Your Bargaining Team met with Management for the first time on Friday, October 15, kicking off negotiations for our next contact.

At this session we sent Management our initial proposal, which primarily focused on non-economic workplace issues. Our proposal addressed issues such as discipline, promotions, telecommuting, work schedules, union activity, and much more. We prefer to resolve the easier proposals before getting into economics as wages generally dominate the table once proposed.

The Employer then responded in the afternoon by outright rejecting most of our proposals, which is generally expected in an initial Employer response. However, we have come to an agreement that work schedules will be posted 14 days before the start of the schedule, up from our current 7-day requirement. We are also pleased that the Employer hasn’t proposed any takeaways yet, but we’re cautiously optimistic because there is still time for that to change.

In the meantime, we’ve been working on a comprehensive market analysis as we prepare to make our wage proposal. Our wage proposal will be based on regional wages, however, we must also take into consideration the historic increases in daily costs we’ve been experiencing recently. Costs of everyday necessities such as gas, groceries and housing have chipped away at everyone’s paychecks and our wages need to reflect these changes. We hope to make this proposal before the end of the month.

Your Bargaining Team is scheduled to meet with Management today, October 22, then again on October 27. We are looking to schedule additional dates in November. Our contract is scheduled to expire after this month, but we will be working with the Employer to get an extension agreement in place so our contract remains as we continue negotiations.

“It’s been a great start but still a long way to go until we reach the finish line.”

-Bargaining Team: Shirley Messner, Rosandra Fedorko, Molly Werder