Anxious and Nervous

**lisettelovebug** · 08-02-2007, 01:41 PM

Long rant follows:

My dh and fellow employees are at the moment voting for a contract. It is a very bad contract and dh plans on voting no. The company is throwing money at them as a one time deal so they will take it - believe me the company has the money in order to keep the employees happy. Some of the bad things: higher insurance deductibles and premiums ($43 a month for eye - might as well pay out of pocket), legal talk saying they can basically do what they want with the employees, mandatory overtime, temp workers, to name a few. They really have only compromised on a few things: not getting rid of pension, and more money.

The current contract expires at midnight on Friday so they may be going on strike. Some people are willing to say yes to this because of the signing bonus (a lot for the old guys - but then they will have to pay a lot more for health), and the newer guys like the signing bonus and raise. They're not thinking about the future. If they give up all these concessions this time, in 3 years they won't have anything to bargain with.
I don't want them to go on strike - believe me, - but if that's what it takes for the company to give employees and their families decent benefits then that's fine. I don't see it lasting very long because the company is backed up ( they have contracts for years - they manufacture big uquip for oil and gas companies).. Dh has been on 12 hour days since last week.

So I'm just hoping they vote no today on this contract and then the company gets serious and gets a contract signed... I'm not worried yet about a strike but if they do I will have to be extra frugal is all...

told ya it was long...

Lisette

**ktsmama** · 08-02-2007, 01:44 PM

Keeping my fingers crossed that it goes the right way!!

**Luv2BeFrugal** · 08-02-2007, 01:56 PM

Wow! I hope they make a wise decision. That's a lot for vision coverage! Let us know how it turns out...

**starsapphire** · 08-02-2007, 03:23 PM

I know how you feel, I'm union too. I hope everything comes out alright in the end for you. G/L

**Jaded** · 08-02-2007, 03:31 PM

Hope it all works out o.k.....saying a prayer for you.

**Michelle68** · 08-02-2007, 04:55 PM

I hope everything turns out well for your husband and his fellow employees.

--Michelle

**lisettelovebug** · 08-02-2007, 08:21 PM

Well they voted 95% against the contract!! YEAHHHH!!! But of course now it means there is more likelihood of strike. But I'm prepared. I planned the whole month's food budget and got it down to $15-$25 a week not included milk, bread, etc. We will be ok until the end of the month. ANd dh does get strike pay .. I believe it is $200 a week (which is nothing compared to what he usually makes), but better than nothing. The union hall also has food available for employees if they go on strike - boxed foods and canned foods. I think we will be fine.

Lisette

**Jaded** · 08-02-2007, 10:04 PM

I hope it all goes well for you. It's tough being in that situation, I know, but just think of how much there is to gain.

I'm glad we don't have unions down here. Even though the wages are way lower, I blame unions for killing the steel, auto, and textile industries. They just got too greedy. I could never live in a place where you had to be in a union to get work.

**leezza** · 08-02-2007, 11:53 PM

thank goodness for unions in this country or we would all be getting wages like they do in 3rd world countries......even if you aren't in a union you can thank them for the good working conditions we have in this country.

leezza

**FrugalMomof3** · 08-03-2007, 12:32 AM

I hope everything turns out for the best, keep us updated

**Domestic Gal** · 08-03-2007, 10:24 AM

My husbands contract was up on the 1st of the month. They still do not have a new contract in place yet.
I do not think they will strike as he works for a dairy and they have to produce 24/7 or the stores will not get there milk. If people do not get milk who know what will happen then. Plus schools start here in 10 days and they need to start production for the schools here real soon.
If they do strike we will be fine as we can live 12-18 months without work.
Plus I go back to work when school starts and that will give us some income.

Hope everything goes well for your DH

**karone** · 08-04-2007, 11:54 AM

gl to u guys. hopefully the strike wont be as long as the ak steel one here in ohio. i dont know if they are still on strike/lockdown but here is a article from one of our local news channels about it: http://www.whiotv.com/news/9763083/detail.html they did get help from local churches and other places for food.

**lisettelovebug** · 08-04-2007, 04:24 PM

Well, the guys (most of the employees are guys.. lol) went on strike at 2 am. They continued negotiating after the contract expired at midnight but the company's lawyers told them that they didn't have the balls to strike.. you can imagine how that went over!! SO dh was walking the picket line until 7 am today after working until midnight. The company really wasn't making any concessions and they even made the insurance worse by saying that the out of pocket expense would go up every year - they already want it at $4000. The union really doesn't want much and really doesn't care about raises. They're nice, but they're more concerned with the medical and some other issues. Some of the issues: that they can change the medical whenever they want, they want temp workers when the union already gave them 6 month probation for new hires (up from 3 months), manadatory overtime saying they can tell you when to work (so if dh works 3 weekends in a row they can tell him he has to work the next weekend - they don't mind mandatory OT but it should be at least somewhat up to the employee when they work OT), there is a lot of ambigous talk in the contract saying they can do whatever they want.
So I'm glad they went on strike. Otherwise dh would have been looking for new job. We'll be ok til the end of the month and then we have backups as last resort. (My cc comp sent me checks that I can use at 1.5% until March 2008 or we could borrow from a family member) I have planned meals for the month and each week is $15-25 a week (not including milk, bread), and if need be the union hall will have food that the strikers can have. So we'll be alright.
Lisette