Collective Bargaining

Six-year deal raises wages 8.29 percent in first year

THIRTY-TWO MEMBERS employed at an Iowa lime plant ratified a six-year contract in July that will bring wages and benefits up to levels common in the cement industry.

Local D584 (Davenport, Iowa) President Ed Carstensen reported that the agreement with owner Linwood Mining and Minerals will raise wages by 8.29 percent in the first year, with subsequent annual wage increases of between 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent, totaling more than 20 percent over the life of the contract.

A BRIEF LISTING OF RECENT AGREEMENTS SIGNED AND RATIFIED BY BOILERMAKER LOCAL LODGES

Local D92 - Bellefonte, Pa.

Effective June 1, 2011 to May 31, 2014, for 147 members of Local D92 (Bellefonte, Pa.) who work in maintenance and the production of lime at Graymont Inc. located in Pleasant Gap, Pa.

Lodge makes improvements despite economy

NEGOTIATING A CONTRACT during a weak economy can be especially tough for local lodges. When L-D6 (Buffalo, Iowa) faced off last year against Lafarge — one of the largest cement makers in the world — the bargaining committee knew it had better be well prepared.

To make matters even more challenging, the cement plant had recently installed new plant management, so labor-management relations were in some ways starting over.

After three decades, program still shows results

BY THE END of the 1970s, nonunion construction and repair companies had cut a deep swath in the market share of unionized contractors. Boilermaker leaders knew something unconventional had to be done to stem the onslaught and to regain lost work. In 1980, three of those leaders — International Vice President Charles W. Jones, International Rep Connie Mobley, and Local 30 President Barry Edwards — began a construction organizing strategy that became known as Fight Back.

Contract includes increases in wages and per-diem with new language for portability and mandatory safety training

CALLING IT THE “most progressive agreement in the nation,” Intl. Vice Pres. Tom Baca praised the Western States business managers and Intl. reps for their exceptional effort in reaching a three-year pact with their signatory contractors.

EIGHT MEMBERS OF Local D465 (Oklahoma City) received training March 26 in how to organize co-workers at their plant. Employees at the facility make PVC piping for Prime Conduit. Oklahoma is one of 22 states that does not allow union security contract language. Workers in these “right-to-work” states may refuse to join the union that represents them. However, unions are much more effective in winning better wages, benefits, and working conditions when all workers belong. Taking part in the training are, l.

Local 104 members win wage, benefit improvements

MEMBERS OF BOILERMAKERS Local 104 employed at SIS Northwest, a custom steel fabricator 70 miles north of Seattle, won an impressive first contract March 27 after a 14-month-long union organizing struggle that saw an employee fired and more than a dozen others laid off because of their organizing activities.

The 26-2 ratification vote came on the heels of a ULP settlement agreement in which SIS agreed to pay more than $136,000 in back pay to 16 employees and reinstate 14 workers.

UNIONS WON MORE than two out of three representation elections (66.8 percent) in the first half of 2008, according to National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) data by the Bureau of National Affairs’ research division. That is a significant improvement over the same period in 2007, during which the win rate was only 58.5 percent.

The number of private sector elections held was exactly the same (776), but unions won 64 more elections in the first half of this year, increasing the number of workers organized by 35,960 compared to 28,441 in the first half of 2007.

Lodge struggles with legal fees, other costs

MEMBERS OF LOCAL 726 (Owensboro, Ky.) began returning to work Sept. 30, ending their eight-week strike against Daramic, a manufacturer of battery separators. Union employees agreed to work under the old contract, which expired in April, for a period of 18 months. In the meantime, negotiations for a new contract will resume.

TV ads distort purpose of legislation

ONE OF THE most important pieces of labor legislation in decades has come under attack by business special interest groups. The Employee Free Choice Act is designed to make it easier for workers to organize. But the special interest groups have put up $160 million to stop it.