USW Local 9-562 Negotiates First Contract with BASF


Contact: Lynne Hancock, USW, (615) 828-6169, lhancock@usw.org

McIntosh, Ala. — United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9-562 members overwhelmingly ratified a four-year, nine-month contract with BASF Corporation on July 31 that included improvements in wages, benefits and contract language for the company’s 179 USW-represented employees.
   
This is the first contract negotiated with BASF since the company purchased Ciba Specialty Chemicals in 2009. The site has been organized since 1956.

“Having a union allows workers to have a voice in their workplace,” said Local 9-562 President Bobby Carpenter. “We negotiated a contract that is beneficial for the workers, their families, the company and the community. Our wages and the money generated from our health care and pension benefits go back into our communities to help local businesses.”

Workers will receive a 2.5 percent wage increase each year in addition to a $1 per hour increase the first year. The health care benefit plan with Blue Cross/Blue Shield will stay the same.

BASF will contribute 2 percent of an employee’s gross wages to a 401k plan for each worker, and it will match dollar for dollar up to 7 percent of an employee’s 401k contribution.

The contract contains a one-time retirement incentive for 40 workers whose age and years of service equal 96 or more. Those who take the package will receive one week of pay per year of service plus a $9,000 bonus payment. This incentive is being offered so jobs can be found for workers affected by the shutdown of a production unit.

Another permanent retirement incentive, called a “Retirement Notice Pay Program,” enables retiring employees to train new hires. If a worker gives 6 to 12 months advance notice of his retirement, he can receive an extra payment from 8 to 16 percent of W-2 wages.

Improvements were made to contract language, and some Emergency Response Team contractors will be replaced with full-time employees. The new contract also establishes a full-time plant safety coordinator who will be chosen by the union and the company.

The agreement also is in line with other BASF contracts at USW-represented sites. The other locations and Local 9-562 are part of the union’s BASF council, which gives the locals the chance to communicate about their contract negotiations.

“Our negotiating committee couldn’t have bargained this agreement without the support of our membership, the solidarity of our negotiating committee and the expertise provided by our staff representative Randy Burkett,” said BASF Group Chairman and Local 9-562 Vice President Eugene Dunegan. “Negotiations were intense, but at the end of the day we were able to bargain a fair agreement that will help BASF now and in the future.”

Members of the Local 9-562 negotiations committee are USW staff representative Randy Burkett, BASF Group Chairman and Local 9-562 Vice President Eugene Dunegan, Local 9-562 President Bobby Carpenter and members of the workman’s committee—Ron Givens, Mike Hancock, Jessie Parnell, Larry Abston, and Fernell Pendelton.

The USW represents over 850,000 workers in the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean who are employed in the chemical, pulp, paper and packaging, metals, rubber, energy, government, health care and service sectors.

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