The Union and the Company completed three days of bargaining on Thursday, September 1st, without an offer that the Union committee can recommend to the membership.
The Employer moved to 5% for only one year of a contract, but only for some drivers. Their view appears to be that they gave raises to drivers in January 1, 2022 and the raises now would have to be smaller.
“We continue to tell the officials at Hallcon that our members are demanding dollars, not dimes. Now we are going to put their offer to the membership for vote, and we ain’t recommending it,” said Nandell Baines of UE Local 977.
The Hallcon and UE contract expires at 11:59 pm on September 1st. The Union Bargaining Committee will now swing into action and arrange massive outreach to members across the US.
Every UE driver at Hallcon needs to know that they need to continue to report to work as they did last week and last month. The Union will be distributing FAQ #2 in the next two days to answer questions about our future.
The UE Bargaining Committee voted to put Hallcon’s proposal in front of the membership. “Our committee is recommending a ‘no’ vote and requesting that drivers everywhere authorize a strike,” said Vincent Graves of UE Local 1077.
The Union will have full written descriptions of all the proposals arrived at so far, as well as what the Employer is offering. “We are recommending a ‘no’ vote because we believe that every driver deserves far more in wages than what the Company is offering,” Vincent added.
The plan forward is as follows:
- National town hall phone conference calls will be held at different times on September 6th, 7th, and 8th. The specific times and conference number will be posted on the webpage, Facebook group, and texted out.
- Voting on the proposal will begin after Friday, September 9th, and will run through Tuesday, September 13th. All members will be texted a link to the vote platform. A method to vote by phone call is being created and will be announced soon.
- The vote will also ask drivers to authorize a strike to begin at 12:01 am, Friday, September 16th, 2022.
The Union committee knows that advances were made on contract demands and Hallcon has agreed to many changes the Union has sought. “We have made progress on contract language, but this Company has not shown us that they are going to transform the wages for workers. This is the major demand we came for,” said Kelly Patterson of UE Local 977. “Now it will be up to members to show all they are willing to fight for dollars, not dimes.”