Windstream PA Bargaining: Tentative Agreement Reached

Through much hard work on the part of your Bargaining Team the Union and the Company have reached a tentative agreement on all 4 Contracts. This was a tough fight but we were able to fend off outrageous and drastic changes in Healthcare that the Company had proposed and we maintained our PPO Select Plan. The Company proposed to eliminate all current Healthcare Plans in order to replace them with High Deductible Plans that our members simply could not afford. We were also able to contain Healthcare costs with little to no increase in monthly premiums for 2016 while gaining a 2% pay raise in each of the 3 years of this agreement. We were also able to make improvements to our sick time by reducing the time that the time that the 1st day of absence is paid to 5 years. With improvements to vacation time by shortening the time to earn 3 weeks vacations to 5 years.

Other improvements included improvements to our grievance procedure, meal allowances, working practices and the establishment of a joint Union/Company Safety Committee. A more detailed report on these tentative agreements will be provided to the members by mail soon. Contract explanation meetings are being set up and an information package and ratification vote will be sent to each member in the coming weeks.

Take your time to look over this tentative agreement. We believe we have come to a fair contract settlement covering every member.