432586-1
A G R E E M E N T
BETWEEN
XXXXXXXXX FARMS, INC.
(TRUCK DRIVERS)
AND
LABORERS' INTERNATIONAL UNION OF NORTH AMERICA,
PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES LOCAL UNION #693, AFL-CIO
, 1999 -, 2002
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ARTICLE PAGE
432586-1
432586-1
ARTICLE ______
MANAGEMENT RIGHTS
Section __.1.
There shall remain in the Company the exclusive and unilateral right of
management of the Company's plant and facilities and the assignment and
direction of the working forces, not limited to but including the following: to
determine the number, location and type of plants it may operate; to decide the
products to be manufactured, the methods of manufacture, the materials to be
used and the continuance or discontinuance of any product mater or method of
production; to introduce new equipment, machinery or processes and to change or
eliminate existing equipment, machinery or processes; to discontinue,
temporarily or permanently, in whole or in part, conduct of its business or
operations; and to relocate its business or operations in whole or in part; to
decide the nature of materials, supplies, equipment or machinery to be used and
the price to be paid; to decide upon the sales methods and sales price of all
products; to subcontract any work performed by or for the Company; to hire the
workforce in accordance with the requirements set by management; to transfer,
promote or demote employees subject to the seniority provisions of this
Agreement; to lay off employees for economic reasons and to terminate,
discharge, suspend or otherwise relieve employee from duty for just cause; to
direct and control the workforce; to establish and enforce reasonable rules
governing employment, conduct, and working conditions; to determine the size of
the workforce; to determine the number of employee assigned to any particular
operation; to determine the workplace and to set reasonable work performance
levels; to establish, change, combine or abolish job classifications and to
determine the length of the work week; to utilize job rotation as deemed
necessary by the company; to determine work starting and stopping time, the
length of the work day, when overtime shall be worked, to require overtime; and
to determine the qualifications of employees. All other rights of Management are
also expressly retained even though not particularly enumerated above unless
they are clearly limited by the explicit language of some other provisions of
this Agreement.
It is understood that the word "unilateral right" as used herein mean that
the company shall have the unquestioned right to take such action without prior
notification or consultation with the Union, except that any such action, once
taken, may be questioned, to the extent provided in this Article or as
specifically provided elsewhere in this Agreement, through the grievance and
arbitration procedures. Section ___.2.
If the sub-contracting of work usually performed by bargaining unit
employees or partial or complete plant relocation will have the foreseeable
effect of causing the layoff of any unit employee, the Company will give notice
to the Union and the parties will negotiate on the effects of the layoff. It is
further understood that none of the provisions of this Article shall have the
effect to reduce or waive any rights of unit employees under the Worker
Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN).
Section ___.3.
Failure of the Company to exercise rights herein reserved to it or
exercising them in a particular way shall not be deemed a waiver of said rights
of the Company's rights to exercise said rights in some other manner not in
conflict with the terms of this Agreement.
ARTICLE _______
AGREEMENT
Section .1. This Agreement made and entered into this ______ day of
____________, 1999, by and between Xxxxxxxxx Farms, Inc. (Brazos Processing
Division) at its Bryan, Texas processing plant (hereinafter referred to as
"Employer" or "Company"), and United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local
408, AFL-CIO, chartered by the United Food and Commercial Workers International
Union, AFL-CIO, CLC (hereinafter referred to as the "Union".
WITNESSETH
Section .2. WHEREAS, the Company and the Union are desirous of entering into a
contractual relationship covering rates of pay, hours of work and other terms
and conditions of employment of employees employed within the unit of
representation as hereinafter described; and Section .3. WHEREAS, the parties
have conferred, negotiated and agreed upon the terms and conditions of
employment to be applicable to the employees covered by this Agreement for the
contract period as herein specified. Section .4. NOW, THEREFORE, in
consideration of the mutual covenants and agreements herein contained, the
parties do hereby agree as follows:
ARTICLE ________
RECOGNITION
Section .1. The Employer recognizes the Union as the certified bargaining
representative (NLRB Case No. 16-RC-10107) for all production and maintenance
employees employed at its Bryan, Texas Poultry Processing Plant, excluding
office clerical employees, guards, professional employees, and supervisors, as
defined in the Act. Section .2. No employee shall be required to make any
written or verbal agreement that will conflict with this Agreement. No employee
shall be reclassified so as to defeat the purpose of this Agreement.
ARTICLE ________
SHOP STEWARDS
Section .1. The Employer recognizes the right of the Union to designate shop
stewards, not to exceed ______ (__) in number, who shall be assigned to serve
specific areas of the plant to handle such Union business as may arise. The shop
stewards shall be employees of the Company. The Union shall notify the Company
in writing as to the names of the stewards and of any changes in designation of
stewards. Section .2. A representative of the Union shall be permitted to enter
the plant at reasonable times, upon Employer's premises and plant, provided such
representative shall in no way interfere with the operations of Employer's
business and shall make arrangements with the Employer's manager.
ARTICLE _________
GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE
Section .1. Grievances arising under this contract are herein defined as a claim
by a party to this Agreement or an employee covered by this Agreement that the
Company or the Union has violated a provision of this Agreement.
STEP I
The employee shall discuss the grievance or complaint with the immediate
supervisor within five (5) working days after the event giving rise thereto
occurs, or within five (5) working days following the date on which the grievant
had or reasonably would have had knowledge thereof. In the event the employee so
requests, the appropriate xxxxxxx shall be present at this step. The supervisor
shall give an answer within five (5) working days after the grievance is
received.
STEP 2
If there is no settlement in Step 1, the grievance may be presented by the
employee and/or shop xxxxxxx within five (5) working days from the date on which
the supervisor's answer was given in Step 1. The grievance must be presented in
writing to the department superintendent and must state the following
information:
(a) name or names of employee or employees involved; (b) the department or
departments involved; (c) the date and time of the occurrence or discovery
of the grievance; (d) the facts complained about
(e) the specific provision of this Agreement alleged to have been
violated;
(failure to designate the correct provision will not affect the
merits of the grievance);
(f) the remedy requested.
The superintendent shall give the Company's answer in writing within five (5)
working days after the grievance is received by the superintendent.
STEP 3
In the event the grievance is not settled in Step 2, then the grievance
may be appealed in writing to the division manager or a designated
representative by the Union to Step 3 within five (5) working days from the
Company's answer in Step 2. The division manager or a designated representative
shall give an answer in writing within five (5) working days from the date of
the appeal. In the event the grievance is not settled then the aggrieved party
or parties shall have the right to request arbitration.
In the event a grievance arises on behalf of the Employer, the matter
shall be presented to the Union Business Agent in writing, who shall have seven
(7) days from the date of submission within which to endeavor to reconcile the
grievance presented and shall give an answer in writing within that time. If not
settled within that time, the aggrieved party or parties shall have the right to
request arbitration. Section .2. Discharge grievances shall be processed
initially under Step 3 of the grievance procedure. The written grievance shall
be filed with the division manager within five (5) working days following the
date of discharge. Section .3. A failure to observe the time limit specified
herein for original presentation of a grievance or presentation in any
subsequent step of the grievance procedure on the part of either the grievant or
the Union shall be conclusive evidence that the grievance has been settled and
abandoned.
Failure on the part of the Company to comply with the time limits for
delivering its answer in any step of the grievance procedure shall automatically
advance the grievance to the next step of the grievance procedure.
The time limits of the grievance procedure may be extended by mutual
consent of the Union and the Company.
ARTICLE __________
ARBITRATION
Section .1. If a party to this Agreement desires to take a grievance to
arbitration, it shall within fifteen (15) calendar days after the denial of the
grievance, give written notice of his intention to the other party, together
with a written statement of the specific provision or provisions of this
Agreement at issue. Section .2. The parties shall attempt to select an impartial
arbitrator. If they are unable to agree upon a choice within seven (7) calendar
days after the receipt of Notice of Intent to Arbitrate, either party may
request the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to submit a list of five
(5) arbitrators, from which the arbitrator will be selected. Selection shall be
made by the parties alternately striking any name from the list (the first to
strike shall be the party requesting arbitration) until only one (1) name
remains. The final name remaining shall be the arbitrator of the grievance.
Section .3. The jurisdiction and the decision of the arbitrator of the grievance
shall be confined to a determination of the acts and the interpretation or
application of the specific provision or provisions of this Agreement at issue.
The Arbitrator shall be bound by terms and provisions of this Agreement and
shall have the authority to consider only grievances representing solely an
arbitration issue under this Agreement. The arbitrator shall have no authority
to add to, alter, amend, or modify any provision of this Agreement. The decision
of the arbitrator in writing on any issue properly before the arbitrator in
accordance with the provisions of this Agreement, shall be final and binding on
the aggrieved employee or employees, the Union, and the Employer. Section .4.
Multiple grievances shall not be heard before one arbitrator at the same hearing
except by mutual agreement of the parties. Section .5. The Union and the
Employer shall each bear its own costs in these arbitration proceedings, except
that they shall share equally the fee and other expenses of the arbitrator in
connection with the grievance. Section .6. The Grievance Committee of the Union
shall have the sole authority to determine whether or not the employee's
grievance is qualified to be submitted to arbitration by the Union. The decision
of the Grievance Committee shall be made at its first meeting after the
Company's Step 3 answer, and the Union will promptly inform the Company of its
decision.
ARTICLE __________
SENIORITY
Section .1. Seniority is defined as the length of an employee's continuous
employment in the bargaining unit at the Company's Bryan, Texas, poultry
processing plant since the last permanent date of employment. For purposes of
layoff, recall, promotion, and vacation only, this shall include continuous
service which began at another Xxxxxxxxx plant prior to the effective date of
this contract. Section .2. All newly hired or rehired employees shall be
considered as probationary employees for a period of ninety (90) days during
which period they shall not acquire seniority, and during which they may be
discharged without recourse to the grievance and arbitration procedures provided
herein. If retained as a regular employee upon satisfactory completion of the
probationary period, seniority shall be retroactive to the first day of
employment Section .3. In matters of promotion , consideration will be given to
an employee's skill, ability, attendance, versatility, training, physical
fitness, and seniority; and when, in the opinion of the Company, the factors
other than seniority are relatively equal, seniority will be the deciding
factor. In layoffs and recalls, seniority will prevail, provided the employees
involved are relatively equal in ability and fitness to immediately perform the
available work.. .Section .4. An employee's seniority shall be lost and
employment considered terminated by:
(a) discharge for just cause;
(b) failure to return from layoff within five (5) working days after
written notice by certified mail is sent by the Company to the
employee's last known address on the Company's books. Actual notice
to the employee of recall by any other means shall satisfy the terms
of this provision;
(c) voluntary termination of employment;
(d) failure to report after termination of a leave of absence approved
by the Company in writing on the first scheduled day following the
expiration of such leave of absence;
(e) engaging in a gainful occupation while on leave of absence; (f)
absence from work for three (3) consecutive working days without
notice to the Company, which shall be considered as a voluntary
quit, unless notice was prevented by a cause beyond the control of
the employee;
(g) separation from the Company's active payroll for any reason,
exclusive of leaves of absence approved by the Company, for a period
exceeding an employee's length of service in the Bryan plant, or
three (3) months, whichever is less.
Section .5. For the purposes of this Agreement, layoffs shall be classified as
(a) "short term" and (b) "long term". A short term layoff is a layoff which will
not exceed ten (10) workdays in length. Short term layoffs may be made without
regard to seniority. A long term layoff is a layoff which will exceed ten (10)
workdays in length. Long term layoffs shall be made subject to Section 3 of this
Article. Section .6. All permanent job vacancies in premium rated
classifications shall be posted for two (2) consecutive working days on the
plant bulletin board. Employees in lower rated classifications desiring
promotion to such jobs shall sign a bid sheet posted on the bulletin board. An
employee who does not sign such bid sheet shall have no right to consideration
for the vacancy. However, the fact that an employee did not sign the bid sheet
will not preclude that employee's selection for the job by the Company if none
of the signers is determined to be qualified. If no qualified employee bids on
the posted position, the Company may fill the position in its discretion. If,
after a reasonable period not to exceed thirty (30) days, the employee selected
for the posted position achieves an acceptable level of performance, the
employee shall receive the rate of the new position. If the employee fails to
perform in an acceptable manner, such employee shall return to a job in their
former classification and the premium job shall be posted again. An employee who
self-disqualifies shall return to the extra board at the line operator's rate of
pay and shall not be eligible for bidding on a premium job for a period of six
(6) months. Section .7. Assignments involving employees on the extra board shall
be in order of seniority. Within a department, no extra board employee shall be
retained over a permanently assigned employee.
ARTICLE ________
SENIORITY LIST
Section .1. Upon request at any reasonable time, the Company shall furnish to
the Union a current seniority list. The list shall be by department and shall
include social security number, date of hire, and rate of pay.
ARTICLE ________
NO DISCRIMINATION
Section .1. The Company and the Union agree that they will not discriminate
against any person with regard to employment or Union membership because of
race, creed, color, sex, religion, age, national origin, or disability (as
defined in the Americans With Disabilities Act). Section .2. Whenever masculine
gender is used in this Agreement, it shall apply to the feminine gender.
ARTICLE _______
DURATION OF AGREEMENT
Section .1. This Agreement shall remain in full force and effect from the ____
day of __________________, _____ until the _____ day of _____________, _____,
and shall continue thereafter from year to year until either party to this
Agreement desires to terminate this Agreement by giving written notice at least
sixty (60) days prior to __________________, _____, or at least sixty (60) days'
written notice prior to any anniversary date thereafter. The parties to this
Agreement shall endeavor to satisfactorily negotiate any contemplated change or
execute a new Agreement during the sixty (60) day period, after proper notice in
writing has been given as provided herein and above. Notice, as specified in
this Article, shall be mailed via United States Certified Mail.
