the union advancing the grievance to second step. The shop did a sticker action before negotiations started and was ready to engage in more shop floor actions if needed, and the vast majority of members ratified the contract.

The bargaining committee consisted of Bryan Martindale, Rogelio Luna, and Cesar Perez. They were assisted by Field Organizer Fernando Ramirez.

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