Update 7/4
Reply to company correspondence
Your negotiating committee has been meeting with the company since
the negotiations resumed on June 17th (after the company's vacation break).
Although we have met extensively, and come to understanding on several issues,
we seem to be unable to make any progress at all on several issues we feel are
very important to the union membership.
1. On the issue of the corporate substance abuse policy we feel we
have made no progress at all, even though we feel our counter proposal was more
than fair and adequate to address the problem. The company wants to put us
under a policy, which takes away a person’s chance at rehab if they fail a
random drug test. Their policy also takes away your bargaining units right to
challenge anyone's termination on anything outside the "chain of
custody". Their policy also states that in accepting the corporate policy
we automatically accept any changes the company makes to their policy, without
the right to negotiate the policy change. We counter-proposed that we would
accept the new policy as it is written at this time. We also agreed to accept
any changes in the DOT policy brought about by changes in DOT regulations. We
further agreed to accept any changes in the "safety sensitive" policy
which mirror DOT regulation changes, (Conoco's safety sensitive policy
currently mirrors their DOT policy). We cannot however agree to giving up the union’s
rights to represent anyone who we feel was wronged under this policy.
2. On the subject of mandatory call out for the crafts, we feel we
have made no reasonable headway on this issue. The company came to the table
wanting 95% response for callouts per craft. They want the right to mandate mandatory
callout on persons if a craft falls below the 95% level. They also demand the
right to ratchet up the number of employees in a craft on mandatory call at one
time if they have problems meeting the 95%.
We have proposed numerous ways to handle the problem of callout response
(assuming the current across the board response of 88% is a problem) with
nothing being acceptable to the company. They refuse to give Conoco mechanical
more of the work in the plant. They refuse to agree on anything, which guarantees
us they won't contract out our work if they wish. They refuse to give us any
language guaranteeing they will do any thing to control the number of callouts.
They refuse to discuss shift coverage for some crafts, which have a high amount
of callouts. We feel they have refused to negotiate in any meaningful fashion
on this issue. We feel if we accept the company's proposal on this issue,
callout will become a scheduling tool.
I went out to the plant today to get a copy of the e-mail the
company put out regarding the negotiations. When I got there I found 2 machinists,
1 pipefitter, 1 utility helper, and 1 transportation operator there on a
callout. I seems they were called out on the holiday to install a sump pump,
even though the motor won't be back for 2-3 days. Remember: If you end up on
mandatory call, you get them all.
3. Another of the company's issues was changing the deadline by
which operators have to schedule one day vacations. Current contract language
gives us through Wednesday. They said it needed to be moved to 6:30 am on Wed.
due to the operations scheduler needing to put the schedule out Wed. We counter
proposed 12 noon on Wed. to give operators some chance to get a request in that
day. The company came back and moved their proposal to 12:01 am Wed., saying
they needed this to work within the 5/4 shift. This is considered regressive
bargaining. If they needed 12:01 am for the 5/4 shift, then maybe they should
have thought about it.
4. The issue of the 5/4 shift has been worked. We feel we have an
agreement worked out which affects not only the movement to the 5/4 shift and
taking away the 2/3 shift, but also vacation, mandatory call, and regulating
training and the use of our people for salaried work if the training isn't met.
That being said, if this contract is voted down all things are open and we need
to know what the operators want changed.
Wednesday afternoon the International Representative put the
company on notice that a Federal Mediator would be joining us in the meetings starting
Monday the 8th. Their reaction was quite impressive. The company
representatives informed him they felt we in no way needed the mediator at this
time and were sure we would end up with a satisfactory contract in the end
(satisfactory to who we're not sure). The rep. told them we felt we were making
no progress on the major issues left on the table, and that we intend to bring
the mediator in.
We will be updating this site on a regular basis as things are
picking up in pace. PLEASE check in often to stay up on the issues.
We have a Union meeting on Tuesday the 8th. Please make every
effort to attend to hear the latest, and give us your latest.
In Solidarity
Leon Royer Chairman Conoco Group