Bargaining Update Report

4/19/2023

Sisters and Brothers,

The Union has identified several items that we find to be the most important to why the Tentative Agreement did not ratify. 

1. Healthcare Cost

2. Job Security

3. Contracting

4. Wages/EAR Bonus

These items have been communicated to the company and there have been some negotiations regarding them where some movement has been made. When we ask for the members to send emails to the company it is to show them we are united and it sends a strong message that they must do better in bargaining. To think that the bargaining committee is what will make the company see that is not how mobilization works. Your committee has worked relentlessly since last July trying everything possible to improve items in the agreement. Unfortunately, most of the membership does not realize how bargaining works and what it takes to keep a table moving without getting to an impasse and the company legally forcing their last proposals upon us. Standing tough at the table is what has been and continues to be done. With 1100 members, only about a third even filled out a survey or sent their ballot back in, making leverage for the Union hard to sustain at the table. While those of you that did your duty in voting and filling out your surveys, we compile what the majority appears to want. We will continue to negotiate in good faith until we reach another Tentative Agreement. 

The Bargaining Committee

TS/cmt
opeiu#13