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Comprehensive Logistics: Contract proposal upsets workers
By Karl Henkel
AUSTINTOWN
About 600 Comprehensive Logistics workers who supply parts to General Motors Co. for the Lordstown-built Chevrolet Cruze are upset over the company’s latest contract proposal.
The four-year contract, obtained Friday by The Vindicator, calls for a cut in sick days and a lower-than-anticipated bonus.
Also a point of contention with dozens of workers is the proposed pay scale, which escalates from entry-level pay of $8 an hour to $13 an hour once an employee reaches two years of service.
Longtime employees, however, would see a 50-cent raise during the next four years.
Workers said new employees outnumber longtime workers.
The cutback in sick days comes with the stipulation that doctors’ notes won’t be acceptable for absences shorter than two days.
A doctors’ note will be accepted for absences longer than two days, but employees will still be docked 3 points on the company’s point system.
If a worker accumulates 12 or more points, he or she is terminated.
Neither Brian Hume, senior vice president and general manager at Comprehensive, nor George Carson, union president, could be reached to comment.
Workers also expressed their frustration over a proposed $100 bonus, which comes just a few weeks after GM’s contract ratification with the United Auto Workers that included a $5,000 signing bonus for all workers.
The union had proposed $500 signing bonuses and some hourly pay increases, but the two sides agreed to a $100 bonus and smaller pay increases Oct. 15, according to the contract.
The company did agree to continue a $75 Christmas gift-card bonus, the current attendance policy and $50 per month for perfect attendance, but workers are set to lose four bonus days per year.
Union members were set to vote on the contract Thursday, but at the last minute the vote was canceled, workers said.
Workers said it appears they will work under the terms of the current deal, which expired this week, for the foreseeable future.