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| UE Local 777 Negotiating Committee at work, backed up by an enthusiastic Contract Support Committee and an active membership. Pictured, from left: Ken Liff, Tom Hinkle, Local 777 President Rick Stoltz, Don Wolfe and Chief Steward Alice Dille. Not pictured: Bruce Wood. | ||
Management at Ralston Foods knew things were going to be different when workers voted to affiliate their independent union with UE early this year. Whether the bosses and company lawyers were prepared for balloons to be delivered during a negotiating session or for practice picketing (holding sticks, but no signs), is not clear. What is clear is that the members of new UE Local 777 voted by a 72 percent margin (138-53) July 7 to ratify their first UE contract, which provides for important improvements in a number of areas.
Wages will go up in each year of the three-year agreement by 3.75 percent, 3.25 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively. A major victory was the elimination of “grade 1 pay,” under which the company had discriminated against workers in one department, denying them the raises other workers received. UE Local 777 got rid of this injustice.
The rank-and-file bargaining committee won a reduction in mandatory overtime, as well as improvements in how overtime is allocated. Workers will now be guaranteed a break of at least 12 hours between shifts, ending back-to-back shift scheduling. No one can be forced to work 72 hours a week, and no worker can be forced to work more than 60 hours in any week unless all employees have already worked 60 hours – which is highly unlikely. The new contract also improves overtime pay provisions to better insure that second and third shift workers get premium pay for overtime hours worked at the end of the week,
The new agreement also provides better protection against subcontracting and limits where the company can use temporary workers. “Qualified jobs” will now be off-limits to temporary workers. The union also managed to whittle down what had previously been an overly-broad management rights clause.
Discipline and discharge language was both clarified and improved. Until now, discipline in the plant had been very severe – a worker could receive a final written warning for his or her first production error, and be fired for the second incident. Now, for the first time, “major infractions” have been clearly identified. All of the steps outlined in the company’s “progressive discipline” policy must now be followed for “minor” infractions. Of course, workers can use their UE grievance procedure if they’re faced with disciplinary actions by the company that they think are unfair.
The probationary period was shortened from six months to three months. The new contract further limits how much vacation time the company can force a worker to take while on FMLA leave. Previously a worker could be forced to use up all but 40 hours of vacation; the new limit is 80. It’s the worker’s discretion whether or not to use those 80 vacation hours while on FMLA leave. Seniority language was strengthened so that senior workers could not end up with a short work week while less senior workers continued to work.
Vacation time for long-term employees was also improved. The yearly allowances for safety glasses and safety shoes were each increased to $140. On a tough bargaining topic, workers’ share of health care costs will rise slightly, from 21 to 22 percent of the premium in the second year of the contract.
MEMBERSHIP SUPPORT KEY
The elected UE negotiating committee was backed up by an enthusiastic contract support committee, which spearheaded an effort to reinstate a worker who had been fired in December. A petition to restore his job, signed by every bargaining unit member, was presented to management – backed with calls to Ralston’s 1-800 “open door policy” phone number.
An earlier “1-800 corporate number call-in” event spurred movement at the bargaining table shortly after negotiations began in April. From there, the membership support was consistent and solid. On one day, a sea of green balloons floated above workers’ cars in the parking lot (“show us the green”). Bosses were reportedly a bit unnerved as workers “practiced picketing” (holding sticks with no signs) and held informational pickets (with signs). Workers taped bargaining updates to their lockers, signed a giant support poster at lunch and and held “parking lot gatherings” regularly after work.
And then there was the balloon delivery. Negotiations paused as three sets of balloons with the messages: “We” - “Support” - “The Negotiating Committee” were delivered by a local flower store and sent to the bargaining table.
The negotiating committee was Local 777 President Rick Stoltz, Chief Steward Alice Dille, Ken Liff, Tom Hinkle, Don Wolfe and Bruce Wood. The contract support committee was Kathy Byers, Jake Stewart, Ernie Willison, Bob Gordon, Averil Goode, Rock Samson, Jim Proctor, Barb Lanning, Dan Wastenbarger, Dennis Cooperrider, Donna Colvin and all of the department stewards. They were assisted by UE Eastern Region President Andew Dinkelaker and UE International Representatives Dennis Painter and Deb Gornall.