Workers for the Rochester, NY-based grocery store chain
Wegmans have reluctantly accepted a union- and company-backed contract offer
after overwhelmingly rejecting a nearly identical contract on two previous
occasions. The approved contract will apply to approximately 900 Wegmans truck
drivers and other hourly workers who are members of Teamsters Local 118.
At issue was the status of the Teamsters’ multi-employer
pension fund. Wegmans plans to withdraw contributions from it and subsequently
move workers into its own 401(k)-type retirement fund. Other terms included in
the contract include the removal of paid delay time and the increased use of
outside contractors for company work.
The shift will mean that workers will no longer have a
guaranteed pension when they retire. Instead, their retirement will depend upon
how much they can save in their 401(k) and on the performance of the stock
market.
Wegmans is a privately owned grocery chain that employs
approximately 42,000 people with more than 80 stores in New York, Pennsylvania,
Maryland and Virginia. Wegmans stores are much larger than traditional grocery
stores and often include large cafes, pastry and cheese shops, tea bars, and
other features directed at attracting affluent “lifestyle” consumers. In 2012,
the company’s revenue reached $6.2 billion.
The company, which markets itself as a benevolent employer
and regularly ranks in the top-five of Forbes’ annual list of “Best Companies
to Work For,” used the issue of the Teamsters’ own underfunded pension status
to attack workers’ benefits and portray itself as the protector of workers’
retirement funds.
Like many pensions funds, the Teamsters’ suffered
significant losses as a result of the financial crisis. The ongoing recession
has compounded losses in the United States trucking industry, wiping out the
jobs of workers who were previously contributing to the funds and keeping them
afloat. The Teamsters’ Central States Funds has been deemed to be in “critical”
status by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the federal agency that oversees
pension funds. The New York State Teamsters Conference Pension and Retirement Fund,
which covers the Wegmans workers, was funded at only 45.6 percent as of January
2013.
In a statement regarding the negotiations, Wegmans stated,
“The Teamsters Fund is in ‘critical’ status under federal law because it does
not have enough assets. Based on the Teamsters Fund’s own numbers, for each
dollar of retirement benefits promised by the Fund it has only $.46 in assets,
and they project it to decline over time to $.34. The Fund has already cut
benefit levels twice.”
Rather than mount a struggle for increased contributions
from the companies to shore up the pension fund, the teamsters’ union allowed
company after company to withdraw completely from pension fund, which force the
funds into an even faster tailspin of asset losses and increasing insolvency
risk. UPS was the first major company to withdraw from a Teamsters pension fund
in 2007, signaling the employment of a new strategy in the corporate war
against guaranteed retirement funds for workers.
Despite workers’ first rejection of the contract, the union
and the company reached a tentative agreement in early October that would be
put before members for ratification containing very similar terms, including
the complete withdrawal of Wegmans from the Teamsters’ pension fund. Despite
the union-negotiated agreement, which included an 18 percent raise over six
years and a one-time $1,000 payment for full-time workers and $500 payment for
part-time workers, workers still overwhelmingly defeated it, concerned about
deteriorating working conditions and a stable retirement for themselves and
their families.
At the same time, workers also overwhelmingly authorized the
union to call a strike.
After the second rejection, the Teamsters quickly moved to
have members vote again on a nearly identical contract just over a week later.
At the same time, both the Teamsters and Wegmans made it clear to workers that
rejecting the contract a third time would result in a loss of their jobs
altogether. Seeing that the union would not mount a struggle against the
company, workers accepted the contract.
After the ratification of the contract on its third attempt,
several workers expressed anger toward the union on the “Wegmans Teamsters”
Facebook page. On the page, one worker reported being denied voting rights
since he did not attend a pre-vote union meeting. Another worker reported that
the hours for voting had been reduced in attempt to keep “trouble-makers” from
voting, while several workers reported the union kept them in the dark about
the contract’s final terms until the day of each vote. The union-created page,
which clearly documented the anger and frustration of union members towards a
bankrupt and corrupt union leadership, was quickly removed after the contract’s
approval.
In the post-World War II period, pensions were used by both
unions and companies to attract and keep new members and workers. If a company
did not have its own pension fund, it could agree to contribute to a
union-backed fund as part of the post-war corporate-labor “partnership.” For
its part, the union was willing to negotiate sweetheart contracts with the
companies as long as it ensured dues and pension funds flowing into the union
coffers.
Rather than attempt to unite the working class in a unified
defense against the corporate destruction of workers’ pensions, the Teamsters
and other unions have responded by forming a “think-tank” calling itself the
Partnership for Multi Employer Retirement Security. The group, which labels
itself a “business-labor initiative,” seeks to alter existing laws to allow
troubled funds to stay afloat. Its main efforts involve releasing reports on
the need for pension “reform” and lobbying Congress to allow troubled funds to
cut the benefits of current retirees, which is currently prohibited by federal
law. In other words, the Teamsters would keep control of the pension fund while
cutting benefits for the workers and retirees.
Source: WSWS.org
No comments:
Post a Comment