I am pleased the way we showed in a united way our displeasure with the lack of a contract. In unity there is strength. Everyone at the coronation heard, “Settle Now!” Someone asked me if our actions were effective. I don’t know. The goal is to get a contract that both sides can live with. The idea of a job action is to generate discomfort. That discomfort is supposed to causes management to want to settle to get rid of the discomfort. We will see. Apparently we got to Joe Rossi. He emailed me a quotation from The Press which included words like “aggressive ignoramus”. I am glad that he sent it. Now I know we had an effect on Joe.

There is no reason for the negotiations to be dragging on. We are asking for a money settlement in the range of others have gotten, no changes in benefits, and not much in the way of language change. One of the things that is holding up negotiation is Joe Rossi’s proposals to change the contract, not ours.

Questions that come up often are, “How much are they offering?” “What are the proposed changes in benefits?” “What are the language changes?” If I gave specifics, the members would start arguing among themselves. For instance, some people would think that a three percent increase in January with health coverage for the employee only would be a good deal and that we should settle. They would start arguing with those who want more of an increase with family coverage. That is not necessarily what is on the table, but you can see why we don’t get specific. Another reason is that every agreement is tentative and subject to change. Until the Board and the employees ratify, we do not have an agreement. In addition, one thing that happens now, is that items that we thought had dropped off the table suddenly appear back on the table. And agreements we thought we made, we find we did not make. Also, unless you are at the table, you do not know the arguments and tradeoffs that have been made. You need to have faith in the Unity Negotiations Team. Remember you have the final say. The employees and the Board have veto power. Will Parsons, Unity Negotiation Team Coordinator