Bakery workers at 67 Twin Cities grocery stores, who voted 340-13 in January to reject a contract offer, voted by a three-to-one margin to accept a revised proposal.
Contract negotiations were the toughest in 30 years, said Tom Sandhoefner, recently elected as president of Local 22 of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union, Local 22. ?We?re still very disappointed.?
Full-time employees will see no hourly pay increase in the first two years of the contract, with a 40-cent-per-hour raise for journey workers in the third and fourth years (and prorated increases for other job classifications).
Part-time employees, who receive no pay increase in the first year, will receive a 20-cent-per-hour increase for each of the following three years.
Full-time employees? health costs will drop 91 cents per hour after the first year and remain level for three years, putting more money in workers? pockets, Sandhoefner noted.
?Part-time health care did not go up at all for another four years,? Sandhoefner said. ?That?s great for them.?
All employees, however, will be exposed to significant increases in health care deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums. In addition, part-time employees hired after the date of ratification will not receive health care benefits.
The old contract expired April 30, 2003; the new contract was ratified March 18, 2004. It was the longest Local 22 has worked without a contract.
?Our negotiating committee fought long and hard,? Sandhoefner said. ?We?re still not happy. We?re just glad it?s done. It was something we could live with.?
The contract covers bakers at Byerly?s, Lund?s, Jerry?s Cub Foods, and corporate Cub Foods locations.
The union also announced it had dropped unfair labor practice charges against the Franklin Street Bakery in Minneapolis. Local 22 filed charges that the employer had interfered with union organizing, but bakery employees were unwilling to pursue the charges, said Octavio Ruiz, Local 22 organizer.
Bakery workers at 67 Twin Cities grocery stores, who voted 340-13 in January to reject a contract offer, voted by a three-to-one margin to accept a revised proposal.
Contract negotiations were the toughest in 30 years, said Tom Sandhoefner, recently elected as president of Local 22 of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union, Local 22. ?We?re still very disappointed.?
Full-time employees will see no hourly pay increase in the first two years of the contract, with a 40-cent-per-hour raise for journey workers in the third and fourth years (and prorated increases for other job classifications).
Part-time employees, who receive no pay increase in the first year, will receive a 20-cent-per-hour increase for each of the following three years.
Full-time employees? health costs will drop 91 cents per hour after the first year and remain level for three years, putting more money in workers? pockets, Sandhoefner noted.
?Part-time health care did not go up at all for another four years,? Sandhoefner said. ?That?s great for them.?
All employees, however, will be exposed to significant increases in health care deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums. In addition, part-time employees hired after the date of ratification will not receive health care benefits.
The old contract expired April 30, 2003; the new contract was ratified March 18, 2004. It was the longest Local 22 has worked without a contract.
?Our negotiating committee fought long and hard,? Sandhoefner said. ?We?re still not happy. We?re just glad it?s done. It was something we could live with.?
The contract covers bakers at Byerly?s, Lund?s, Jerry?s Cub Foods, and corporate Cub Foods locations.
The union also announced it had dropped unfair labor practice charges against the Franklin Street Bakery in Minneapolis. Local 22 filed charges that the employer had interfered with union organizing, but bakery employees were unwilling to pursue the charges, said Octavio Ruiz, Local 22 organizer.