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It was only the first month of 2008, but it was not too early in the year for Alcatel-Lucent to hit the ground running with contract violations. First it was absence reporting and then it was cancellation of the union designated floating holiday. It seemed that management had lost its mind and needed some severe treatment to cure their insanity.
The Departmental Rep and Steward at Alcatel-Lucent in Alpharetta, GA along with officers at CWA Local 3250 and the National Office took on the company and collectively we were able to prevail and reverse these clear violations of the contract.
Alcatel-Lucent first hit our members’ with a policy change that required them to report their third day of absence to their Medical carrier and supervisor. This was a clear violation of our negotiated Medical Plan Benefit procedures, which we agreed to in contract bargaining. The decision to require that employees contact both their supervisor AND Aetna on the third (3) day of a benefit plan absence was vigorously argued as absence reporting is a bargained for item and could not be arbitrarily changed by the Company. Based on those discussions, the Company “pulled back” on the requirement for employees to notify Aetna while changes to the Sickness, Absence, Disability, and Benefit Plan documents are being evaluated. The employees and supervisors at the Alpharetta, GA location were immediately informed of the change and now are no longer required to report absence to Aetna on the third day.
Note: Our members who did comply with this rule and had called Aetna and reported to me that Aetna knew nothing about this process. It seems that Alcatel-Lucent never notified Aetna regarding this new requirement. The second violation of our contract involved the union designated floating holiday. On January 22, 2008 our Department Rep and Steward at Alpharetta were informed that the Holiday of Good Friday was being canceled. I guess if we would have chosen Bastille Day they never would have considered canceling it, since Alcatel-Lucent is a French company.
It seems that labor No-Relations at Alcatel-Lucent failed to read the collect bargaining agreement they signed off on which clearly states that our Union is entitled to designate one floating holiday. In fact, the company was convinced that they designated the Good Friday holiday even though pursuant to the contract they were not even eligible to designate any floating holiday. Labor management just has to learn to read the contract before they announce one of their hair-brained decisions. Working closely with our Union reps at Alpharetta and the National Office, we were able to read the contract language over and over again to Labor No-Relations until they finally absorbed the clear and concise language that the Union and our members are entitled and eligible to designate one floating holiday per year.
The following letter was sent to and accepted by Alcatel-Lucent: This is to inform you that CWA Local 3250, pursuant to Designated Holidays, Appendix F, of the 2004 Consolidated Workers General Agreement between Lucent Technologies and Communications Workers of America, has elected to designate the Union floating holiday as Good Friday in 2008. Furthermore, Local 3250 requests that Alcatel-Lucent recognize the Union floating holiday of Good Friday as its designated holiday for the term of the 2004 Consolidated Workers General Agreement between Lucent Technologies and Communications Workers of America. Respectfully, Roy Hegenbart
President
CWA Local 3250 I want to thank all our Members who supported and participated in challenging these contract violations. Special thanks to Departmental Rep Irene Lund, Steward Tom Lane, EVP Anne Johnson, C&T Staff Rep Laura Unger and C&T Vice Pres Ralph Maly for their time and dedication in resolving these issues. Only through our collective strength were we able to prevail in such a timely manner.
In unity there is strength, Roy Hegenbart
President/Local 3250
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