To: Board of Regents

From: Sue I. Hill, Director, Labor Relations and Personnel

Re: Approval of Tentative Agreement with International Union of Operating Engineers

Date: November 20-21, 2003

Attached is a summary of the tentative agreement reached with the International Union of Operating Engineers. (IUOE). The tentative agreement only shows the changes to the prior agreement. The entire agreement can be accessed electronically at: https://mus.edu/hr/cba/collbarg.asp. This bargaining unit includes approximately 30 employees at The University of Montana-Missoula, UM-Western, Montana Tech, and Montana State University-Bozeman who maintain the heating and ventilation systems and perform other skilled maintenance duties.

The tentative agreement provides for a 25 cent per hour increase, effective January 1, 2005 and increases the monthly contribution to group health insurance by $44.00 in FY 2004 and $50.00 in FY 2005. These increases are consistent with HB 13. The tentative agreement also includes a partial tuition waiver benefit for dependents with FY 2005 that will be administered in accordance with Regent policy.

The agreement includes a few language changes but most are not very substantive. The prior agreement provided for four months of continued health insurance for employees on a workers' compensation leave of absence. The tentative agreement added a requirement that an employee must be employed for four or more years before becoming eligible to receive this benefit twice in a two-year period. The one-year leave period of leave of absence granted to employees who are unable to perform their job duties due to a disability was changed to six months with a possible six-month extension. The agreement was modified to incorporate the federal requirement that seniority continues to accrue during a leave without pay when an employee is called to active military duty. The application of seniority in the event of a layoff was clarified.

I recommend approval of the tentative agreement with IUOE. If the bargaining unit does not vote to ratify the tentative agreement prior to the November meeting, this item with be withdrawn.