  |
  May 25, 2007 Seattle Members Protect Funds From From Companies' Greed Seattle area UFCW members are working hard to reach a fair agreement with their employers. The bargaining parties met on the 23rd, and exchanged various counter proposals, in attempts to reach agreement on some issues, without success. The companies also presented a health and welfare funding proposal which included some modest improvements in benefit design, in exchange for a six month suspension of contributions so the companies could steal around 100 million dollars from the reserve fund. This proposal was met with strong opposition from the union, who argued that the excess reserves belong to the members and were a result of the bargain in the current contract. The union is proposing that these monies be given to the members in the form of wage increases as well as significant improvements in the medical plan. The parties are scheduled to meet again on May 28th.
|
