The 25 Local Unions of the USW-IP Mills Council convened this week in Pittsburgh to review the member bargaining survey results and put together our agenda for bargaining our Master Agreement with IP the week of February 19.
The top four bargaining priorities from our survey are: Wages, Two Tier, Health Insurance and Retirement.
Our agenda is based on survey feedback and makes these items top on our agenda along with sick leave, vacation, health and safety, and improving our local bargaining process among others.
The Master process unites all of our local unions at IP mills under a single Master Agreement to ensure we all get a fair deal regardless of size, location or where we fall in the bargaining cycle.
In a process fought for in the USW Paper Sector for decades, we have every mill local at the table when discussions occur that will impact everyone. This prevents the company from leveraging what happens with locals that fall at the beginning of the cycle to determine what happens everywhere else. We all benefit from successful master negotiations that will set our pay, benefits and important security items.
We know we are stronger at the bargaining table when our members are engaged – we will be asking you to take action to communicate to IP that we want a contract that rewards all of us for our hard work during the pandemic, and recognizes current economic conditions while also addressing the two-tier wage system.