The vote Tuesday and Wednesday was the second time 280 Teamsters rejected a company offer that employees have complained increases their health care costs, the major sticking point in negotiations.
Union head Ed Speckman could not be reached for comment, and it’s unclear whether this week’s vote was similar to the outcome of a Jan. 2 vote, when workers rejected an offer by a 75 percent margin.
Leprino spokesman Robert Schwartz said in a prepared statement that the company offered workers a nearly 6 percent pay increase in the first year of the contract, plus a 1.75 percent pay raise in years two and three, as well as an increase in the amount of money Leprino puts into workers’ pensions plans.
The latest offer included a plan to let workers pay deductibles and other health costs with pre-tax dollars, the press release said, and it included a “safety net” for “severe, unexpected medical costs.”
The news release also described the proffered health plan as “high-quality” and “cost-effective,” but workers complained earlier this month a change in the health plan would mean more money out of their pockets to pay for medical costs.
Company officials vowed to continue to negotiate with the Teamsters, but it’s unclear how close workers might be at this point to striking.
Leprino has nine cheese-making plants, and it has owned its Tracy plant since 1977. It produces 300,000 pounds of cheese a day and employs 325 workers, and the company says it has a Tracy payroll of $16 million.
I used to work for a union. You think they don't tell you what's good for you and vote down the line Democrat too? I even remember Al G showing up wearing a pair of designer jeans trying to look the part I guess. They didn't say Kalvin Klien, they said vote for me vote for me vote for me.
And as far as telling the employees how to vote, you betcha they tell them how to vote or what the party line is. It's up to the employee how to vote, some stick to the party line and some just want their job back.
Have you been to a union meeting? They don't tell you how to vote. If union representatives were telling workers how to vote, then wouldn't it make more sense to get workers to accept the company's new health care plan? It would save the union representatives time. Having a contract in place means that union representatives have less work to do and they get paid regardless of what happens.
It has nothing to do with negotiation skills. I volunteered.
That is exactly how fallicies get started. It is also irrelevant if you get a portion of your free healthcare paid for by the company.
Even if your healthcare is subsidized by your company. Whether union or not. Somebody has to pay for it. You pay or the company. Or both.
The company in question has been paying a portion of healthcare. Not free. That is why the article says "more money out of their pockets to pay for medical costs".
In this economy you dont need a good negotiator to put you out of a job. You just need a union rep telling you how to vote.
Have I taken a pay cut this year? No. Perhaps if you had some negotiation skills you would probably be able to negotiate with your employer and be better off than you are now.
While I have to pay for my own healthcare and take a pay cut.
Must be nice to be told how to vote by your union rep?