Since our last update in mid-October, there is much to report. Negotiations began with the Union providing a full contract of Articles to the Employer in January 2022, and the Employer and Union have been working from that suite of proposals since May. The Employer and the Union have now tentatively agreed to 25 proposals out of a total of 58. Of the remaining proposals, there are several that we believe are close to TA, pending responses from the Employer on related issues.
However, there are also significant articles for which the Employer has not provided any formal responses. Receiving responses from the Employer on the full set of Union proposals will be an important step in moving negotiations forward in an informed manner. Once we receive responses, we feel bargaining could progress rapidly.
Our bargaining committee has made ourselves broadly available for bargaining dates in December. A bargaining session has been scheduled for mid-December, and we await responses from the Employer on a number of additional dates offered by the Union. We believe there is a strong path to completing the contract before the 2023 legislative session, as long as the Employer is responsive on meeting availability and collaborative resolution of the remaining key issues that we have identified for them.
We believe the Employer and the Union share an interest in avoiding the need for bargaining to extend into the 2023 Legislative Session. Therefore, we hope the Employer will soon confirm availability to join us for an adequate set of bargaining sessions to complete our shared work before January 17, 2023. In the absence of adequate progress, alternative pathways such as mediation may need to be explored, though we hope to avoid that outcome.
Thank you for your engagement, and please reach out with any questions. We will continue to provide bargaining updates as they arise.
In solidarity,
The IBEW Local 89 Bargaining Committee