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Highlights from the 2006-2009 Contract
June 26, 2006
CWA Rep. Al Piker reports that Local 7270
has reached a tentative agreement with Citizens (Frontier) -Minnesota.
The details are:
New Titles
Sales and Service Technicians (All technicians including SCC)
Classified as:
Operations
Sales and Service Technician
Facility Assignor
Service Assurance Representative (Dispatch,
Assignment)
Sales and Service
Specialist (Existing repair reps and call center reps)
Classified as:
Call Center
Sales and Service Specialist
Service Assurance Representative (Repair) (until duties
merged into Sales and Service Specialist position)
Article 3
- Joint Operations and Call Center Quarterly Employee/Management
meetings. Agenda will be set by mutual agreement.
- No Strike - No Lockout (new language)
Article 5
- Company has established "Flexible Part Time Employees" job
description. These are part time employees that are hired with the
expection that their schedule will be flexible and permit them from
time to time to work hours beyond their normally scheduled shift or
other non-scheduled hours including split shifts.
(Call Center Only)
Article 6 - Working Hours, Sunday Differential and Overtime
- Split shifts - Employees hired after January 1, 2007, can be
scheduled for split shifts up to 4 weeks a year.
- Overnight shifts will not be implemented until sufficient
staffing. Existing employees will not be scheduled before 6 AM or
after 11 PM.
- Employees working 11 PM - 6 AM will get a $1.00 per hour
differential for those hours of their shift that falls within these
hours.
- Removal of 7 AM to 7 PM language - this will not become a 7 x 24
operation.
- Four-day work weeks with at least two, possibly three
consecutive days off. These shifts will be bid by seniority.
Holiday weeks revert back to 5 day workweeks. PTO will be 10 hours
for one day of PTO.
- Sunday Differential - Sundays will continue to be compensation
at 1 1/2 times until staffing is at 150 consultants. At that point,
it will go down to 1 1/4. If the staffing level drops below 150
consultants, then it will revert back to 1 1/2.
- Mandatory Overtime Cap - increased from 8 hours to 10 hours in a
week. Overtime language applies to full time employees only. Part
time employees may be asked, or may be required to work
non-scheduled hours.
(Operations Only)
Article 6 - Working Hours, Sunday Differential and Overtime
- Normal shifts will be scheduled between 7 AM and 9 PM. When any
portion of the shift falls from 9 PM to 7 AM there is a 10%
differential (increased from 7%).
- Four-day work weeks
- Overtime Administration - For the sole purpose of providing
equal and impartial distribution of overtime, all overtime hours
offered by an employee's supervisor, the hours refused shall be
posted as well as overtime hours worked on a weekly basis.
- Compensated Availability - (replaces stand-by language): Pay
will be $2.40 for all employees assigned to hourly coverage and 11
hours straight pay for all employees assigned on a weekly basis.
The first two call-outs will be a minimum 3 hours. Beyond the
second call-out, compensation will be paid for actual time worked.
- Call-Outs - For employees who live outside their normal
reporting district, the computation of call-out time under this
section shall not include more than 30 minutes travel time from the
employees home to the job and shall not include more than 30 minutes
travel time from the job to the employee's home. If trouble can be
cleared from home, the tech will get 3 hours straight pay.
- Scheduling of Non-Selected Tours - This language shall apply to
limited situations (i.e. training). The company may assign tours
outside of seniority on the following basis: 0-5 years service - up
to 15 weeks annually; 5-10 years service - up to 8 weeks annually;
10-20 years service - up to 6 weeks annually; and 20+ years service
- up to 4 weeks annually. This is an MOA.
Article 9 - Traveling Time and Expenses
- New language - When an amployee will be traveling overnight by
air, the employee and the employee's supervisor will arrange
mutually acceptable travel arrangements. The employee will be paid
for the time consumed from when the employee leaves home to travel
to the departure airport to the time the employee arrives at the
hotel at the destination point, and the time consumed by the
employee's trip home from the departure airport to the employee's
home. Any time involved in layovers during the trip as shown in the
original itinerary will be included. Any additional time due to
delays or cancellations in excess of one hour over the time in the
original itinerary will not be included in this paid time.
- If an employee is offered public transportation for travel to
work away from the employee's district, but requests and is granted
permission to drive a car instead, the employee shall only be
compensated for the lesser of the time spent driving the car or the
time that the company would have had to pay the employee for travel
time spent on the public conveyance.
Article 11 - Holidays
- If a holiday occurs on a day on which the employee is not
scheduled, the employee shall receive a floating holiday.
- Call Center Only - In order to receive the holiday allowance, an
employee must work the entire holiday shift (if scheduled) and the
entire shift on which the employee is scheduled both immediately
preceding and immediately following a holiday, except where, due to
extenuating circumstances, the company waives this requirement.
- Employees wo work on a holiday will be paid the holiday
allowance for all hours worked if any portion of their shift falls
on the holiday.
- Operations Only - Holiday work shall be assigned on a rotating
basis, using the rolling calendar insofar as practicable and
serviced conditions will permit.
- Time worked between 7 PM and 12 Midnight on New Year's Eve shall
be paid for at double the employee's basic hourly rate.
- Call Center - Holiday Bidding: Holiday bidding will be
completed no later than December 15th for the following year. The
bidding will begin with the most senior employee. The employee will
select as many holidays as management determines are required
including one alternate holiday. When a holiday shift is vacant and
the company has to assign an employee to work, the assignment will
be based on the alternate holiday selected in inverse seniority
order. In any event, the company reserves the right to assign
holiday shifts as necessary in inverse seniority order.
Article 12 - Call Center Paid Time Off
- New employees who have an absence during the first three months
will not be paid for days absent and will not be able to use PTO.
- Effect of Leaves of Absence on Accrued PTO: Dates of the month
(1st, 15th, etc.) no longer apply for PTO accrual. In order to
accrue PTO for the month, you need to have worked 86 hours(which
includes PTO, but excludes overtime).
- PTO Selection and Cancellation: When an employee has
successfuly bid for a given week of PTO and then seeks to cancel any
days in that PTO week, the employee may cancel the entire week of
PTO and take day-at-a-time PTO, only if the employee had to cancel
the day or days due to prior unplanned absence. Otherwise, the
entire week will be cancelled and the employee can request to take
day-at-a-time PTO.
- Starting January 1, 2007, employees will have two emergency PTO
days per year.
- FMLA - Employees must use up to 40 hours per year of any accrued
PTO coincident with any absence from work associated with FMLA
leave. The company cannot force employees to use unaccrued PTO or
FMLA.
Article 12 - Operations - Paid Time Off
- New hires have a chart for first year PTO allotment and are not
allowed to schedule PTO until completing three full months of
employment.
- Effect of Leaves of Absence on Accrued PTO: Dates of the month
(1st, 15th, etc.) no longer apply for PTO accrual. In order to
accrue PTO for the month, you need to have worked 86 hours(which
includes PTO, but excludes overtime).
- Removed the option to sell a week of PTO back to the company.
PTO Use - Call Center and Operations
Employees must use up to 40 hours per year of any accrued or unaccrued
but available PTO with a personal Leave of Absence.
Employees must use up to
40 hours per year of accrued PTO for military training or reserve duty
except for the annual 2-week reserve training.
Article 15 - Job Vacancies and Bidding
- New hires shall not be eligible for a transfer until they have
performed their job for 12 months. However, where only qualified
internal candidates are new hires who have not met the requirements
of this paragraph, those requirements may be waived by the company.
Article 16 - Excused Absences
- Time off for union business must be requested in writing and the
approval must be given in writing. No more than 3 (changed from 2)
employees from any one department or 4 (changed from 2) employees in
total shall be allowed off at any one time unless in special cases.
- New language - In addition, no more than one employee per work
group shall at any one time be excused unless such other
arrangements are made.
Article 20 - Termination Pay
- Language clean-up. No change to intent.
Article 21 & 22 - Grievance Procedure and Arbitration Procedure
- Clean-up language and new selection process for choosing an
arbitrator.
Article 26 - Benefits
- Premiums: Company 80%/Employee 20% - 2007 & 2008; Company
78%/Employee 22% - 2009
- Increases in office co-pays, specialist visits, lab and x-rays,
in-patient hospital, ER hospital, RX's.
- Retiree Health Care - Current language stays in effect until
December 31, 2007. Effective January 1, 2008: Employer
contributions reduced to 80% (before age 65) for 25+ years of
service; employer contributions reduced to 80% (after age 65) for
25+ years of service.
- Provisional letter granted stating the 1998 language secured in
regards to Retiree Health Care is not affected by agreeing to to
this change in retiree health care premiums. The language in the
letter stating that it cannot be changed unless by mutual agreement
staill stands.
- 401(k) - Continuation of the 3% match. Also, Letter of
Agreement stating that if the company is late with the 3% match into
the employee's account, they will pay $5.00 per person per day for
each day it is late.
Article 33 - Telephone Concession
- New language says the benefit may be changed from time to time.
The company will give 45 days' advance notice before making a
change. Concession will coincide with the corporate plan.
Article 34 - Incentive/Commission/Award Plans
- Incentives may not include awarding paid time off (such as PTO
and holidays).
Call Center Forum
- New forum established between the company and the union that
will meet quarterly and discuss call center issues.
Memorandum of Agreement - Joint Health Care Committee
- The union and the company will meet twice yearly with
representatives from the corporate benefits department to try and
work on health care issues. CWA Reps. may be included in the
meetings.
Memorandum of Agreement - Voluntary Terminations During a Layoff
- If there is an impending layoff, the company agrees to permit
regular full-time employees to volunteer to terminate their
employment if the employee is in the same classification as the
employee slated for layoff; if the volunteer agrees to receive as a
layoff allowance either the amount that would be received by most
senior employees slated to be laid off of the layoff allowance the
volunteer would have received based on the employee's seniority,
whichever is less; the volunteer must notify the company of an
interest in volunteering for the layoff within one calendar week; or
the company's determination of whether to accept the volunteer will
be final and shall not be subject to arbitration under the
agreement.
Memorandum of Agreement - Call Center: Work-At-Home
- Post bargaining, the parties will meet to discuss the
establishment and implementation of a work-at-home program for the
call center.
Memorandum of Agreement - 2006 Frontier Call Center Consolidation
- For the term of the 2006 agreement between the parties that
terminates May 31, 2009, the company will not, as a direct result of
the above referenced call center consolidation initiative, either
close the current Burnsville Call Center or lay-off or part-time any
regular employee who held the sales and service consultant title as
of May 31, 2006.
Wages
- Assignments, Dispatch and Facility Assignors: June 4, 2006 -
2.75%; June 3, 2007 - 2.5%; June 1, 2008 - 2.5%.
- Sales and Service Technicians: June 4, 2006 - 2.75%; June 3,
2007 - 2.5%; June 1, 2008 - 2%. In addition, Sales and Service
Technicians will receive a lump sum bonus payment semi-annually,
which will be 1% of the base wages for the group (depending on
performance the amount will be between .75% and 1.25%). The amount
will be set by the number of districts achieving the targets. These
payments will begin in July 2007 and then every six months
thereafter.
- Out-state technicians will be brought up to the Metro pay
scale. There will now be only one pay scale for all technicians.
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