• A Bloomberg BNA analysis of collective bargaining data for all settlements through September 16, 2013, showed an average first-year wage increase of 2 percent, compared with 1.7 percent in the comparable period of 2012. When lump-sum payments were factored into wage calculations, the all-settlements average first-year increase to date in 2013 was 2.4 percent; the comparable period in 2012 reported a 2 percent increase.
  • According to Bloomberg BNA’s analysis of private sector figures released by the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the second quarter of 2013, average salaries and wages of private-sector union workers rose 3.6 percent (to $24.18/hour from $23.25), while average salaries and wages of private-sector non-union workers only rose 0.8 percent (from $19.95 to $20.10). From June 2012 to June 2013, private-sector non-union workers received a 0.9 percent increase to benefits (from $7.81) while private-sector union workers received a 5.9 percent increase (from $15.44). Over the year, total compensation increased only 0.8 percent for non-union workers compared to 4.5 percent for union workers. 
  • Foxwoods Resort Casino and MGM Grand, located on a Native American reservation in Mashantucket, Connecticut, and members of the UAW Local 2121 agreed to a four-year contract for some 2,000 table-games dealers. The dealers ratified the agreement by a vote of 908-102. The terms of the agreement include: annual pay increases totaling 11.5 percent over the contract term, the preservation of the dealers’ right to decide tip distribution, an increase in employee contribution to health care, improvements to indoor air quality, and a voluntary wellness program. 
  • Members of the United Steel Workers (“USW”) ratified, 1,315-515, a three-year labor contract with BF Goodrich Tires. The contract provides for, among other things, cost of living adjustments, lump sum payments to lower-paid employees, an increased pension multiplier, a freeze of the defined pension plan by the end of the three-year contract term, and variable increases in company contributions to the defined contribution plan. The contract is retroactive to July 27, 2013. 
  • As Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways continue to finalize their integration, Southwest Airlines and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA reached an agreement covering more than 1,700 flight attendants who still work at AirTran. The agreement is meant to bridge the transition period for AirTran flight attendants who will ultimately become Southwest flight attendants as part of the merger. The agreement provides various immediate economic improvements to the flight attendants. 
  • Members of United Food and Commercial Workers (“UFCW”) Local 400 ratified a three-year contract with the Mid-Atlantic Division of Kroger Limited Partnership I. The agreement applies retroactively, from March 2013, and continues to April 2016. The contract provides for nearly $2 per hour wage increases over the life of the contract, ratification bonuses for eligible employees ($750 for department heads, $500 for full-time employees, and $300 for part-time workers), night premiums of 50 cents per hour, expansion of job classifications that increase the number of lead positions, and increased costs for certain health benefits. 
  • Members of the California Nurses Association overwhelmingly ratified a new four-year contract covering approximately 12,000 registered nurses who work at 28 hospitals throughout California and Nevada. The contract is the first of its kind to provide an accident prevention program in a major hospital system. The program provides unprecedented supplemental insurance for nurses injured in workplace violence or by a needle. The contract also provides for wage increases of 9 percent over the contract term and expanded defined benefit pensions. 
  • The UAW agreed to a new five-year contract with defense contractor Oshkosh Corp. covering 2,500 defense production employees. Although a new contract would not be needed for three more years, Oshkosh wanted an early contract settlement in order to accommodate its strategy to win production of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. By contracting early, Oshkosh seeks to control its costs heading into the bidding process. Though no terms of the agreement have been disclosed, the union claims the terms are “fair.” 
  • Members of UFCW Locals 21 and 81 and IBT Local 38 voted to authorize a strike should contract negotiations continue to stall with Safeway, Albertsons, and Kroger Co. The stalemate is primarily due to issues involving employee benefits, including company proposals to eliminate health care coverage for employees who work less than 30 hours a week and denying paid sick days, except in Seattle, where the benefit is mandated by law. No last, best, and final offer has yet been proposed. 
  • The International Association of Machinists (“IAM”) and United Airlines tentatively agreed to three agreements covering 28,000 airline employees in the fleet service, public contract/passenger service, and storekeeper fields. The terms of the agreements include increases in hourly wages, signing bonuses of $105 per year of service (up to 20 years) for full-time employees, a provision that most workers cannot be laid off because of outsourcing, new overtime, holiday, and vacation policies, and changes to dental and health insurance premiums. Ratification of the agreements is expected by November 1, 2013. Approximately 2,000 maintenance instructors, fleet technical instructors, food service workers, and security officers represented by IAM are still bargaining with the airline. 
  • Five Sutter Health hospitals in the San Francisco area have tentatively agreed to labor contracts with the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United covering more than 3,000 registered nurses and hundreds of other technicians represented by the Caregivers and Healthcare Employees Union. These tentative agreements come after two years of collective bargaining and nine strikes. Nurses were primarily concerned with the possible elimination of sick leave and a change to the work week threshold for health insurance eligibility.