Please print, post, and distribute
Service Planning Talks Take a Change in Direction
Note: These negotiations are currently for employees in Service Planning and Design. Gas Estimators at Bishop Ranch may not be affected.
Conference Call Today at 3:30pm
No agreements have been finalized at this time. The August 31 session saw a significant change in the direction of negotiations, so this update will be brief and more details will be provided on the upcoming call:
- Tuesday, September 5, 3:30pm
- global.gotomeeting.com/join/774780445
- (571) 317-3112 Access Code: 774-780-445
The potential scope of agreement is narrowing to two main points: to establish an NBR (New Business Rep) classification, and to offer voluntary incentives only for limited voluntary relocations of Estimators.
Main Points of Negotiations Shift
NBR: The Union and Company continue to work together on job description, line of progression, fielding and other issues. There are still items to work through around movement of employees between Estimator and NBR lines of progression.
Relocation: The main change was to a concept that all moves would be voluntary. This alleviates the Union’s need to negotiate detailed mitigations and review all potential impacts. Management hopes to address its desire for centralization by offering a targeted incentive. Incentives would only be offered to those employees in non-preferred locations who are willing to move to preferred locations, and who would be beyond a commutable distance from the new location. The company stated that is willing commit to no involuntary relocations or layoffs for 24 months from the date the agreement goes into effect.
Another point addressed was Alternative Work Schedules. The Union asked for RDO’s for all Service Planning employees, and the Company replied that they would be willing to implement this but only for non-customer facing employees – i.e. excluding NBR/SNBR/IPE’s and Estimators on the Express Connect team.
We will provide further details on the call.