|
|
Things already seemed to be looking up on Friday, when striking workers heard of the tentative settlement and began smiling on the picket lines, which they maintained until Saturday.
"I'm ready to go back to work, make some money and make some candy," shipping department employee Lang Lawis said.
"This is part of the democratic process, a peaceful way to settle our grievances. In a lot of places, people throw bricks or do damage. Here, there was a major grievance and 2,700 people settled peacefully. That's big," Lawis said.
"Sometimes you gotta have something so you can move forward. This was a good strike."
On the contentious issue of the workers' contributions to their health care plans, the union got what it fought for - maintenance of a 6 percent contribution in the low-cost plan for the term of the contract, which will expire Oct. 30, 2005.
In turn, the union agreed that the workers would give up 4 cents of their hourly pay raise in the first year of the contract, 6 cents in the second year, 2 cents in the third year and 7 cents in the fourth year. Lead union negotiator Robert Oakley said it was a compromise that appeared to be acceptable to both sides.
"Both sides got a fair share," Local 464 Business Manager Bruce Hummel said. "For us, what's important is the bottom line - the net take-home pay and what kind of coverage they get."
The employees also will receive an across the board pay raise of 50 cents immediately, 3 percent in November of this year, 40 cents in November 2003 and 3.25 percent in November 2004, plus a $525 signing bonus.
The company says the average Hershey production worker earns about $18 an hour, although many of the striking employees said they make less. A worker now earning $18 an hour will earn nearly $20 an hour by the end of the contract.
"Overall, it looks like we came out on the better end of the deal," Judy Bolen, a West Hershey Plant employee, said during the voting. "It's not 100 percent, but it looks pretty good."
Not all of the workers were in favor of the settlement. Some said they were hoping for a better deal in retirement benefits, although the company will guarantee them a minimum average return of 8 percent on the investments it makes into their supplemental retirement account.
It's a sign of the times that many people are worried they won't be able to save enough money to live comfortably in retirement, several workers said.
"It was mainly the younger people who were disappointed that they didn't get the retirement insurance they wanted," according to Gary Lebo, a press room employee who has worked at Hershey for nearly 29 years. Only 20 percent of the current workers were there in 1980 (when the last strike occurred), he said.
Hershey Foods spokesman John Long issued a statement last week saying the company was pleased to have reached an agreement with the union.
"It has been a long and difficult process for both sides, during which we have tried to balance the interests of our employees with the long-term needs of our business. The contract strikes a healthy balance between the two and will allow us to return to the task of building a stronger, more competitive Hershey Foods," he said.
Because of the rising cost of health care, the company first proposed to raise the workers' contribution to their health care plans to 10 percent then to 12 percent over the next four years, which the union said was unacceptable.
"The people feel they accomplished what they set out to do," Oakley said after the votes were counted. "They had a say, and somebody in the end ultimately listened to them."
Hershey Foods spokeswoman Christine Dugan said, "We're pleased that our Hershey and West Hershey plant employees ratified the contract. We're looking forward to resuming operations at those two facilities."
Some of the workers have been called back and are working this week, but they expect production to start up in stages.
Union leaders estimated it would take about two weeks before both plants return to normal production levels.
"They plan to have everybody back by June 24," Hummel said. "First they have to get the chocolate ready, then make the candy, then start wrapping and shipping."
Hummel said the chocolate workers' situation attracted a lot of interest among employees at the nearby, non-union Reese's plant and that union representatives are meeting with Reese's workers this week. In recent years, groups of Reese's employees have tried to bring the union into the plant without success.
