Published: June 09, 2009 11:03 pm         

Strike at Vance AFB continues, with no contact between union, CSC, subcontractors

The strike against the primary civilian contractor at Vance Air Force Base and three subcontractors stretched into a second day Tuesday with no contact between representatives of the company and the union.

Vance’s fleet of training planes remained grounded after normal flying operations were suspended Monday as a result of the strike.

“It is a waiting game,” said John Crowdis, aerospace coordinator for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

Members of IAMAW Local Lodge 898 voted overwhelmingly Friday night to reject the latest contract offer from CSC and subcontractors PRI/DJI, DenMar Services and M1 Support Services, and to go on strike once the existing three-year contract expired at midnight Sunday.

Crowdis said the biggest objections Local 898’s elected negotiating committee had to the company’s proposal were non-economic. The company, he said, proposed 62 non-economic contract changes, most involving work rules.

Among those proposals was what Crowdis called a “radical attendance control system.” Under the company’s proposal, workers would need a supervisor’s approval to take personal time off. That is a problem, he said, since CSC cut its work force twice in 2008, laying off 30 employees at one time and 42 another.

“People are working 12-hour shifts with five- and six-day work weeks,” Crowdis said. “With everybody stretched so thin, they can’t get time off work now.”

Another issue involves drug testing. The just-expired contract mandated drug testing of an employee in the wake of an accident if there was any appearance the employee was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The company’s proposal would mandate testing of all employees involved in an accident, whether or not there was any appearance of being under the influence.

“Say your supervisor bumped into you and you fell over a chair and you got hurt,” Crowdis said. “And, say he sent you to the hospital, whether or not you wanted to go. Not only would they drug test you, but you would be charged for being away from work.”

And, Crowdis said, there would be no documentation required to reflect the fact the supervisor caused the accident.

Under the proposal an employee would receive one point for an attendance incident, and would be subject to firing after accruing four points.

The company, Crowdis said, also wants control over choosing lead men or women in various work areas. Prev-iously, lead positions were chosen through a bid process on the basis of seniority.

“The seniority system is the best system to get people with knowledge and years of experience in those lead jobs,” Crowdis said.

The company proposed an increase in the percentage employees would pay for health insurance. The proposal also included increased insurance rates, but there was confusion as to whether the rates would be paid monthly or bi-monthly. The rates were listed as bi-monthly in the written proposal submitted by the company, which CSC now says was a mistake. The mistake has never been officially corrected, however, Crowdis said.

Economically, Crowdis said, the union would accept a 3.5 percent annual raise for each of the three years of the contract, less than the 3.75 percent given to civilian workers at Sheppard AFB, Texas, which is, like Vance, a pilot training base.

“If we got 3.5 percent we are already behind Sheppard,” Crowdis said. “We’re not asking for anything unreasonable.”

Sheppard’s civilian workers also received an increase in payments to their retirement program, while no such increase was included in the Vance contract proposal.

Crowdis pointed out contractors are reimbursed by the government for the cost of wages and benefits, including insurance.

“The economic issues are very important to us,” Crowdis said, “and to the people of Enid, since these employees live and shop and pay taxes here.”

In a written statement, CSC spokeswoman Caroline Longanecker said, “We believe that we presented a new contract that accurately supports the Air Force’s mission, while providing our workers pay increases, options for an equitable and safe work environment and a competitive health care plan.”

Crowdis said the company engaged in what he terms “surface bargaining,” and said its representatives spent more time away from the negotiating table than at it during the negotiating process.

“Our efforts over the weekend to return to negotiations with the union were unsuccessful,” Longanecker’s statement continues. “We offered to extend a bridge agreement for up to 30 days in order to bring the union back to the table and keep our workforce on the job focused on our customer’s important mission.”

IAMAW spokesman Bob Wood confirmed a bridge agreement was discussed in a meeting union and company representatives had Sunday with U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla. The bridge agreement, Wood said, was mentioned only in passing and lacked any indication of CSC’s commitment to return to the table to negotiate changes to the proposal already voted down by union membership.

In a statement Tuesday, Inhofe said, “If the negotiations do not reach a conclusion within the next seven days, the Air Force will be forced to send the current senior training class of pilots to another base that conducts training for pilots. If the students begin to be shipped out to Texas or Mississippi, it could have dire consequences for the future of Vance.”

Vance public affairs chief 1st Lt. Agneta Murnan had no comment on Inhofe’s remarks.

Inhofe’s statement express-ed concern about civilian contractors performing vital services at military bases, which has been the case at Vance since 1960.

“It is my fear that, in some cases, outsourcing to contractors has gone too far,” he said. “Inherently governmental tasks should be left to government workers.”