Local 20 Faces off Against Lamar Electric Coop

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LEC labor talks may be on again

By Mary Madewell
The Paris News

Published June 03, 2004

On-again off-again contract negotiations between Lamar Electric Cooper-ative and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 20 are expected to resume this month.

Negotiations are scheduled June 17-18 prior to the cooperative's annual membership meeting set for June 26 at Love Civic Center.

Wages may not be as much at issue as termination procedures, IBEW International Local 20 Representative George Crawford said Thursday.

Cooperative employees voted for union representation in February 2003 with initial contract negotiations beginning shortly thereafter. After about 18 sessions, negotiations ground to a halt when representatives could not agree on key issues including salaries, benefits and termination policies.

LEC called off negotiations, and the union filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board alleging bad faith bargaining.

A charge filed by the union over the steps taken by LEC to reduce its work force was dismissed by the National Labor Relations Board which stated that the reduction was for legitimate business reasons and not motivated by union activity, LEC labor attorney William Ashcraft of Dallas said.

After an NLRB board investigation, both sides agreed to resume negotiations.

The IBEW has never met with so much resistance in negotiating a fair contract for the workers as we have had here at LEC, Crawford said.

When the employees exercised their legal right and voted to have a union represent them, they did not expect to be harassed and treated with so much disrespect, Crawford charged.

Negotiations between IBEW and LEC have been going on for more than a year now, a year that has included layoffs, terminations, reductions in member services, shifting of insurance cost to the employees and little, if any, wage increases to the workers that voted to go union, Foreman said.

At that time, union representatives charge that the elimination of six positions in April 2003, ”two servicemen, one equipment operator, one groundsman, a lineman and the operations manager” became the focus of negotiations rather than the negotiating team making progress toward a contract.

Co-op officials said then that the workload was insufficient to maintain the level of staffing that existed. One of the workers was rehired after the loss of another employee through attrition, Lamar General Manager Walter Cooper said at that time.

This has left LEC with the optimal work force necessary to meet the demands of our customers and reduce the possibility of a rate increase in the future, Cooper said in June 2003.

With the restructuring, we are now more efficient and capable of handling the same work with less people. Cooper concluded.

Lamar County Electric Co-op labor attorney William Ashcraft of Dallas agreed with Cooper's earlier assessment.

Steps to reduce costs and make itself more efficient are projected to result in savings of about $3 million to LEC's members and should allow LEC to avoid increasing the rates members pay for their electricity, Ashcraft said early Friday.

"It has now been more than a year since we streamlined our work force, and I'm pleased to report that our outstanding employees have continued to effectively meet our customers' requirements with no increase in overtime," Cooper said. "Contrary to the union's assertion, there has been no reduction in service to our members," Cooper said.

Labor leaders also charged that the Co-op had tightened supervisory control over workers, but Cooper said work conditions have not changed.

"We have, however, placed greater emphasis on compliance with safety procedures to promote employee safety," Cooper added.

When bargainers return to the table, union representatives have said their major push will be for a just cause provision for termination. While wages are an issue, Foreman said he believed the the union and LEC could come to terms on fiscal aspects of a contract.

The union's first demand was that beginning wages be immediately increased by an average of 19 percent and wages for all line operations employees be raised by an additional average of 15 percent over two years, Ashcraft said.

"Such exorbitant wage increases would be totally out of line with wages paid by other companies and would ultimately have to be paid by our customers, Cooper said. "This is simply unacceptable and contrary to our members' interest."

While Foreman said the union is willing to negotiate wages, a just cause provision for termination may be a harder bargain.

Foreman claims that most union contracts include a just cause provision requiring an arbitration process for employees who file unfair termination complaints.

"We only terminate employees for just cause," Ashcraft said. "But we believe it is important for the interest for our members to maintain the right to terminate employees as provided by state law and to protect the company for numerous termination lawsuits."

Both sides expressed a willingness to negotiate.

"We remain committed to reaching an agreement that is fair to both our employees and our members." Cooper said.

IBEW representatives also expressed interest that a fair contract settlement could be reached as soon as possible.

"We want our employees to have an opportunity to continue doing the best job they can for LEC members without interference and undue pressure from top management," Foreman said.