Tuesday, October 3, 2023

Brothers and Sisters,

Before your Bargaining Committee filed for conciliation, we had already scheduled October 24, 25, & 26 to be at the table with the Company which, under our Federal Conciliation deadlines, would have taken place just after the 21-day cooling off period.

With this in mind, we approached the Employer on Thursday, September 28 to propose a four-day extension to the conciliation process from Monday, October 2, to Friday, October 6.  In offering this courtesy, the cooling off period would conclude Friday, October 27, thereby corralling these three days inside the Conciliation Process.  We respectfully offered this in the spirit of getting a deal done, focusing on negotiations without the added pressure of either side taking job action during these days.  From our perspective, the four-day extension benefited both parties because negotiations had already been scheduled for this period.

After initially accepting our offer, Rogers surprisingly countered with an extension of nearly double the proposed days and no additional bargaining dates, which your Committee quickly rejected because an extension of our ‘no-strike period’ without further meeting dates is simply stalling.

Subsequent communication from the Company described how “puzzled” they were at our hesitation as they continued to counter with other longer options that did not serve the membership’s best interests.  We summarily rejected those as well, reiterating our firm four-day extension.

Last minute discussions early this morning did not bear fruit as the Company was unwilling to accept our offer to extend, reversing their commitment to meet on October 24, 25, & 26 in the process.

Here’s what’s not puzzling:

• Your resolve to achieving trustworthy jurisdictional language in your CBA that offers job security is reflected in the 99.6% Strike Mandate you gave your Committee two weeks ago
• Your Committee is available to be at the negotiating table on the previously agreed to dates regardless of being within or outside of the cooling off period

It is truly unfortunate that we therefore announce the Conciliation Period ended yesterday, October 2.  Thus, we now enter the 21-day cooling off period which will end Monday, October 23.

We are next scheduled to meet with the Employer on October 18 & 19.  Your Committee remains open to further dates should the Company be willing to come to the table.

Stay tuned as we commit to transparently keeping you up to date as events unfold.

In solidarity,

Jayson, Steve, Andy, Wallace, Stacey, Curtis, and Corey