Ten months after Luminant took over the Three Oaks Mine from Alcoa, members of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2078 have finally approved a labor contract.
George Crawford, vice-president of IBEW District 7 said Local 2078 members voted over the weekend and ratified a 28-month contract.
“Wage increases for all workers will go into effect immediately,” Crawford said. “There will be different amounts for different classifications.”
He said another 2 percent increase will occur this November, 2008.
“There’s a provision for a wage/benefit re-opener in November, 2009,” Crawford added.
About 113 Local 2078 members are covered by the new contract.
The initial contract between Local 2078 and Alcoa was to have expired Sept. 19 but Luminant took over the mine, located in Lee and Bastrop counties, on Sept. 1.
On-again, off-again negotiations started last fall but broke off after company and union negotiators said fundamental differences remained.
A new round of talks began in January. Local 2078 members took a strike vote and approved a work stoppage as a bargaining chip. But the bargaining committee did not call for a strike.
Progress was reported and the two sides negotiated past several self-imposed deadlines.
In May, after two votes, IBEW members okayed a contract covering about 50 union members in Sandow Power Plant Unit 4, a pact which has the flexibility to include Unit 5 employees after that new unit goes on line in August 2009.
