****** CWA/CenturyLink Bargaining Report #90 ****** Bargaining Committee Report #90 July 31, 2013 As you know, last night we reached a tentative agreement for a new contract. Starting today the bargaining committee has been working hard to put together a summary of the changes. We understand that everyone is eager for details. We have to stress that this tentative agreement contains literally hundreds of moving pieces, many of which didn’t occur until these past 3 days and which can’t be reduced to a single paragraph in a report. This is important since it affects all of us. The Committee wants to make sure that when we give the Locals and their members a full report that it is complete and factually correct right out of the gate. We expect to have the report completed and to the Locals no later than the afternoon of Friday August 2nd. We prefer that the Locals and their members have access to this information before seeing it in any media outlet. In conjunction with the CWA District 7 Meeting in Minneapolis, the Bargaining Committee and Richard Rosenblatt will meet with the Locals on Wednesday August 21st at the already scheduled Qwest Bargaining Council meeting. Originally on the District Meeting agenda, this was to have been a half-day meeting. This will now be expanded to an all-day session and we will be available until folks run out of questions. We will prepare a template for the ballot and provide printed summary reports to all the Locals. We expect to have these sent to each of the Local Unions by Monday August 19th. Ballots and copies of the summary reports will need to be sent out by the Local Election Committees no later than Thursday September 5th. The results of each of the Local’s vote will need to be reported to the District Office no later than 5 PM MDT September 27, 2013. The Tentative Agreement There are gains and there are changes, as there have been with any agreement. The vast majority of the “takes” do not affect the people who currently work here or the current retirees. In terms of an overall contract and taking into account where both parties were after 11 months of talks, it is this Committee’s judgment that the gains ultimately outweigh the changes. Healthcare – Active and Pre-Medicare Occupational Retirees We knew from the beginning that active employees were going to pay more for healthcare. The question was whether that “more” was offset by the money they took home. We met that goal. By the end of 2017 legacy Qwest employees will pay less in premium share than the employees of either AT&T or Verizon or the non-represented CenturyLink employees pay today. While the PPO option remains, a new Consumer Driven Healthcare Plan (CDHP) will be provided for active members and pre-Medicare Retirees. The individual members and retirees will have a Healthcare Reimbursement Account established to offset premiums, co-pays, deductibles and other out-of-pocket expenses. Any remaining unspent monies credited to HRA’s will roll over year to year. The employer refused to continue HMOs as an option. A transition based on the circumstances of the individual HMOs will be established. Wages In terms of the monies that go directly to the employees (wage increases, lump sum payments and premium subsidies), these were calculated to allow most of our members to end up with their head above water at the end of the day and maintain our standard of living even with the impact of paying more for healthcare. Medicare-eligible Retiree Healthcare We also knew from the beginning that this employer, like every other employer, would hammer hard on the subject of Retiree healthcare, both for those who are already retired and those who will retire at some point in the future. We had to hold the line and we did. Medicare eligible retirees will move to an exchange. The CWA Retiree Chapters will be provided the training and information necessary to provide our retirees with the facts on which to make their decisions. The cap monies will be deposited in individual Healthcare Retirement Accounts under the control of the individual retiree. Any remaining unspent monies credited to HRA’s will roll-over year to year. Our expert’s review of the Plans available through the exchanges indicates that most will result in significant savings to these folks and keep their costs comfortably within the “caps”. Contracting/Return of Work There are now specific contractual limits on how much of what work the employer can contract out. We have contractual commitments that the company must maintain minimum staffing levels within specific organizations and the current circumstances within those organizations. Each is tied to the work volumes within the legacy Qwest footprint and each has a specific, enforceable data monitoring process and an expedited binding arbitration process. Term of the Agreement The agreement is retroactive to October 7, 2012 and runs through October 7, 2017. In terms of 2012 and 2013, the active members will not pay more for healthcare. If the agreement is ratified, each employee will receive a $500 ratification bonus. Again, your Committee understands that everyone is eager for details. We just want to ensure that the information is complete and factually correct right out of the gate. We expect to have that done and that information to the Locals no later than the afternoon of Friday August 2nd. The Committee believes that through the combined efforts of many, we got everything possible and certainly far more than the Company had been willing to concede for almost 11 months. The Committee wants to thank those who worked with us throughout this process. It has been a very long haul and ultimately would not have come together the way it did without the active support and participation of our Locals, our members and our staff. Additionally, there have been a number of people working with the Committee who probably aren’t known to our members but whose assistance made a significant difference: • Richard Rosenblatt, CWA District 7 Counsel • Louise Novotny, CWA Director of Research • Dan Reynolds, CWA Research Assistant (and number cruncher extraordinaire) • CWA President Cohen for the resources and support for this Committee • George Kohl, CWA Senior Director Collective Bargaining and President Cohen’s representative throughout these talks • Al Kogler, CWA District 7 Media Coordinator We also want to thank those folks from outside CWA who provided expertise and guidance: • Michelle Domash, lead Actuary and Analyst for Cheiron (the actuarial firm that was also used in support of the Verizon talks) • Karen Ward of Slevin and Hart (our Benefit and ERISA expert) • Lynea Hansen, Strategies 360 and Show Pony (our media consultants) In Unity, Your Bargaining Committee
Posted on: Thu, 01 Aug 2013 18:07:35 +0000
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