A 21-hour, marathon negotiating session between representatives of confectionery giant Hershey Foods Corp, Federal Mediator Dan LeClair and leaders of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers’ and Grainmillers’ (BCTGM) Union broke down again at the weekend.
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Union negotiators, led by BCTGM Vice President Robert Oakley, rejected company proposals that included a new prescription plan proposal, a new medical plan cost-sharing formula, and an improved offer to restore retiree medical coverage for certain long-standing, active employees.
A union proposal to accept minimally reduced wage increases in place of changes in medical cost sharing was rejected by the company.
All company proposals made during the negotiating session were withdrawn when the parties failed to reach agreement on a new contract.
Ray Brace, Hershey VP, operations and technology, was adamant that “the union leadership continues to hold [employees who want to return to work] hostage in its determination to use a victory in Hershey as a negotiating tool with other companies and to reverse its declining membership”.
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By GlobalData“This cannot continue,” Brace added: “We’ve now reached the point where important decisions are being made about the future of our business. We already have begun operations at our Hershey plant and will expand these with temporary employees. We also will restart operations at our West Hershey plant in the coming days.”
“The company wants to continue increasing the co-pays and we told them members wouldn’t approve that,” Union representative Robert Oakley told Reuters. “We’re so close to a settlement here. I don’t know what more we can do for these people.”
