United Steelworkers officials describe details of tentative Arconic agreement

May 23—MASSENA — United Steelworkers officials have shared with their membership the details of the tentative agreement with Arconic.

Officials announced on May 14 that they had reached the tentative agreement, which members will be asked to approve during ratification votes on June 1.

"This tentative agreement is the result of a lot of hard work, from all of us. Your bargaining committee asked for and counted on your participation in the bargaining process. You delivered by completing surveys, participating in solidarity days with stickers and shirts, rallying at the plant gates, beaming the bat light around town and building community support. When negotiations were at their toughest, we called on you again and we received unanimous support for a strike vote. Your support was the key to successful negotiations," officials said.

"Throughout bargaining we fought hard for the issues you told us were important like guaranteed wage increases, maintaining our health care with no increase in premiums and retirement security. While we focused on key issues, we also made gains in many areas of our contract, some of which hadn't been improved in decades," they said.

The tentative agreement runs from May 16, 2022 through May 15, 2026. It includes a 7% wage increase for all job grades in May 2022, and 4.5% wage increases in May 2023, May 2024 and May 2025.

"This represents an average cumulative increase of $6.54 per hour or 22.1% over the contract term," United Steelworkers officials said.

A $4,000 essential worker appreciation bonus will be paid in two installments — $2,000 on June 9 and 10, 2022, and another $2,000 on Jan. 12 and 13, 2023.

"The bonus will be paid to all employees who have seniority rights as of June 1, 2022, including employees actively at work, on vacation, S&A (sickness and accident), workers compensation, uniformed service, layoff and probationary employees. All employees who receive the first payment will receive the second. Arconic will not allow the bonus to be contributed to your 401(k) savings plan account," they said.

Employees with six months, but less than 10 years of seniority are eligible for two weeks of vacation effective June 1, 2022, under the tentative agreement. Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the third Monday in January has also been added as a new paid holiday.

Shift premiums are increased from 39 cents to 55 cents per hour for afternoon shifts and from 64 cents to 90 cents per hour for night shifts. The schedule premium increases from 30 cents to 42 cents per hour.

The proposed agreement eliminates the plant-level Pay for Performance Plans, in favor of larger wage increases. The Pay for Performance Plans were first negotiated in 1993 to replace an underperforming profit-sharing plan. The original goal was to share profits and gains while focusing employees on the critical business goals. A portion of the payout was tied to corporate financial performance and a portion was based on business unit location measurements.

"Over the years, the targets were raised with the promise of greater opportunity and higher payouts. The union was promised the opportunity to review and provide input on plan targets, thresholds and caps. However, the company retained ultimate control over the plans. While the Pay for Performance Plans paid well during some periods, over time they became less transparent, profit definitions repeatedly changed, and once achieved, thresholds were ratcheted up to reduce payments. For example, the Davenport plan paid nothing in 1Q 2022, despite profits," union officials said.

They said that, during negotiations, the union argued hard for "a meaningful, transparent, profit-sharing plan based on publicly reported corporate-wide profits."

"The company refused, insisting profits go to shareholders and executives. So, the union turned its focus to achieve maximum value for the Pay for Performance Plans and raise the wage rates over the term, which will be paid equally at all four plants and for all hours worked, overtime, vacation and holidays," they said.

The tentative agreement also improves benefits under the pension plan for current employees. There are currently three retirement programs covering Master agreement employees —the defined benefit pension plan for employees hired before June 23, 2006; a more modest defined benefit plan covering employees hired on or after June 23, 2006 and before Jan. 1, 2020; and the defined contribution plan for employees hired on or after Jan. 1, 2020.

The current pension factors or "multipliers" under the defined benefit pension plans that covered employees hired before June 23, 2006 and employees hired on or after June 23, 2006 and before Jan. 1, 2020 will all be increased by $6 per month per year of service, effective for retirements occurring on or after May 16, 2022. For an employee with 30 years of service, this is an increase of $180 per month.

The proposed agreement includes no increases in employee health care contribution rates, deductibles, out-of-pocket maximums or co-insurance. The maximum medical co-pays will increase from $60 to $80 per prescription for non-preferred brand prescriptions filled at retail and from $120 to $150 per prescription for non-preferred brand prescriptions filled through mail order, effective Jan. 1, 2023.

"Once again, the company began bargaining by demanding large increases in employee health care contributions and substantial cuts in health care benefits. The high level of member activism and solidarity demonstrations in the workplace and communities forced the company to back down," officials said.

Employees hired or rehired after Jan. 1, 2020 will no longer be eligible for retiree life insurance benefits after retirement. Instead, they will have the retiree health care contribution to their 401(k) savings account increased by 5 cents per hour.

The company's retiree health care costs are capped for employees who retired after May 31, 1993. The cost of retiree health care benefits in excess of the caps is paid for by a non-cash Retiree Health Care Account under the labor agreement.

Employees hired or rehired on or after July 1, 2010 are not eligible for retiree health care benefits. Instead, they receive a company retiree health care contribution into their 401(k) savings account. Effective Jan. 1, 2023, the company contribution will increase to 50 cents from the current 40 cents per hour worked. Employees hired on or after Jan. 1, 2020 will receive a company contribution into their 401(k) savings account of 55 cents per hour effective Jan. 1, 2023 to reflect their ineligibility for retiree life insurance.