The Teamsters Local 710 Bargaining Committee for ReaderLink met Friday to continue contract negotiations. There is a contract extension in place that expires at the end of the month.

The Union opened by going through the complete contract proposals in a red line document, and the Company eventually responded by also going over their last proposals and provided some explanation.

Many of the Company’s proposals were regressive from current contract language. They are not willing to pay backpay on grievances when they, the Employer, violates the contract, and they also proposed to remove the non-discrimination clause. Their proposed vacation and time off policy removes the employee’s birthday and anniversary date as holidays in exchange for four paid personal days. The Union discussed examples of when time off was unreasonably denied, and why this is an issue. Given the many issues present, the Union rejected all of the Company’s proposals.

One of the Company’s main talking points was the use of subcontractors and temporary workers. While the Company would like to decrease the use of those workers, they also would like flexibility in other areas to compensate for the decrease.

The day’s session concluded at 1:20 p.m. The Local 710 Bargaining Committee remained to further delve into the Company’s proposals and discuss how the membership has responded to them thus far. Negotiations are scheduled to resume March 21st and 23rd. Any questions or concerns may be directed to any member of the bargaining committee.

Teamsters Local 710 is an affiliate of Teamsters Joint Council 25, America’s premier labor union for Chicago, Illinois and northwest Indiana.

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