Teamsters Local 89 members at Clariant, a chemical manufacturing and warehousing facility, ratified a new three-year contract on April 15th. The Agreement passed by an overwhelming 97%, the highest in the shop's modern history.
The new contract contains historic economic gains for Clariant members across all classifications. Over the life of the agreement members will see wage increases of 21% for production and warehouse, 22% for maintenance, and 23% for electricians. Maintenance and electricians will also have the ability to get up to an additional 6% increase if they choose to test into additional certifications.
In addition to these significant increases, the existing shift differential for night-shift has been increased from $0.35 cents to $1.75 dollars. This differential will also apply to day shift employees any time they are required to work on a night shift, and will continue to apply to a night shift employee any time they are required to work on a day shift.
"This is the best contract we've ever had in my ten years of being with this company," said Chief-Steward and committee member Spencer Shull.
Another major improvement came in the on-call language for electricians. The new modifications strengthens the on-call position to give members in this classification a better work-life balance by establishing limits on the times workers can be called in, and guaranteed minimums of hours of work, and hours off work.
There were several other language improvements in addition to these highlights, including an update to bereavement leave allowing for five paid days off for the loss of a spouse or child, up from two days.
This historic contract victory was achieved, as many at Local 89 are, by building a credible strike threat to ensure the Company knew members were prepared to do whatever it took to win. This included a unanimous strike authorization vote prior to the start of negotiations, which put enormous pressure on the Company from the outset.
"I'm very proud of this group of Teamsters," said Business Agent Alex Murphy. "They stuck together and fought for each other. They didn't just win the contract they wanted, they won the contract they deserved."
In addition to Murphy, who chaired negotiations, and Chief-Steward Shull, the Teamsters bargaining committee consisted of members Brent Amback, Jimmy Stewart, Joe Kroneman, John Reed, Earl Datson, Josh Morgenson, Albert Weaver and Ted Monroe.
Employing a team approach that has proven highly effective and is becoming more common for Local 89 negotiations, a number of other union staff assisted at various points, including Recording Secretary Craig Burns, Business Agents Jay Dennis and Daniel Cartmill, and General Counsel Cody Hibbard.
Teamsters Local 89 would like to thank the rank-and-file members and union staff involved for their knowledge and dedication to winning a strong contract for the members at Clariant.
From President Thompson, Secretary-Treasurer Cooper and all of us at Local 89, congratulations to our Clariant members on your new contract!
