Imapsse?
At recent negotiating meetings, the company’s lawyer has expressed to the union that he believes we are at impasse. What is impasse?

Impasse means that the company and the union cannot agree on terms of a contract.  The union does not believe we are at impasse.  There are many subjects that we have only briefly discussed without any back and forth negotiating by the parties. Many of our proposals have been simply “rejected” with no counter-proposal submitted.

As we already know, most of the things we are asking for are things that we already have.  Just Cause and Seniority for Layoffs are two other items we are asking for which are really non-economic issues and are pivotal to our job
Security.

On May 20, 2009, the company submitted to the union a revised last, best and final offer which doesn’t include any language on some of our most basic issues including vacations or holidays, layoffs and recalls. The company said during this meeting that they are now unwilling to negotiate further with the union even though we have made it clear that we have further proposals to submit. We met again with the company on June 17, 2009. We will update you update you on what occurred at that meeting. The NLRB will make the final decision on overturning impasse.

What happens in an impasse situation?
The company can start implementing economic changes contained in their last, best and final offer once they claim we are at impasse. Why?  Because that is one of the labor laws that have been in practice for several years. Then, if the
Union does not believe impasse has been reached, it is up to us to file charges with the NLRB against the company for implementing the economic changes.

Once again, the Union does not believe that we are at impasse. There are still subjects we have not discussed or agreements which are incomplete and do not include further details.  For example, we have agreed on toke observing by the dealers, however, we have yet to negotiate over the request for payroll information related to the tokes. Although the company has implemented economic changes, your union is still fighting and has contacted the NLRB to make them aware of the situation.

Working Hours
Your negotiating committee met with the company this week on February 5th and
6th.  They presented us with a complete package which included what we’ve agreed to so far and what they want in our contract. This package represents where they think we are in negotiations.  However, because of the economic crisis that the industry (and the world) is facing, negotiations were set aside to deal with an immediate problem the company faces which affects us directly.

As we’ve all noticed, business is slow and the company has and will have to make cuts. We are in a cooperative effort with the company to prevent any layoffs, but in a manner that will be fair to everyone.

In the meantime, there may be extra dealers scheduled and they may be giving extra pushes. We ask and expect your cooperation, professionalism, and patience with one another as we try to work with the company to keep everyone employed with benefits.

The 401K
The company has announced to the negotiating committee that on March 15,
2009, they will be suspending our 401K match. According to the company, you will still be able to contribute to your own 401K and they will continue to maintain the cost of running the plan. Although terms and conditions of employment cannot change during negotiations, because of the extraordinary circumstances currently affecting our industry, management has told the committee that they are doing this to everyone including themselves.

Now What?
Harry Lombardo, our lead negotiator and vice-president of the TWU has already begun speaking to TWU lawyers about the legality of cutting our 401K and working hours. We will keep you updated.