CONTRACT 2001
some thoughts on what we should demand in the 2001 New York Carpenter agreementsBy Gregory A. Butler, local 608 carpenter
There is a "little brown book" that every carpenter steward on every site in New York carries in his or her back pocket. That book is a copy of the Independent Building Construction Agreement of the New York District Council of Carpenters, and it is supposed to be the bible on how union jobs are supposed to be run in the city.
That "brown book", and the dozen other agreements with the various associations, come up for renegotiation on June 30, 2001 [except for the Associated General Contractor's heavy construction agreement, and the New York State Convention Center Operating Corporation agreement, both of which come up in June 2002, the first time in recent memory that their are different expiration dates for the the various agreements]
This current brown book was negotiated in 1996, and was a 5 year agreement [6 years for the AGC, 3 years for the NYSCCOC], the longest in NY District Council history. Before, we'd had 3 year agreements since the 50's, and one year agreements prior to that.
There are some problems in the contracts, some that date to 96, and some that go long before then.
One of the biggest problems is that carpenters in New York are governed by multiple agreements. Besides the "brown book", or independent building construction agreement, which is a boilerplate contract that the DC signs with newly organized contractors (that's the agreement that shop stewards carry copies of in the field) there is also the agreements with the Building Contractors Assocation and the Building Trades Employers Association, which basically function to require that union GCs only use union carpenter subcontractors, and the agreement with the Association of Wall, Ceiling and Carpentry Industries of Greater New York, the main sheetrock contractor's association. These agreements are similar, but not identical, to the "brown book".
There is also the agreement with the other sheetrock contractors group, the MDA, there are contracts with the Cement League of Greater New York (hirise concrete contractors), the NY State Chapter of the Associated General Contractors ( heavy and highway construction), the Manufacturing Woodworker's Association, the furniture dealers and contractors, the resilient floorlayer contractors, the scaffolding contractors, the trade show contractors [covering work at shows at the Hotels and on the Piers], the state authority that runs the Javits Convention Center, ect and so on.
And, it used to be the case that all of these contracts expired at the same time. No more. The AGC and NYS Convention Center agreement expire in 2002. And, there are some major differences in the agreements. The first problem that I think we have to work on is to fold all these agreements into one master contract, with one expiration date. And, we need to go back to having 3 year agreements.
The blizzard of contracts is one of many problems we have with the contracts, and we need to resolve these issues. So, here are some of my ideas of what needs to change, going article by article. I left out the articles that I don't think need any changes.
ARTICLE II : Jurisdiction: This is a really long section, about 7 out of the contract's 40 pages, that deals with what exactly is the work that belongs to us. It's a really important section, but, I don't think it has been revised since the 1960's, some sections of it were written as long ago as the 1920's. So, we need to update it, to cover the scope of the work of the 3rd millenium carpenter.
Not that we should give up any of our work, of course, but we do need to clarify what exactly belongs to us, and with the technological changes in building materials today, what will be the work of the carpenter of the future.
The language on sheetrock and framing is clear, and should remain unchanged, as should the language on woodwork and house framing. But, there needs to be more clarity on ceiling installation, namely that the black iron and pencil rod work belongs to Lathers local 46 of the Ironworkers, and we aren't going to contest that anymore. But, of course, we should empasize that the mains, tees and z clips, and the furring channel on sheetrock ceilings, belong to the carpenter.
On scaffolding, I think we should recognize that the laborers own the set up and dismantling of scaffolding used by the bricklayers, (since, in fact, they do that work all of the time anyway) but that all other scaffolding belongs to us.
On protection, where in fact there is currently a claim by laborers local 79 over all of that work, which has long been claimed by us, we need to work out some kind of arraingment. The most logical settlement would be for us to keep all exterior protection, netting, sidewalk bridges, temporary railings and covering floor holes, and to give the laborers the protection of all interior work, walls and flooring, which is, in practice, their work anyway.
On concrete, our agreement says stripping of formwork is to be done by a 50/50 composite crew, half carpenters and half laborers, supervised by a carpenter foreman. In practice, stripping on hirise concrete is done by an all laborer crew, supervised by a laborer foreman. Only in heavy construction are carpenters involved in stripping, and that is usually of metal gang forms that are going to be reused.
I think it would make sense to give the stripping of decks, colums, beam bottoms and sides and other wooden formwork on hirise concrete to the laborers, but to claim 50/50 laborers/carpenters stripping of reusable patented form systems, like Symons, and metal gang forms, with the stripping supervised by a carpenter foreman.
We should also continue to recognize the concrete laborer's jurisdiction over the unloading, handling and hoisting of lumber on concrete and heavy construction jobs. Of course, we should continue our claim to having our apprentices handle all other carpenter installed material, except furniture and trade show exhibits, where the teamsters have the jurisdiction. And, we should add a clause saying we will not handle material delivered by a driver who is not a teamster.
There also needs to be a clarification on precast concrete work, that the hoisting, setting and bolting of these slabs is ours, not the ironworkers, with the operating engineers operating the cranes, of course, and laborers assisting in the hoisting and setting of the slabs.
Also, there needs to be a clearer statement of where in foundation work the dockbuilders work ends and ours begins, since, it doesn't make sense for carpenter locals to be taking work away from dockbuilders, who are also in the UBC. There also needs to be a clearer statement of where, in machinery erection, where our work ends and millwright work begins.
In furniture installation, a growing area of carpenter work, the agreement needs to claim instalation of power strips in the cubicles and panels from the electricians, with, of course, an electrician required to connect and energize the power strips. We also need to recognize the teamster's jurisdiction over unloading and stripping of furniture. But, we should require that the furniture be dispersed on the floor under the supervision of a carpenter foreman, and require that the carpenter steward be present to verify that the movers are in fact teamsters, as Teamster's local 814 doesn't have job stewards or a referral hall system.
And, we need to require that the furniture contractor either hire a laborer, or backcharge a laborer from the GC, so as to clean up the boxes and bags from the furniture that ends up getting stripped on the floor, because the teamsters didn't have time to strip it the night before when it came off the truck. That laborer also would put the protection on the furniture.
In the glass and archetecural metals industry, we need to clarify that all double hung window frames belong to the carpenter. We've had a major problem here with Ironworkers local 580 claiming that work, and it's led to much of the replacement window industry going rat.
With plate glass, we need to assert jurisdiction over all sticks, weather aluminum or whatever material, irregardless of weather they are shot or screwed into wood, masonry or steel, with the actual instalation and caulking of the glass belonging to the glazier. We also need to recoginze the area of the archetecural metal industry that the ironworkers rightfully own, exterior skins on steel frame buildings.
ARTICLE V General Foreman, Foreman Hiring Schedule: This section, which governs our hiring hall system, needs to be totally revamped.
In the current language, it spells out that the first carpenter on the site shall be from the union, that is to say the shop steward, and the second carpenter can be from the company. Thereafter, 50% of the carpenters will come from the hall, and 50% from the company, with a shop steward on each shift.
Not bad language on paper, but, for the last 4 or 5 years, the contractors have been evading this language, either by just not calling in jobs, or by only hiring a steward, or by requesting company men from the list, so the "50% local men" are in fact all company men.
In the outside construction agreements, there can be only one apprentice if there are less than 5 carpenters, and, thereafter, at least one out of 6 carpenters is supposed to be an apprentice. In the NYS Convention Center agreement, that governs trade show carpenter work at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, there is no limit on how many apprentices there can be, and in practice, they have labor calls that have 1 apprentice to every journeyman.
Of course, in the Javits agreement, there is an all company man crew, with no carpenters hired from the hall, except the shop steward and the assistant shop steward.
This system has been so abused that it needs to be totally scrapped, and replaced with a totally different hiring hall system.
The model could be the Joint Industry Board hiring hall run by local 3, Electricians. That is, 90% of a contractor's labor are to be hired from the hall, with the remaining 10% being foremen and leadmen, ( they call them "basic men"). The contractor can shift them around from site to site within the jurisdiction, as long as their is work.
This would be a good model for us to base a revamped hiring hall system on.
The employer would, under this system, hire 90% of their labor out of the hall, only being permitted to directly hire general foremen, foremen, assistant foremen and leadmen, with those personel capped at 10% of his total carpenter labor force. These workers could be shifted from job to job as production required. The only exception would be the job steward, who would be assigned to a particular site by the union, either from a company's carpenters or from off the list, and would remain there until that job was finished.
Also, contractors having 25 or more carpenters should have a chief shop steward assigned by the DC to cover all the jobs run by that company and to verify that all the carpenters on their payroll are in fact getting the pay and the stams. This steward should be allowed unrestricted access to the company payroll records in persuance of that goal. The cheif steward should also be rotated by the union at least every 6 months, so as to prevent employers from buying their influence.
Also, so as to fullfil the employer's commitment to training our industry's future workforce, every 6th carpenter dispatched to an employer would be an apprentice. And not just 1st and 2nd years, but 3rd and 4th year apprentices also.
Also, so as to promote equal opportunity in our industry, the hall would enforce the Federal guidelines for affirmative action in New York area construction, and make sure that at least 6% of each contractor's workforce were women, and 28% were Black, Hispanic or Asian. And, borrowing an idea from local 3 IBEW's contract, to provide opportunities for our older members, 10% of a contractors workforce should be carpenters over 50.
This job referral system should apply to ALL CARPENTER EMPLOYERS, and that includes the NYS Convention Center Operating Authority, the woodwork contractors and the scaffold contractors, who are currently allowed to field all company man workforces, and who can hire and lay off whoever they feel like, with no input from the union. That BS needs to stop.
ARTICLE VI : Job Referral System, Non Discrimination Clause: This section is a joke because, despite a comprehensive sounding statement that "there shall be no discrimination in the employment, hiring or training of employees in the bargaining unit on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, citizenship status, sexual orientation or affectional preference in all employment decisions, or union activity..." the agreement then goes on to give the employer the right to discharge any carpenter, or reject any applicant sent by the union, with only the proviso that the employer has to replace a local man with a local man, so as to maintain 50/50.
In other words, we have the same system that many construction unions do, that we are at will employees, who can be fired at any time, for any reason or no reason. We share this status with most non union workers, and it is unknown in most other union contracts, where the employer has to prove that they have a good cause for discharging an employee.
This section needs to be rewritten to require that the contractor prove good cause before discharging an employee, and that the employee not be discharged, but merely suspended with pay until such time as the discharge is upheld. We would need some kind of arbitration system to review these cases, maybe we could use the AAA arbitrators that other unions use.
The only just causes for discharge should be fighting on the job, showing up for work drunk or high, not reporting to work for 5 consecutive work days without a valid excuse, theft, willful distruction of the property of others or arson. The standard for proof of misconduct should be the same as it would be in a civil court, that is preponderance of the evidence.
In a case where an employer alleges a carpenter is incompetent, the carpenter should, rather than just getting laid off, as is current practice, be given an opportunity to take journeyman courses at the school to upgrade his or her skills in that area of the trade. If the carpenter completes the courses sucessfuly, the contractor should be required to keep that carpenter on.
Also, no carpenter should be fired just because, in a contractor's opinion, they work "too slow", and no employer should be allowed to enforce any kind of work quota, such as 100 boards of sheetrock a day, as is the case now. As long as a carpenter keeps moving all day, and his/her work is plumb and level, and installed in a professional manner, there shouldn't be any kind of quota of how much work they are supposed to do in a day.
The employers should lose the right they currently have to request that particular carpenters be sent off the list to work for them, as it is the main method of abuse of the current hiring system. Except for the 10% basic workforce, the foremen and leadmen, they should have no control of who they get from the hall. The current practice, that members state the area or areas of carpentry they are qualified in when they sign the list, [ie, sheetrock, concrete, celings, woodwork, furniture, ect]and be referred to jobs accordingly, should continue.
When an employer, due to lack of work, needs to lay off carpenters, the layoff should be done by senority, that is, last carpenter hired, first carpenter let go.
ARTICLE VII : Lumping Prohibited: This section prohibits contractors from misclassifying their employees as 1099 subcontractors, and paying them lump sum cash piecerates, instead of the contractual hourly rate. The basic language of the clause is good, but the problem is, there are no penalties for a contractor using lumpers.
I would propose that a contractor caught using lumpers should be required to compensate the lumpers for the benifits they wouldv'e gotten, and for every day a lumper was employed, the contractor should be required to pay the top carpenter on the out of work list a day's pay and benifits.
ARTICLE X : Hours, Holidays, Overtime: The biggest problem here is the fact that not every contractor in the city has the same work day. In the Wall, Ceiling, Cement League, Independent and most of the other building construction agreements, and the GC agreements,there is a 7 hour day, with time and a half for OT, and double time for sundays and holidays.
But there is an 8 hour day, in the AGC heavy and highway construction agreement, the Hotel and Piers trade show agreement, the Javits Center agreement and the shop cabinetmakers under the Manufacturing Woodworkers Association agreement.
And, even in the Wall Ceiling agreement and the "brown book", and the other building construction agreements, the employer has the option of having an 8 hour day at straight time, merely by telling the local that they plan to have an 8 hour day.
This needs to be straightened out, and simplified. My proposal combines the best of the existing language from the current agreements, and formalizes some of the past practices that are to our benifit.
The basic work day should be 7 hours, starting at 7AM, 7:30AM or 8AM, at the employer's discression and based on job conditions. The workday should include a 15 minute coffee break in the morning, 5 minutes to wash up before lunch, a 30 minute unpaid lunchbreak and 10 minutes to wash up in the afternoon at the end of the day.
All over time should be paid at the double time rate [that was the rule until former District Council President, and now convicted embezzler Fred Devine, gave that up to the employers in 1993]. OT would include any hours worked after 7 in a day and any hours worked on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday.
Also, in some segements of the buisness, it is common for carpenters to work off hours, such as nights or weekends. This is common in the trade show industry, where carpenters work at night the evening before a show opens, and come in in the late afternoon the day a show moves out. Also, in furniture, all deliveries and many occupied building instalations and service calls are done at night.
So, for all hours worked before 7AM, or after 3:30PM, the double time rate should be paid. And, carpenters working these off hours should recieve a paid lunch.
Employers should have the option of working an 8 hour day, but, that 8th hour should be paid at the double time rate. And, carpenters working 8 hours should have an afternoon 15 minute coffee break after 6 hours have been worked, and a 15 minute break every 2 hours thereafter.
On hirise concrete, heavy and highway construction, or any other exterior work, if employees are unable to work due to rain, snow or other inclement weather, they should get 4 hours show up pay. This should also apply in any other situation where carpenters report to work but are unable to, or are not permitted to, start. Currently, show up pay is 2 hours.
Any carpenter who is asked to report to work, reports and starts, and isn't stopped from working due to inclement weather, should get at least 7 hours pay. This would change the current trade show and Javits Center practice of a 4 hour minimum.
If the employer wishes to have a Saturday make up day, all hours worked that day should be paid at double time.
Martin Luther King's birthday, and non presidential year election day, should be added to the current list of holidays. Currently, holidays are unpaid, except for foremen and 1st and 2nd year apprentices. That should change, and all carpenters should get paid 7 hours at straight time, plus 7 hours of stamps, for all the holidays. And, double time should be paid for all hours actually worked on a holiday, in addition to the 7 hour holiday pay
Also, employees who are summoned to jury duty, or are called up into the National Guard, or the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard reserves should be paid 7 hours a day for every work day they are on duty, with a cap at 30 work days in any 12 month period.
ARTICLE XI : Wages: The total wage and benifit package per hour for journeymen, as of January 1, 2000, is $54.03, $32.22 in wages, $21.81 in benifits. As of January 1, 2001, the total package will be $56.35.
The apprentice rates are set at: 1st year, 40% of journeyman, 2nd year, 50% of journeyman, 3rd year, 65% of journeyman and 4th year, 80% of journeyman.
The foreman's total package is $2.50 per hour more than journeyman, and the general foreman's package is $5 an hour more.
As our buisness is in a major boom right now, the employers and the developers can, and should, pay more.
I would propose that the total journeyman package be increased by $4 an hour on July 1, 2001, $3 an hour on July 1, 2002 and $3 an hour on July 1, 2003, with the increases to be distributed as follows:
2001, $1 dollar increase to the wage, $0.10 cent increase to the vacation fund [currently $4.10 an hour] , $0.10 cent increase to the annuity fund [currently $4 an hour], $0.30 cent increase to the welfare fund [currently $7.24 an hour] , to be specifically used to finance retiree medical benifits, and cut their $90 a month health insurance premium, $0.25 cents an hour to set up and finance an organizing fund, which would send organizers among the 20,000 non union carpenters in the city and pull them out on strikes to get their rat contractors to sign up with the union, $0.25 cents an hour to set up and finance a strike and defense fund, so these carpenters will have some strike pay when they walk out on the rat contractors, and $2 dollars to set up and finance a supplemental unemployment fund, similar to the local 3 electricians B Fund, that would pay carpenters a supplement to UI when we are out of work.
2002, $1 dollar increase to the wage, $0.10 cents increase to vacation fund, $0.10 cents increase to annuity fund, $0.30 cents to welfare fund, again specifically intended to reduce retiree premium, $0.25 cents increase to proposed organizing fund, $0.25 cents increase to proposed strike and defense fund, $1 dollar increase to proposed supplemental unemployment fund.
2003, $1 dollar increase to the wage, $0.10 cent increase to vacation fund, $0.10 cent increase to annuity fund, $0.30 cent increase to welfare fund, $0.25 cent increase to proposed organizing fund, $025 cent increae to proposed strike fund, and $1 dollar increase to proposed supplimental unemployment fund.
These increases are rather modest, but, I think our main focus now during the building boom should be on securing our future for the inevitable slowdown that will come in construction in a couple of years. That's why I proposed the organizing, strike and defense and supplimental unemployment funds, and the restoration of double time. Let's get these things locked down now, while we are in a postion of strength.
ARTICLE XII : Grievance Procedure: This section is a joke, as the only time the grievance procedure is used is when a politically connected non working shop steward gets fired. Also, the section actually names the specific arbitrators we will use, Roger Maher, Robert Silagi, Joseph Lipowski or Robert Herzog. I don't know who these 4 guys are, but they have been named as arbitrators for the DC since at least the 80's.
I would replace these 4 dudes with the American Arbitration Association. AAA has a pro management bias, as does the arbitration system in general, but, at least there will be no conflicts of interest. Also, AAA has the resources to handle a much higher number of cases than these 4 guys do, and, as all carpenter terminations, not just those of some shop stewards, would be subject to arbitrator approval under my proposal, we'd need a more substantial arbitrator panel, which AAA can provide.
ARTICLE XIII : No Strike, No Lockout: We need to expand on the exceptions to the no strike clause, which currently only allow strikes if an employer refuses to submit to arbitration,or refuses to follow the decision of an arbitrator within 5 days.
I would include the no strike clause exemptions to include permitting strikes against :
any contractor who employs non union carpenters;
any contractor who employs non union people from other construction trades;
any contractor who uses non teamster delivery drivers;
any contractor who discharges a shop steward in retaliation for him or her performing their duties for the DC;
any contractor who is delinquent in payment to the funds for more than 30 calendar days;
any contractor who pays cash to their carpenters, employs lumpers, or in any way wilfully defrauds the benifit funds;
any contractor who is involved with a carpenter labor dispute in any other UBC local, DC or RC, in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Panama Canal Zone, Guam, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands or American Samoa, or is involved with a carpenter labor dispute with the independent carpenter's unions in Quebec, Mexico, Puerto Rico or Panama
and
any contractor who wilfully endangers the safety and health of their carpenters.
ARTICLE XV: Health & Welfare, Pension, Vacation, Annuity, Apprenticeship, Journeyman Retraining Educational and Industry Fund and Supplemental Funds and UBC&JA Funds and New York City & Vicinity L/M Cooperation Fund
I would amend this section to cover my proposed organizing, strike and defense and supplemental unemployment fund, and the special retiree welfare fund, I proposed above.
Also, I would expand the right of the union to audit employer books and payroll records, so as to detect employers cheating the funds. In addition to the current language, that calls for periodic audits by union hired accountants of employer records, I would make annual independent audits of employer payroll records mandatory, again with the audits to be completed by union hired CPAs.
Also, Buisness Agents, Local officers, District Council Labor Management fund representatives, the proposed chief shop stewards, and job stewards should also have the right to review employer payroll records. The penalty for failure to produce payroll records for union inspection should be increased from the present $100 dollars per auditor to $500 dollars per auditor or union representative for the first violation, $1,000 dollars per rep for the second, and $5,000 per rep for the third violation.
ARTICLE XVI : Surety Bond: There currently is a schedule for the bonds employers are required to post to guarantee they don't skip payments to the funds. The schedule is on a sliding scale based on number of employees, starting at $5,000 for a contractor with from 1 to 5 carpenters, and topping out at $100,000 for a contractor with over 50 carpenters.
As there has been a history of fraud and delinquencies here, I would call for the schedule to be doubled, that is a contractor with from 1 to 5 carpenters would post $10,000, and a contractor with over 50 carpenters would post $200,000. And, a contractor with over 100 carpenters should post $250,000.
Any employer who defaults should be required to double their bond before being permitted to run work again. Conversely, an employer with no defaults in 5 years should get a 10% reduction in their bonding, no defaults in 10 years, a 50% reduction. No defaults in 20 years, a 75% reduction.
ARTICLE XVII: Miscellanious Conditions:
Section 4: Shop Stewards: I would amend this to clarify that the shop steward has the authority to :
check the employee's paychecks to see if they got their pay and stamps;
check employer payroll records to verify that employees are correctly paid;
check with the GC and the building managment to see if the employer is getting deliveries and to verify that the delivery trucks are driven by union drivers and unloaded by union carpenters, or in the case of furniture and trade show exhibits, by union teamsters, or, in the case of formwork and lumber on concrete jobs, by union laborers;
verify that other contractors perfoming carpenter work on the site are in fact using union carpenters;
verify that all union carpenters on the site are paid up in dues;
verify that there are no violations of the contract going on
and
investigate any such violations and report them to the local.
All of these steward duties are to be carried out on the employer's time, and, of course, if the steward has any time left over after performing these duties, he or she should do whatever carpenter work he or she is assigned to do by the foreman.
Further, the power of the steward should be expanded to include calling work stoppages if necessary to persuade a contractor to correct contract violations. Also, the steward should be fully involved if a greivance goes to arbitration, and should be paid by the employer during such participation in an arbitration, or investigation pursuant to an arbitration.
The proposed chief steward's main responsibilites would be traveling to the different sites a contractor is at in the city, and verifying if the contract is being enforced, and checking employer payroll records on a weekly basis. If a contractor had more than 25 carpenters, or maintained it's payroll records more than 30 miles from the city limits, the chief steward would do no work other than the work of the DC. Also, the chief steward would be involved in investigating and pursuing any and all arbitrations against a contractor. And, the chief steward shall report any new jobs started by the employer, so the union can assign or dispatch a job steward.
Section 5: This section deals with prohibiting production quotas.The first sentence specifically says "The amount or character of work demanded by the Employer or his Representatives shall not be unreasonable...". I would strengthen the language, to prohibit any discharge of an employee who the employer thinks works "too slow", or any employee who fails to complete some arbitrary production quota, [such as 100 boards a day, for example] unless it can be proven to an arbitrator by preponderance of the evidence that that carpenter wilfully chose to shirk his or her work, didn't produce quality work to the best of their abilitiesand failed to work in a professional manner befitting a skilled tradesperson.
Section 22: This section covers shanties and gangboxes. I would amend it to require that, on jobs with less than 5 carpenters, the employer shouldn't have to provide a shanty, but would , on all jobs longer than 1 day, be mandated to provide a gangbox. [some furniture contractors don't, they tell you to "lock your tools in the lateral file cabinets"]
Also, the employer should be required to make arrangements with the GC or the building owner to provide access to toilets, hand washing facilities, and clean drinking water for carpenters. In buildings above 6 stories in height, facilities should be at least every 5th floor. On highway jobs more than 1 mile in lenght, facilities should be at least one every half mile.
In the event that toilets are portosan type portible toilets or single toilet bathrooms, that are used by one employee at a time, the employer can have both male and female carpenters use the same bathroom. But, if the bathroom is a multiple toilet bathroom, that can be used by more than one person at a time, the contractor will arrainge for a seperate restroom to be provided for female carpenters. If there are less than 20 carpenters on the site, this facility should only be set up in the event that a woman carpenter reports to work on the site, if there are more than 20 carpenters, the seperate facility should be set up automatically, even if no woman is on site presently.
Section 23 : This covers tool and clothing reimbursement in the event of a fire or theft from the gangbox or shanty. The current schedule is $300 for tools [$250 on concrete], $100 for overcoat, $100 for clothing and $50 for shoes. I would update the reimbursement to:
$400 for tools [ $300 on concrete, $600 on woodwork, $400 for hand tools and $250 for cordless power drills on furniture installation and trade show, and $1,000 on millwright jobs];
$150 for overcoat;
$150 for clothing
and
$150 for workshoes.
The employee should only have to prove that they lost the articles in question, they should not have to provide recipts that they have brought replacements for the articles and they should get reimbursed on the next payday, or within 3 calendar days, whichever is closer.
The employer should also have to pay an additional $250 dollars if they failed to provide an adequate gangbox or shanty.
ARTICLE XXI : Efectuating Clause and Signatories: This proposed agreement would cover all carpenter employers in the city, and would therefore be signed by independent and newly organized contractors; the GC associatons, that is the Building Contractors Association and the Building Trades Employers Association; the NY State Chapter of the Associated General Contractors; the Association of Wall Ceiling And Carpentry Industries, the Cement League and the other subcontractor associations; The Manufacturing Woodworkers Association and the other specialty contractor associations; the trade show contractors; and the NY State Convention Center Operating Corporation. The term of the agreement would be 3 years, July 1, 2001 to June 30, 2004.
THOSE ARE SOME GOOD IDEAS, GREG, BUT HOW WOULD WE GET THERE? Well, one of the big problems we face in getting the kind of contract we need is that we have a limited voice at the bargaining table. For the first time in 4 years, we have an elected leadership at our DC, we had an appointed DC executive committee from 1915 to 1994, but we lost that in 1996, and only got back the right to elect our top officers in 1999.
But the local BAs are appointed now [from 1890 to 1996, we had elected Buisness Agents]. Also, we don't vote on our contracts here, we had that right taken away from us by General President William "Big Bill" Hutcheson in 1915.
So, we really have no control over what they bargain down at 395 Hudson Street. And that's something we have to fight to change. So maybe then we'd be able to get the kind of contract we need and deserve.
Thats it for now.
Be union, work safe.