Kent County 2019 Bargaining Update #2

The CWA Local 13101 Bargaining Council reports:

Your CWA Local 13101 bargaining Council met with Kent County on 11/22.

Kent County agreed on the Unions counter on ground rules for conduct during negotiations. This is normally pretty standard language for; meeting dates, places, times, payment for employees involved, extension of current CBA provisions should bargaining continue past the expiration date, no press allowed, etc.

Your CWA bargaining council passed additional proposals along with some counter proposals regarding scheduling and seniority. We then rejected all concessions demanded by Kent County.

Your bargaining council did not withdrawal any proposals previously passed to the County.

Kent County countered with rejection on many of the Union demands, but did engage on several proposals in an attempt to come to a mutual understanding and possible agreement.

This meeting was short due to previous obligations, but your bargaining council decided meeting briefly is better than not meeting at all and it was the right decision. This meeting provided the first real level of discussion and was more positive than previous meetings. There have been discussions on testing procedures, economic improvements and working conditions, treatment of new hires, education, certifications, and the list goes on…

There is a long way to go before we can say there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but we’ll keep going to get there. We said that we’ll meet around the clock to get this done if necessary, and we mean it. It’s up to the County to bring a good offer to the table.

Jesse Wallace- CWA 13101 Cheif Steward, Bargaining Council member
Ray Janson- CWA 13101 Bargaining Council member
John Petrini- CWA Staff
Mike Watson- CWA 13101 Vice President
Jim Ryan- CWA 13101 President

WORK SAFE AND STAY UNITED