If We Are Lucky?No Kidding.
I recall the statements from a mining convention saying mid summer was very possible at the latest.If they do have this sorted out already,it would sure help a number of countries that are being affected by these low gold prices right now,in the event they will settle the market with clear statements regarding percentage of holdings and future sales and lending policy.They have had ample time to come to decision if there are no outstanding conflicts.In the absence of clear statements at this time,I feel the market will view this as negative and /or there are outstanding differences of opinion.This would not be helpful towards a goal of stability and unity.IMO.
**********************************************************************************************
Meanwhile..............back at the ranch............anyone need a raise?I recall it was Bobby Y. who suggested way way way back that the UPS strike may have been the turning point for increased wage demands.Good call Bobby.I mean.....how long can workers sit back and watch company profits soar while they accept declining wage settlements.Since everyone is in the market,they must be keeping track of how much some companies are making and would like their cut of the pie.No?
**********************************************************************************************
REALITY CHECK: U.S. UNIONS GETTING HEFTY WAGE, BENEFIT RISES
--Continental Pilots Approve Average 45% Pay Increase --Offer On Table For Peterbilt Employees To Get 9% Pay Hikes --GM Strike Overshadows Worker Restiveness In Many Other Unions
By Gary Rosenberger
ÿÿÿÿÿNEW YORK (MktNews) - Recently concluded collective bargaining agreements indicate labor unions are pushing for and receiving hefty, in some cases breathtaking, increases in wages and benefits.
ÿÿÿÿÿWages and benefits appear to a growing priority in a host of labor disputes that have been overshadowed by the ongoing GM strike, at heart a contest over outsourcing and worker safety issues.
ÿÿÿÿÿA look at other labor actions around the nation shows growing restiveness among workers and increasing concessions from employers.
ÿÿÿÿÿContinental Airlines pilots recently ratified an agreement that would give them an average pay increase of 45%, according to Jim Moody, a spokesman for the Independent Association of Continental Pilots. But the pay increase put Continental pilots back in the range of pilots at other carriers.
ÿÿÿÿÿNorthwest Airlines flight attendants are calling for pay boosts in excess of 18% to 20%, according to a union official.
ÿÿÿÿÿAbout 50,000 workers in 35 private hospitals and nursing homes in New York City approved a new 40-month contract in June that includes a 6% pay increase.
ÿÿÿÿÿAlso in New York City, thousands of building and construction trade workers held a violent rally last week protesting a Metropolitan Transit Authority contract with a non-union firm to build a transit command center.
ÿÿÿÿÿPeterbilt Motors Co. has put an offer on the table offering striking workers pay increases in excess of 9%, according to a company official.
ÿÿÿÿÿSome 1,200 workers at Peterbilt's Madison truck plant outside of Nashville have been on strike since May 3, and have already rejected an earlier agreement they said fell short on pension and health coverage.
ÿÿÿÿÿTeamsters employees at the Anheuser-Busch Co. brewery are mulling a five-year contract offer that will raise average salaries from $60,000 a year to around $66,000 at the end of the term. Union officials recommended rejection of the contract.
ÿÿÿÿÿPhiladelphia has been coping with an ongoing mass transit strike that began June 1. The dispute between the Transit Workers Union and the city transit division of SEPTA (Southeast Pennsylvania Transit Authority) is showing scant signs of coming to a resolution, a SEPTA official said.
ÿÿÿÿÿAll this suggests growing resolve among workers to assert their demands, according to Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University.
ÿÿÿÿÿ"Wage stagnation went on for so long, at the same time that companies enjoyed incredible profits -- they had shared the burden of economic decline, but not the benefits of economic success," she said.
ÿÿÿÿÿ"Union workers are learning that, if they mobilize, they can leverage employers to share that wealth," she said.
**********************************************************************************************
ÿÿÿÿÿAccording to Bronfenbrenner, the changeabout came with the UPS strike in the summer of 1997.
ÿÿÿÿÿ"It taught workers that you can strike and win and it let employers know that strikers can get 2 to 1 public support," she said.
**********************************************************************************************
ÿÿÿÿÿMoody, the Continental pilots spokesman, said that despite the breathtaking increases in pay, a third of the pilots had voted against ratification of the agreement.
ÿÿÿÿÿFor one, the 45% pay increase put Continental pilots only in the middle of the pay range among the top five domestic airlines, he said.
ÿÿÿÿÿ"They also got a nearly meaningless profit-sharing plan that only kicks in when the airline makes $670 million profit," Moody said.
ÿÿÿÿÿUAW spokesman Paul Krell said the Peterbilt strike, which began May 3, is almost purely an "economic strike."
ÿÿÿÿÿ"Peterbilt increased its market share last year and saw profits of 71% over 1996 -- but at the bargaining table they wanted to increase the employee's share of family coverage on their health insurance," Krell said.
ÿÿÿÿÿ"We also wanted an improved COLA (cost of living adjustment) formula; we wanted to establish the same early retirement plan that we have in other UAW facilities; and we wanted the same 401K plan the company offers at its non-union facility in Denton, Texas," Krell said.
ÿÿÿÿÿAn official for PACCAR, Peterbilt's parent company, said the striking UAW workers will vote on a contract Sunday that will raise their average salaries, including overtime, from $43,000 to $47,000 annually, or around 9%.
ÿÿÿÿÿ"The package will put them among the highest paid employees in the Nashville area -- $47,000 a year is a pretty good salary," said the company official, who requested anonymity.
ÿÿÿÿÿUAW workers in May accepted a collective bargaining pact with Case Corp. after initially rejecting a similar contract in April.
ÿÿÿÿÿCase, a major manufacturer of farm and construction equipment, included increases in workers' incomes through a combination of annual lump-sum payments in the first, second, third, fourth and sixth years. The payments would be based on 3% of the prior year's eligible earnings, according to local press accounts.
ÿÿÿÿÿDanny Campbell, a Northwest flight attendant and a Teamster Local 2000 official, said that two years of active negotiations with the airline has produced no breakthroughs.
ÿÿÿÿÿ"It would take an 18% to 20% wage increase to bring us to the industry average, we're shooting beyond that," Campbell said.
ÿÿÿÿÿThe flight attendants are also looking for a retirement package that would provide for 60% to 65% of earnings on the best 36 months of a flight attendants career. Currently, flight attendants receive about $1000 a month after 30 years of service.
ÿÿÿÿÿThe Anheuser-Busch contract offer to the 8,000 brewery workers appears to be in trouble after union leadership recommended a rejection.
ÿÿÿÿÿTeamster officials in a statement said they objected to sub-contracting and pension provisions in the contract.
ÿÿÿÿÿCompany spokesman Steve LeResche said wage and benefit increases on the order of 11.5% over five years on a $60,000 salary base is a generous offer. "I would say that's an excellent contract," he said.
ÿÿÿÿÿMeanwhile, the one major strike that is not about wage issues is the GM strike.
ÿÿÿÿÿAccording to the the UAW's Krell, the local unions involved have not been particularly emboldened by low unemployment rates and worker scarcity.
ÿÿÿÿÿ"The 4.3% unemployment rate doesn't apply to the Flint strike," Krell said.
ÿÿÿÿÿ"In the late 70s and early 80s we had a severe recession going on and you did see a lot of concessionary contracts," he said.
ÿÿÿÿÿ"We're no longer seeing that in the 90s -- we're seeing wage gains and improvements in retirement benefits," he said.
ÿÿÿÿÿ"But concern about job security in the manufacturing sector, if anything, has grown in the 90s because of globalization," Krell said.
ÿÿÿÿÿ"GM did not have the ability or the technology to put a plant in Shanghai back then -- today they do, and it puts tremendous pressure on jobs," he said. "The pressure on jobs is greater now than it was during the 1982-83 recession."
Editor's Note: Reality Check stories survey sentiment among business people and their trade associations. They are intended to complement and anticipate economic data and to provide a sounding into specific sectors of the U.S. economy.
[TOPICS: MNREAL]
09:10 EDT 07/06 |
