United States Infrastructure Corporation
2009 Bargaining Update – Report # 2
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
The Union and the Company met on October 13, 14, 15, 16 and 20, 2009 in Bridgeville, PA to continue the process of negotiations. We spent most of the time reviewing the company's proposals.
The following proposals were presented by the Company:
Elimination of holiday, vacation, personal time and excused paid time for computing overtime.
Elimination of overtime after 8 hours.
To get rid of every past practice if it is not included in the contract.
The Company wants a neutral arbitrator to resolve disputes based on a very narrow scope and with almost no authority to make a judgment call, which would basically render a decision in the Company's favor most of the time. In addition they want the Union to pay for the total cost of the arbitration if we should lose.
Requiring employees to secure laptops, cell phones and electronic locating equipment in their homes instead of in the trucks and not to be compensated for the time to load and unload this equipment.
They will allow you off with pay to attend up to 10 days of jury duty.
Ability to layoff a more senior locator if they are not meeting or exceeding USIC standards with respect to job performance, safety, and attendance. The Company was not able to tell us the standards and said they would just compare employees to each other and the lowest performer could be dismissed even though they were meeting the standards.
The Company has presented it's economic proposal which consists of:
o A wage freeze for all employees on the payroll from November 1, 2009 through October 31, 2010.
o For November 1, 2010 and November 1, 2011, a merit wage increase of three percent (3%) which would be at risk based on:
Productivity: this would be based on your tickets per hour (not locates) completed in an hour. As long as you meet or exceed the number for the preceding year you will get the 1%. If you complete less tickets(as little as .01%) per hour you will get 0% of the 1% increase.
Safety: This is based on Responsible Vehicle Accidents (RVAs), Responsible Personal Injuries (RPIs) and Safety Alerts. If you get a single RVA or RPI in the year, you will get 0% of the 1% increase. The Company is still determining how the Safety alerts will affect the increase.
Quality: The Company standard is no more than 1 "at fault" damage in every 4000 locates. If you meet that standard and have NO High Profile damages you will get the 1% increase. However if don't meet the standard of 1/4000 or if you have a High Profile damage you will get 0% of the 1% increase.
The elimination of the wage scale with anniversary increases. Any employee not with the Company more than 60 months would not receive these increases.
Elimination of the Safety Bonus.
o On call will be at straight pay until you have worked in excess of 40 hours in the workweek.
o When Screening calls longer than 15 minutes must have prior supervisor approval.
o Hours worked on a holiday will not be paid at the overtime rate unless it is in excess of the 40 hours worked in the workweek.
o Offering the same health, dental, vision and supplemental life insurance benefits as other similarly situated employees with the right to change the benefits as needed. The current healthcare premium share arrangement is with the employee paying 30% and the Company pays70% of the premiums. With Supplemental Life, Dental and Vision the employee will pay the full cost of the premiums.
o In addition the Company is offering to employees voluntary life, disability and critical illness plans, an Employee Assistance program, a Legal Assistance Plan and Voluntary Home and Auto Insurance plan but retains the right to cancel or modify the programs and plans at its sole discretion.
o Full time employees are eligible after 90 days for $15,000.00 Company paid group term life insurance.
o The 401(k) plan will be offered on the same terms and conditions as applied to its other similarly situated employees. USIC currently provides and annual discretionary match of 50% of employees contributions up to 6% with a maximum match of 3%of the employees annual compensation. The employer's plan can be changed or another plan substituted at the sole discretion of the Employer.
The Union continues to seek improvements across the board including:
Annual wage increases and the continuation of the Safety bonus.
Vacation allotment for two week and three weeks received earlier.
The return of 5 vacation days or personal days used for the qualifying period for approved STD, once per year.
Increases in the STD benefit amount as follows
o Five years or less- $250.00 per week
o More than five but less than 10 years- $350.00 per week
o 10 Years but less than 15 years- $450.00 per week
o 15 Years or more- $550.00
Capping healthcare premiums at the 2008 rates for the life of the contract.
Company to pay 50% of the full cost of vision and dental coverage.
Increasing the Company contribution in the 401K plan to $0.75 for every $1.00, up to 10% of the gross salary
Three year agreement
The Union requested information from the company related to their proposals. The Union bargaining team will be meeting again on October 21, 22, 23 and 24 in an effort to reach a fair contract. The new owners of this company have every intention of taking back benefits that we have bargaining since 1996. The workers have taken smaller increases in wages in order to preserve our level of benefits and working conditions (ie. Call out, overtime after eight hours and excused time included in the buildup of overtime. We will continue to keep you informed as to status of bargaining. Stay Strong, Stand United.
Submitted by:
Unit 112 Bargaining Committee
