B15 Update

Brother’s and Sister’s

Yesterday morning your grievance committee met with the company to discuss the 3rd step grievances. The meeting roughly ended at 10:30 and at the end of that meeting the company expressed that they wished to discuss the B15 schedule. The Union listened to Mr. Forster and his concerns. We pointed out that we brought forward our own proposal last week that would have met his operational needs based on the numbers he provided to us and he didn’t even look at it. We directly raised the concern that this is an attack on overtime in general. Mr. Forster then promised this was not an attack on overtime or nothing to do with eroding the Collective Bargaining Agreement. He gave his word. The company said it was already Thursday and any changes needed to be done today. At 4:05 Thursday afternoon your executive received the below proposal which IS an attack on overtime and erosion of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. To this executive , management has not been completely honest with us and with the timelines involved are not serious about coming to an agreement without concessions. This attack on overtime, plant wide as this letter shows, is a non- starter for this executive.

RE: Working Schedule B15 – Rotation Period and OT

All Parties to this Letter of Agreement recognize that the majority of employees prefer to work the rotation as outlined in Schedule B15 over the rotation that is outlined in Schedule B3 of the Collective Agreement between USW 5890 and EVRAZ INC. NA.  In order to implement the preferred schedule the Parties agree to a special amendment to the Collective Agreement as per the following terms and conditions:

  1. “28 day period” and “hours over 160” in Article 8.03(c) will be replaced by “21 day period” and “hours over 120” respectively.

In addition, there would be no overtime involved or cost to the employer when switching employee(s) from one crew to another, and /or switching employee(s) to Schedule B15 rotation.  This letter can be terminated by either Party by giving 6 week notice to other Party.