CCI ILEC 2017 Bargaining: Report 7

The Union Bargaining Committee and the Company met Thursday and again today. The talks on Thursday went late into the night and resumed again this morning. After many meetings beginning August 22, the Company and Union have come to a tentative agreement on a new contract. Complete details will be made available at the explanation/contract ratification vote being held on Wednesday, September 27, 2017 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Gibsonia at 6:30PM. Please be sure to make every effort to attend this important meeting so you can get a firsthand explanation of the changes to your CBA and exercise your right to vote to ratify the contract. Your Officers and Reps will be providing additional information as soon as it becomes available.

This was not an easy round of bargaining and the company looked for concessions and givebacks in many areas. The changes to the CBA include the following:

• Healthcare Improvements Including Less Out of Pocket Expense
• Yearly Wage Increases
• Improved Contractor Notification
• Clarifications to Lay-Off Language
• Improvements to the Telephone Allowance Discount Plan
• Cleaned Up Apparel Allowance Language
• Inclusion of an Index to the MOUs
• Improved Union Bulletin Board Language
• Baseline Physical Testing for New Hires
• Improvements to the Group Life Insurance Plan
• Changes to the Group Long Term Disability Plan
• Streamlined ILEC Job Posting and Application Procedure
• Introduction of the Ability to Use Construction Techs for Some I&R Functions

The Committee also fought the company every day on proposals that were eventually withdrawn. Included were proposals that would have lowered vacation allowances, given the company the right to send employees to physical exams any time it wanted, and forced us to get permission to post information on the Union bulletin boards.