LifePath Bargaining Report: Tentative Agreement Reached

Late on Friday, July 22, 2011, CWA Local 13500 and LifePath reached a tentative agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement on wages and working conditions covering the period of July 1, 2011 through September 30, 2014.

The tentative agreement includes:

Wages:

All base rates will be increased to $9.00 per hour. Employees in affected programs will receive equity (the value of any increase will be added to their hourly rate) retroactive to July 1, 2011, no employee shall receive less than 2%

Employees not in an affected location will receive a 2% base wage increase retroactive to July 1, 2011

All employees shall receive a 1% base wage increase effective the first pay period after July 1, 2012

All employees shall receive a 1% base wage increase effective the first pay period after July 1, 2013

In addition LifePath will pass on any Cost of Living Allowance it receives above 1%.

Ratification Bonus:

A 3% Signing Bonus will be paid based on earnings (base wages and overtime, Holiday, PTO etc) of the last 26 pay periods prior to July 1, 2011

Administrative Transfers:

Employees administratively or involuntarily transferred for any reason shall retain their wage rate if higher, for 90 days

Health Insurance:

LifePath may implement a $150 (single)/$300 (employee plus spouse, child or family) deductible (excluding preventative care) upon next benefit enrollment or thereafter.

Spouses who have Health Insurance offered by their employer for less than $1200 per year ($100 per month) and decline the coverage shall not be eligible for coverage under LifePath’s Health Insurance

Leaving Early:

Employees who leave work early for less than one (1) hour will not be charged UPTO or lateness. The company will establish a new category to address these early quits.

Call Out for Fill in Shifts:

Once an employee has committed to a fill in shift, calling off with less than 48 hours notice would be considered a UPTO. No employee will be charged more than one UPTO occurrence when also missing a scheduled shift during the same period.

PTO:

The number of occasions of UPTO will be increased by 2 occasions.

PTO notice; for 1-2 PTO days, 3 business days notice. For 3-4 PTO days, 5 business days notice. For 5 or more PTO days, 10 business days notice.

The parties shall meet to discuss PTO selection process between now and 11/11/11.

Grievance Procedure:

The time to file grievance will be increased to 20 days

Job Titles:

Titles will be renamed to conform to PA Department of Public Welfare Titles. Job duties remain unchanged.

Letters of Agreement:

• Union Bulletin Board at High Point Boulevard, Bethlehem shall be relocated to the Administrative Office

• Employees who arrive more than 5 minutes late for training may not be permitted to attend the training. No employee shall be subject to discipline.

• Inclement Weather and the Day Program. Employees are expected to accept alternative work assignments. Employees who are not able to accept reassignment will be permitted to use 1 PTO which shall be considered scheduled “per winter”.

Your Bargaining Team unanimously recommends ratification of the agreement. Contract explanation meeting(s) will be scheduled.

Your CWA Local 13500 Bargaining Team,

Sandy Kmetyk, President

Julie Daloisio, Central Division Vice President

Michael McCalla, Eastern Division Vice President

Kevin Schaller

Terri Edelman

John Petrini, CWA District 2-13 Staff Representative