Progress Continues as Asarco Negotiations Resume
The Unified Bargaining Committee (UBC) met with Asarco January 16, 17 and 18, 2024. Previously, on November 16, 2023, the UBC provided Asarco with a comprehensive economic proposal to remedy 15 years of wage stagnation.
After extensive discussions with Asarco in November and December regarding the UBC’s proposal and how it would impact the wages of our members, Asarco finally provided its wage proposal on January 16.
Unfortunately, the company proposed to eliminate the entire Copper Price Bonus (CPB) and replace it with an incentive plan that lacked any specificity. Asarco’s position is that the workforce should trust them. The elimination of the CPB leaves a large hole in our compensation — a hole that the other provisions of the company’s proposal do not fill. Other issues with the Asarco proposal are:
- No wage rate increases in years 2 or 3.
- Eliminates our successorship protections (a buyer wouldn’t be required to employ current employees or recognize the union or contract).
- Pre-2011 hires would not have pension benefit accruals, nor would they receive the 7% 401k 100% match.
- H-Pay was deleted, 6-month bidding would be eliminated, and
- Wage rates for many classifications were simply ignored
- Structured as an all-or-nothing proposal - though Asarco later assured us they will bargain over the terms.
We’ve achieved numerous TA’s (38) on important issues over the course of these negotiations. Though we were universally disappointed by Asarco’s comprehensive economic proposal this week, we remain cautiously optimistic that a fair contract can still be achieved.
We will resume negotiations with the company the first week of February. The UBC intends to respond with a counter-proposal designed to build on our Basic Labor Agreement – not abandon its critical successorship protections, wage structure, and profit-sharing machinery.
Let your supervisor and manager know that you and your coworkers expect a fair contract NOW.
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