June marks nine full months of bargaining for our first contract. While we’ve made quite a bit of progress in that time, we feel like we should be much further along by this time, especially considering the five months lost while the company refused to recognize and bargain with us.
We’ve continued to see regular delays, lack of responses on many items, and sessions with very little time for direct negotiations at the table as a result of the company’s behavior. There is still room for improvement in the number and frequency of sessions each month, despite the company’s attitude that we should be content with bargaining extending to the 14 month average for other first contracts.
We’ve seen the best responses from management shortly after we’ve engaged in collective action on and off the floor, and we know that more consistent action will be necessary as we get into the more difficult economic items.