Atlantic Broadband Bargaining Update #1

The Union and the Company met on Tuesday, August 17, 2010 in Blairsville, PA to exchange initial proposals. Our next scheduled bargaining sessions are tentatively scheduled for September 2nd, 8th, 14th, 15th and 23rd, 2010.

The Company's proposal consisted of the following demands:

· Adjustments in the Grievance Process.

· Add additional offenses which are subject to termination (ex. leaving the scene of an accident or failing to report an accident and accessing or making changes to employee or family member account).

· Remove minimum and maximum pay ranges and date by which the employee awarded the job will actually begin in the job from job postings.

· Creation of a new job classification for the bilingual CCRs.

· Creation of a second tier of on-call employees with DM Technicians.

· Amend Overtime Article 15, Sec 3 (b) to just technical employees.

· Amend Article 15, Sec 3(e) to match with current practice that forced overtime will be assigned to the least senior person in the classification were the work is be performed.

· Amend the Holiday Language to match the practice for technical employees working Mon-Fri. When a holiday falls on a Saturday, it is celebrated on the prior Friday and holidays on Sunday on the following Monday. Likewise for technical employees working Tues-Sat. When a holiday falls on a Saturday, Saturday would be the observed holiday and a holiday falling on Sunday would be celebrated the following Tuesday.

· Floating Holiday request for technical would stay the same with one week notice and CCR center will continue with 24 hours in advance notice.

· Add language regarding clothing allowance for technical to allow for the purchase of footwear, gloves and other work-related items necessary.

· Change the in-charge rate from $5.00 per day to $3.00 per hour.

· Changes to the NCTI to affirm courses must be completed within the time limits allowed by NCTI.

· Add section regarding Atlantic Broadband In-House Training Courses which would allow the same wage benefit as the current NCTI courses, as an alternative to NCTI.

· The Company has not presented a wage or economic proposal as of yet.

The Union continues to seek improvements across the board and proposed the following:

· Shortened wage progression

· Annual wage increases

· Successorship Clause to allow your contract to go with you in the event Atlantic Broadband is purchased by or merges with another company.

· Union orientation for new employees

· Create a separate job classification for DM Warehouse and CCR-Front Desk and allow for separate vacation schedules for these classifications.

· When working in a higher title, your time worked is rounded to the next full hour for payment calculation purposes.

· Increased staffing in the PM Technician title.

· Promotions will be the next highest rate or a minimum of $2.00 per hour, whichever is greater.

· Amend language for hours of work to 7am – 7pm for technical to minimize the hours working in the dark from November to February.

· Allow DM Technicians and PM Technicians with more than 20 years to opt out of the second shift or Tuesday-Saturday shift.

· Allow for 3 hours fatigue time after working 10 hours.

· Increase floaters to 4 days in a year

· Increase vacation to 25 days after 15 years.

· Include Reserve Vacation Time agreement in contract.

· On the job training and safety training for new hires and promotions.

· All cable services provided to employees and retirees with more than 15 years service free of charge

· Increase death in family to seven days for immediate family

· Utilization of accrued sick time will not result in an occurrence under the Absence plan.

· Capping healthcare premiums at the 2010 rates for one year and minimizing the increases shared by employees for the rest of the contract.

· Employees opting out of the health plans can receive $100.00 per month.

· Increase the in-charge payment to $50.00 per day.

· Increase the NCTI wage increase from 25¢ per hour to 2.00 per hour.

· Increase the Company contribution in the 401K plan to $1.00 for every $1.00, up to 7% 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 prior to our next negotiating session to prepare a proper response to the Company's proposal. The bargaining committee continues to be committed to getting a fair and equitable contract but we CANNOT do it alone. We need everyone's help and commitment.

Submitted by:
Unit 31 Bargaining Committee