Pensions, Retirement and Committee Bargaining

Greetings!

After much dragging of feet, UTA has finally fulfilled their court ordered obligation to furnish contact information to Teamsters Local 222 for the purpose of communicating with you directly. We shall see if their email filters foil our communication attempts.

If this is the first communication you have received from Local 222, then we invite you to review past communications at this LINK.  Those posts (Local 222 Responds & Common Concerns) respond to the main issues raised in the UTA meetings, and related questions.  UTA Drama responds to the statements of Rebecca Smith.  It is admittedly a little dramatic, but Madam Smith is a lot dishonest (and expensive!)  Parity & Clarity offers a look at what Unions have to offer in celebration of Labor Day.  

But there are some lingering concerns regarding the URS pension and retirement.  This needs to be cleared up:

1) Protecting your retirement is a core value of Local 222;

2) These concerns are being stoked by UTA’s anti-union presentation and are not supported by facts.

First, if you are vested in the URS Pension today, you are vested in it until you retire.  I cannot stress this enough: Local 222 cannot take your public pension away from you!

Nor do we want to.  We want it preserved, and ideally we would like to add to it by providing additional retirement options.  We want all of our members to retire with the most security possible and the URS Pension is a healthy fund.

Second, Local 222 participates in the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension.  All of the horror stories being presented about failing Teamster Pensions address a different fund, in a different region.  “Consultants” presenting pension “facts” to you are talking about the Central States fund, NOT the Western Conference.  It is a false comparison, and an attempt to discredit our success in the West while misinforming you. 

Third, the contract negotiation process that we utilize is a committee bargaining strategy based off of proposal or demand meetings.  This means the proposals for your contract come from you.  They are presented in negotiations with members from your work group sitting on the Union negotiating committee.  When a contract is tentatively agreed upon by the negotiating parties, it is brought back to you, explained, discussed, and then voted on.  At Local 222 we do not force our members to accept contracts; it is your contract, it is your decision.

Another concern brought to our attention is the provision to maintain the status quo during negotiations.  This provision protects recently organized workers from unilateral changes made by the employer, usually retaliatory in nature. The key term here is unilateral.  Local 222 is in full support of maintaining annual raise schedules during the negotiation stages of our contracts.  Local 222 does not block regular annual pay raises while a group in is negotiations.  

The goal of organizing is to bring rights and protections into the work place for employees to exercise and enjoy.  Rights that would otherwise not exist; protections you do not have today.  Local 222 has fought to gain you access to these rights and would be honored to continue fighting for you.  UTA has fought this opportunity every step of the way.  Is UTA fighting to help you? 

In Solidarity, 

The Alley Cat

PS - The SL Trib is now on the scene

Parity & Clarity

In Celebration of Labor Day 2016, I offer UTA Supervisors a list of the positive reasons to join a union, since there has been some question as to the benefit of joining a union:

Better wages and benefits

Across the board, Union workers typically enjoy:  

Higher wages (27% in 2014);  

Access to employer provided health insurance (94% of Union members vs 65% of nonunion);

Insurance they can afford to use;  

The ability to choose between being sick and keeping their job.

Real Retirement options

Pensions provide monthly retirement benefits, called defined benefits, for life. Whether it is the Western Conference of Teamsters Fund, or Utah Retirement Systems, etc, pensions guarantee income for workers after their careers have ended. 

Early Retirement plans give workers a choice to retire after 30 year career while they are still healthy enough to enjoy retirement.

Early Retirement Insurance covers health insurance for the years between early retirement and Medicare coverage.

Supplemental Retirement Strategies such as 401(k)s, Social Security and other similar defined contribution plans were never designed to be the primary engine for retirement.

Retirement security is the leading concern facing aging workers.  Pensions have traditionally been the best defense against elderly poverty. 

Contractual Protections:

Contracts provide protections most workers only dream about by negotiating working conditions.

Progressive Discipline and Cardinal Infraction language defines the rules in clear and consistent terms.  

Protected Language allows workers to freely express their opinions and observations regarding important topics like safety without fear of retaliation.  

Protected Work Rules do not change when a new manager takes over a work group.  

Due Process gives everyone a chance to plead their case.  

Union contracts provide protection from retaliation and intimidation, including retaliation for union activity or exposing safety concerns.  Not all work environments suffer from abusive managers, but jobs without union contracts have absolutely no protections.  A contract provides a structure to address these concerns quickly and without extra cost to the employee.  

Union contracts ensure equality and transparency.  Pay scales are consistent across skill levels, and are transparent across the board.  Workplace discrimination is outlawed across the country, but justice is slow in the legal world.  Union contracts put everyone on the same playing level.

A union contract gives workers a voice at the work place.  It is up to those workers how they choose to use their voice, but however they express themselves, Union Workers enjoy the greatest level of protected speech in the work place.  Here at Local 222, we think that is a critical protection, after all, it is the FIRST Amendment of U.S. Constitution.

One more link:

36 Reasons to thank Unions