Chicago techs remain on strike as union fights uncompensated work time

Almost 2,000 technicians and union members of the Automobile Mechanics' Local 701 in Chicago have been on strike since Aug. 1, as the union fights for a contract that resolves uncompensated work time, pension benefits, work progression, and other issues. 

The New Car Dealer Committee (NCDC), which negotiates on behalf of more than 100 Chicago-area dealerships, presented the most recent offer last week. More than 50 percent of union members voted to reject the proposal and remain on strike because their key issues remained unaddressed, Local 701 said in an Aug. 11 newsletter. 

"Nobody advocates for a strike," the newsletter reads. "That’s the last resort that we use, if necessary.  Strikes are unfortunately painful to you [the technicians on strike], [their] families, the public and the industry as a whole."

Key issues and requests of those on strike include: 

• An increase in base pay, and a guarantee of a 40-hour work week.
• Eliminating the flex work week.
• Improving pension benefits.
• Providing means for work progression, including returning the length of the apprenticeship program back to four or five years, and providing steps to accelerate up from a lube or semi-skilled technician to a higher classification. 
• Providing increased wages for lube or semi-skilled technicians. 

The NCDC offer rejected by the union members includes:

• A raise of nearly 5 percent or more each year for the three-year duration of the contract for most technicians, plus the opportunity for technicians to earn more through various incentive premiums.

- Journeyman technicians (about 65 percent of group) are currently paid nearly $33/hour; NCDC offered $1.50 increase in their hourly rate each year of the contract; = 4.6 percent increase each year. For other positions besides journeyman technicians, NCDC also offered a increase; most in those positions would get at least $1/hour increase, and some would get more than $2/hour increase

• Increases in the cost of the health and welfare benefits package for the employees and their families for the duration of the contract, which by the final year of the contract will equal $292 per week or $15,184 per year per employee.
• It pays 100 percent of the cost of the pension benefit, which by the final year of the contract will equal $181 per week or $9,412 per year per employee.
• For apprentices hired after the agreement is ratified, it reduces the time period to achieve full journeyman pay from eight or more years to five years.
• It increases the amount of minimum base pay that is paid to technicians each week regardless of their productivity during that week.

"Negotiations is a procedure that involves a give and take process,"  the union states in the Aug. 11 newsletter. "The union has offered several options to address each of your [the technicians'] important proposals that remain on the table. When discussing the increase to base pay hours, the union offered solutions to make it cost neutral for habitual low-bookers.  While it appeared that the parties were going to engage in a conversation about its ideas, apparently the NCDC bargaining committee is simply unwilling to do so at this time."    

One of the main discussions was on uncompensated work time. Because technicians are paid based on billable hours set by carmakers, technicians believe they are not being compensated fairly for work time when they run into unexpected issues that may increase standard repair times.

The opposition believes that because the dealerships themselves are not being compensated for the time, it would be impossible for the dealers to sustain competitiveness in the marketplace if they compensated the technician, Dave Radelet, an outside lawyer acting as a dealer spokesperson, told the Chicago Tribune. 

"NCDC dealers are committed to an agreement that fairly compensates our employees while preserving our ability to offer outstanding automobile services at competitive prices and convenient hours," a NCDC release reads. 

To view the previously rejected agreement in PDF form from July 30, click here.