12 noon Day 1
Negotiations opened this morning with opening comments from both sides. We did discuss the announcement this morning about the new rocket being built in Decatur. We passed our Non-Economic proposal to the company. We are now awaiting the company to return to the table with their non-economic proposals.
Contract time is upon us once again, Brothers and Sisters.
A time for us all to come together and reflect on what worked and what didn’t over the course of the last agreement. A time for us all to come together and decide on what will best serve our brothers and sisters and their families over the course of the next agreement.
Make no mistake. Negotiating in today’s economic climate will be no easy task. It will take unshakeable resolve at the table by your negotiating committees and unwavering solidarity on the shop floor. This website has been established to help in that process; to keep our brothers and sisters engaged and informed on the shop floor.
Please be sure to check back often to get the latest news and updates surrounding these negotiations.Type your paragraph here.
Day one, 5 PM Central
The company came back and we had some discussions on our proposal. The company asked for a subcommittee to discuss training and travel. We agreed, and the subcommittee had their first meeting this afternoon without resolution, and discussions with the subcommittee will continue tomorrow.
The company said they would present their non-economic proposal tomorrow morning.
In your March Local Lodge meetings, members working for ULA across the country took their strike authorization vote. Between the three locals, the vote carried by 95%, sending a clear message to the company; that we will accept nothing less than a fair contract!
Your Negotiating Committee thanks your for your support!
Saturday Update, 04/18/2015
Your Negotiating Committee worked for 10 hours today on counter-proposals on Art. 9, 17 and 18, and hope to have something together tomorrow to pass to the company. This has been difficult, because the proposals the company made were detrimental to the members and seniority.
We’ll update you again tomorrow.
From Your Negotiating Committee:
Brothers and Sisters, This is the summary of United Launch Alliance’s Last Contract Offer to the IAM. These were very tough negotiations, as you may have seen if you followed our negotiations on our website or Facebook page. In the last two weeks, we came a very long way. You gave us direction in the surveys we distributed late last year. We did our best to follow your direction. We worked hard on your top priorities, retirement and containing medical costs. We fought very hard to keep the defined beneft pension plan for the future, but ULA was firm on freezing the plan in 2017. The problem with the company offer is that the risk is put upon the shoulders of each member, and subject to volatile markets. We did everything we could to ensure a good retirement for you. There are good things and bad things in this offer. We want everyone to study our summary, and talk with their family about it. If you have questions, please contact members of your Negotiating Committee to clarify. We want you to make an educated decision based upon the facts of the ofer. The contract offer fell short of our expectations and what we wanted to bring back to our members. Therefore, your Negotiating Committee decided unanimously that we cannot recommend this contract. The fnal decision as ALWAYS, rests with you; our membership. We are proud of our Union Democracy. We will work to ensure you understand this ofer, and we will fully support your fnal decision on May 3rd.
Daily Update, Sunday 4/19/2015:
Your Negotiating Committee worked hard over the weekend to respond to ULA’s proposals on travel, training and new technology, and we passed it to ULA Negotiators at 2 PM today. Our counter-proposal covers Articles 9, 17 and 18. Here is our counter-proposal:
http://www.ulacontract2015.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/IAM-Counter-Proposals-4-19-2015.pdf
The company’s travel proposal would allow the company to mostly ignore seniority, and cherry-pick the people to travel. Our language re-inserts seniority provisions, and allows for people to travel to get the proper certifications if they are only available onsite. We don’t believe it is in the company’s or the members’ best interest when you constantly use the same people over and over. The wider the trained and skilled base, the more productive and competitive our products and launches will be.
Your Negotiating Committee believe that a plan for the future of the company should ensure fair seniority rights as well as the best trained membership for the most highly-skilled workforce in the industry.
We hope to see the company’s first economic proposal tomorrow. Our research economist from our Strategic Resources Department at headquarters, Loren Almeroth, will arrive tonight and be at the table for the rest of the week.
Day 5 update, 4/17/2015:
Your IAM Negotiating Committee passed our opening economic proposal today. Here’s the proposal:
http://www.ulacontract2015.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/IAM_Economic_Props_1.pdf
The company provided new counter-proposals on travel and new technology. Here are the proposals:
http://www.ulacontract2015.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ULA_proposal_4.pdf
While these proposals are moves forward, they still aren’t where they need to be. YOUR SENIORITY IS STILL UNDER ATTACK, AND WE ARE STILL FIGHTING TO PROTECT EVERYONE’S SENIORITY!!! Obviously your voice in the shop IS being heard, and making a difference. So KEEP IT UP!!!
We will be meeting tomorrow to continue work on the non-economic proposals.
Daily Update Monday 4/20/2015 (04/21/2015)
The company gave us their first economic proposal tonight, our meeting ended at 7:30. We haven’t had time to evaluate this, but we wanted to get it to you as soon as we could. We will be meeting in the morning to start working through this very poor proposal.
http://www.ulacontract2015.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2015-ULA-IAM-Negotiations-Company-Economic-Proposal-1-ART-8-Dated-4-20-15.pdf
http://www.ulacontract2015.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2015-ULA-IAM-Negotiations-Company-Economic-Proposal-1-ART-7-9-14-Dated-4-20-15.pdf
Negotiations Update 4/24/15 Final Offer
04/25/2015
Brothers and Sisters,
We received the company’s final offer tonight after 8 PM. We promised to keep you informed, and we are posting their offer tonight. We will be working tomorrow to evaluate the offer, and formalizing a response to the company. We will put together a summary that will explain the changes in the contract. We will give you a further update tomorrow on the proposal.
2015 Last, Best, and Final Offer
http://www.ulacontract2015.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ULA-LBF.pdf
Negotiations Update 4/22
04/23/2015
We met with the Company today and gave them a counter proposal to their 3rd economic proposal which you can see below.
http://www.ulacontract2015.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/IAM-Economic-Props-3-4-22-2015.pdf
The company also gave us their counter proposal on Article 8, which we reviewed for several hours and will be countering tomorrow. Their revised proposal on Article 8 still contains language that directly affects seniority and your ability to work overtime. There was some movement by the company, but still needs a lot of fine tuning by your Negotiating Committee.
http://www.ulacontract2015.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2015-ULA-IAM-Negotiations-Company-Economic-Proposal-3-ART-8-Dated-4-22-15.pdf
We will update you tomorrow on what we present to the Company on Article 8 and we thank you for your continued support!
4/21 Update 11:30
Brothers and Sisters,
We wish you could have seen the 1 ½ hour presentation by the company of their first Economic Proposal. They took a hatchet to the contract and your ability to raise a living. One could NEVER call their proposal “lofty”, that’s for sure. “Insulting” comes to mind, however!
The company’s opening economic proposal showed contempt for the workforce that does their job at a high rate of skill and productivity. They attacked you as overpaid because they seem to think you should be paid at the rate that other workers in surrounding industries are paid, so that’s why they want to turn our pay rates into a two-tier system, with the 1% first year and 1.5% third year (lump sum 2nd year) NOT going into the mins and maxes, so new workers would be forever behind. They gave us a sheet showing the area wage survey. We wonder if they did a management pay survey, too, and offered to take their management wages down to the area average. Shouldn’t they lead by example?
The most surreal portion of the presentation was when they gave us their proposal on shifts, with ever-changing start times and shifts. As it went forward, the (printable) thing that came to mind was “Charlie Foxtrot”. It is possibly the most complex, convoluted hot mess ever. They gave us several charts in explanation, and as they presented it, we pointed out glaring errors in it. It was, frankly, embarrassing! We might have almost felt sorry for them, if they hadn’t attacked your contract as they did.
Of course, this proposal is to minimize overtime while having us on call at all times at a moment’s notice day to day.
If the presentation has such glitches, how do they plan to administer it across the company? This would just lead to huge mix-ups and problems, which, of course, they would blame on the workers. Someone seems to have come up with this to justify their jobs. Under this policy, the only folks getting overtime will be the schedulers!
The retirement portion started with the company wanting to freeze the pension. Lead company negotiator Susan Moore said that freezing the pension was tough, that they didn’t like it when their pension was frozen earlier this year, but it is going to happen. Our lead negotiator, Aerospace Coordinator Terry Smith, told her that it’s too bad that we couldn’t represent them, that they don’t have a union and sadly, had no say when the pension was stripped from them, but we have a voice and a vote.
Here’s some other lowlights of their proposal:
• They are proposing to do away with portal to portal pay while traveling.
• They are proposing to cut the TDY additive from 4 to 2 dollars.
• They want to pay the GSA rate instead of a flat per diem of $65.
o The GSA rate in Decatur and Cape is $51.
o The GSA rate at Vandenberg is $66.
• They want to give super seniority to employees with clearances, in order to keep junior employees in case of layoff.
• They want to double the out-of-pocket employee contribution to health care premiums.
• Bypass everyone to put leads on overtime.
• They want to cut the amount of vacation you can bank from 400 to 320 hours.
• They don’t want to raise the minimums or maximums on the pay scale.
• They want to raise employee portion of the health care premiums, the EPO to 27%, PPO to 25%, and the HRA to 15%.
• If the Affordable Care Act taxes start in 2018, and affects our plans, they want the right to change the insurance plans at will, and/or shift the cost of the taxes onto the workers, when the law states any taxes are paid by the company.
• They are trying to pass the taxes they will be liable for under the Affordable Care Act onto the employees.
• The company wants full control over and the right to deny any personal leave and bereavement.
We need you the let the company know what you think of this proposal. They need to know how you feel. We can tell them at the table, but your voice in the shop is what counts. Thank you for all the support you’ve been showing throughout this process.
We are now putting together a counter-proposal to present to the company.
Evening Update 4/21/2015
We met with the company and gave them our counter proposal to their first economic proposal. Follow the link below to see what we countered with
http://www.ulacontract2015.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/IAM-Economic-Props-2-less-excess-sections.pdf
The Company then came back to the table at 4:30 pm to give us their second proposal. They made some movement, but very little.
They proposed a signing bonus of $1,000 that is not tied to the COLA supplement.
In terms of wages, they came up to 2% increase the first year, 2% lump sum payment in the second year, and a 2% increase for the third year.
They are proposing a $850 COLA Supplement each year of the contract
They withdrew their proposal to decrease the maximum amount of banked vacation to 320. In their 2nd proposal, they left it at 400 hours.
They came down from their first proposal on Employee contributions to medical premiums to 25% for EPO, 23% for PPO, and 14% for HRA
They increased the Employer Retirement Savings Contribution to $600 per quarter into the 401(k)
They are now proposing to raise the pension multiplier to $91, however they are still proposing to freeze it in 2017.
http://www.ulacontract2015.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2015-ULA-IAM-Negotiations-Company-Economic-Proposal-2-ART-7-9-14-Dated-4-21-15.pdf
We need everyone in the shop to continue to make noise and let the company know how you feel about this proposal. Make no mistake; they are paying close attention to you. Keep up the chatter and we thank you for your continued support!
Day 2:
8:30 PM
Company Non-Economic Proposal
We are posting the company’s first non-economic proposal. We were surprised and astounded by the scope of the attack on your Union rights. We responded tonight with some fair and reasonable counters, and on many we said we were staying with current contract language. We expect to hear from the company tomorrow.
Thank you for all your support as we move forward on this contract.
• Trying to limit scope of Recognition Clause
• Change the terms of bargaining unit work
• Getting the foot in the door to bring companies and subcontractors into the locations to do bargaining unit work
• Company trying to limit the ability of your Union to represent you effectively, including limiting grievance procedure.
• Shoving the costs of contract violations by the company onto the Union.
• Company wants full reign to move you where they want across all sites, and ignoring seniority.
• Company doesn’t want any upgrades or promotions
• Cut recall time from layoffs by 50%.
• Deny personal leaves based upon operational requirements.
• Company wants to be sole decision maker on safety concerns in the workplace.
• Company wants to eliminate the Union’s input on new technology, and make all decisions without employee input.
• Expand drug testing program.
8 PM, 4/16/2015
Brothers and Sisters,
We want to start tonight’s update by saying THANK YOU for your support, and for making noise in the shop against the terrible proposals attacking your Union and your rights in the shop!!! We met with the company at 6 PM and their latest proposal did show movement in several places, and they pulled several proposals. We believe this was because YOUR VOICE in the shop was heard. As we move forward, you must KEEP IT UP! YOU are the power behind your Committee.
While several of the proposals were pulled, there’s still plenty of things we need to fix moving forward.
We are continuing to meet in the training/travel subcommittee. We met today, and plan to meet again tomorrow morning in the subcommittee. Then we will start working on another response to the company.
We are posting two documents. One is our proposal we passed last night. The second is the counter the company gave us tonight. In explanation of the company’s proposal: Things highlighted in yellow are language we have tentatively agreed to. Strikeouts and things in blue text are changes still being proposed by the company that we haven’t agreed to.
http://www.ulacontract2015.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2_Counter_4-14-15.pdf
http://www.ulacontract2015.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2015_ULA_IAM_Negotiations_Company_Non-economic_Proposal-2_Dated-4-15-15.pdf
Here is an explanation of our proposal:
• Added language to 2.04 Site Specific Agreements.
• Accepted the company’s title change from “Human Resources” to ER/LR which is interpreted as “Employee Relations” and “Labor Relations” respectively.
• Changed 6.05 C Step three grievance language to reflect that the company must meet within 5 working days in person with the union, or by phone if it is mutually agreed to.
• Wording changed on leaves of absences in Article 11.
• Wording changes to Article 15.
• Proposed to keep most of language in Appendix “E” Drug Free Workplace as it is currently but, rejected the company’s addition of vague & redundant language and their desire to administer less accurate Rapid Response Drug Testing on site upon reasonable suspicion.
Day 4 update, 4/17/2015:
Brothers and Sisters,
Our subcommittee met again this morning for the final time. After several hours over the last few days exchanging ideas, the company today presented their proposal that didn’t reflect any of the Union’s input, suggestions and concerns. The language proposed gravely affects our members’ right to travel, restricts training and limits your seniority rights. Here is the company’s proposal:
http://www.ulacontract2015.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ULA_proposal_3_travel_training.pdf
Your Negotiating Committee’s travel reimbursement proposal (Sect 9:06 D) is important to our membership. Several times the company did not give timely reimbursements, which costs our members money and fees, and even credit report problems. The company seems to feel all problems are in the past. Our view is that if the problems ARE in the past, then the language won’t cost the company anything.
Here is the list of articles ready for Tentative Agreement:
Article 1
Article 4
Article 11
Article 15
Article 16
Article 19
Article 21
Appendix C
Letter of Understanding 2
Letter of Understanding 3
Letter of Understanding 4
Letter of Understanding 5
Letter of Understanding 7
Letter of Understanding 15
Letter of Understanding 22
Letter of Understanding 25
Let the company know how you feel about their proposals, and thank you for you continued support of your Negotiating Committee!
Negotiations Update 4/23
Brothers and Sisters,
We worked several hours today, and the company made passes on the remaining non-economic issues, and we traded economic passes. The Decatur Negotiators met with the company on second shift hours of work, and we’re awaiting a proposal from the company.
The situation is bad. There’s still a large expanse between what we feel is fair and equitable, with several takeaways in the contract.
Here’s some of the worst:
• Pension Freeze
• High health care costs
• Seniority
• 401(k)
• Travel pay, additive and per diem
• Temporary transfers up to 60 days
• Still refusing Decatur equity pay adjustment
We are posting the proposals so you can see for yourself.
We will be giving the company another pass tomorrow. Let the company know how you feel about these proposals – time is getting short.
http://www.ulacontract2015.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2015-ULA-IAM-Negotiations-Company-Non-economic-Proposal-7-Dated-4-23-15.pdf
http://www.ulacontract2015.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2015-ULA-IAM-Negotiations-Company-Economic-Proposal-5-ART-8-Dated-4-23-15.pdf