JEFFERSONVILLE —
Members of Teamsters Union Local 89 are heading back to work at Jeffboat after a proposed contract was ratified Sunday.
The 445-71 vote ended the month-long strike for Jeffboat workers that began when the previous contract expired at midnight April 2. A dispute over health care coverages held up the deal, but parent company American Commercial Lines Inc. relented, granting the union employees the coverages they were seeking.
“It was all about the health care,” said Fred Zuckerman, president of Teamsters Local 89. “[We] got the benefits we currently have. I think everybody’s happy about it.”
Previously, ACL, in the company’s “best offer,” presented union employees the same health care plan it has for its nonunion workers. Out of the nearly 600 union workers, only 18 voted yes for the initial proposal because the nonunion employee health coverage was a downgrade from union employees’ coverage under the prior contract.
Members of the union pay about $65 per month for their own health care coverage. From the base amount, the premiums increase in $10 increments depending upon who is added to the plan.
As part of the change in insurance, ACL also presented Jeffboat workers with a pay increase over the three-year deal, with no increase in the first year, a 1 percent increase in the second year and a 2 percent increase in the third year.
Wages for workers at Jeffboat average about $17 or $18 per hour, Zuckerman said.
The increases would have helped cover changes in dental and vision insurance, where workers would be forced to cover up to 50 percent of the costs. Paying the higher amount for vision and dental coverage is something Jeffboat employees haven’t had to do before. Another provision in dispute allowed Jeffboat to change the terms of the insurance over the life of the three-year deal, according to Zuckerman.
But the new three-year contract — the deal that expired also had a three-year term — retains the coverages that the union employees had throughout their previous contract. The agreement also kept intact the pay-increase structure, Zuckerman said.
When contacted about the new contract, officials from ACL would not comment beyond what was in press release sent out Monday.
“I would like to thank the Teamsters’ bargaining committee for working with us to find wage and health care alternatives as we strive to position our manufacturing facility to be competitive in the marketplace,” said Mike Ryan, president and chief executive officer of ACL, in the release. “We will continue to move forward with the implementation of our strategic plan for Jeffboat, pursuing new business in what remains a very challenging economic environment.”
A deal was reached a little sooner than expected, as Zuckerman said in a previous article that ACL’s strike contingency plan was set to last three months and the Teamsters planned to be out of work for that duration.
In a first-quarter earnings call last week, where the company reported a loss, Ryan said that the company did not expect the strike to affect ACL’s annual revenues and that it was anticipating meeting all orders logged for 2010.
Shares of ACL stock (Nasdaq: ACLI) closed up 3.43 percent at $21.10 per share Monday.
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