UE Local 1103 members have ratified a new three-year contract with their employer, Tramont Corp. The workers, who manufacture diesel fuel tanks for industrial use, were able to overcome the company’s push for takeways and negotiate a contract with gains.
Bargaining began with the company negotiators putting a toxic menu of concessions on the table. They proposed an immediate 50 cent an hour pay cut, which workers would gradually get back until, at the end of the contract, they’d be just 10 cents ahead of where they started. They wanted to eliminate the paid lunch. They wanted workers to pay a bigger share of insurance premiums. They wanted to eliminate excused unpaid time off. The company proposed elimination of the 401(k), and to remove current contract language on “no match letters” that provides some protection for immigrant workers from government harassment.
Members were angry when they learned of these proposals, and they let the company know it. After several weeks of bargaining, the union committee reached an agreement with the company that defeated the takeaways and made some improvements.
There will be no wage cut. Instead, there will be four raises totaling 95 cents: 10 cents immediately, 15 cents in October 2010, and 35 cents in both April 2011 and April 2012. There will also be a gain sharing plan.
The 401(k) is maintained with the company match. The percentage of health insurance premiums which workers must contribute remains unchanged. The “no match” language remains unchanged, as is the unpaid time off.
The union gained improved overtime language, including more notice of mandatory overtime, and language saying that time when workers are sent home for lack of work will count as hours worked for purposes of computing overtime pay. Contract language was also added giving each worker the right to take off each year, without penalty, any two of the following four days: Martin Luther King Day, May Day, Cinque de Mayo (May 5, Mexican Independence Day), and Juneteenth (June 19, which commemorates the abolition of slavery in the U.S.)
The UE bargaining committee consisted of President Lauro Bonilla, Vice President Ed Eichstaedt, and Chief Steward Jason Arms. They were assisted by UE Field Organizer Lynn Swiertz.