NORTH NORWICH – A strike at OSG Norwich Pharmaceuticals was avoided Saturday, as solidarity and pressure got the 219 union workers in the company a contract the majority of them could agree upon, local union representatives said.
According to the International Chemical Workers Union’s local president Gary Robbins, the contract passed 174 to 34, with one abstention. The agreement came just hours before negotiations reached the midnight Jan. 21 deadline, and a possible strike.
“We weren’t subjected to any cuts due to corporate greed,” said Robbins, who has been employed at Outsourcing Services Group in North Norwich for 10 years. “It’s because of the tremendous solidarity my people showed – they put the pressure on in bucket loads.”
Robbins said the contract is on par with previously accepted agreements, which expire every three years. He said there will be no pay cuts, which in preliminary discussions were requested by management to be handed down at 15 percent across the board. The contract also capped worker’s rising health care costs at their current rates, and yielded them a signing bonus for the first year of their new contract, with a 3 percent increase in wages over the next two.
“It went pretty well,” said Sherry Johnson, who has worked in wastewater treatment at OSG for 11 years.
Johnson, like Robbins, said she wasn’t particularly happy with the new points system attendance policy the deal calls for, arguing it punishes employees for taking legitimate sick days. But for the most part, Johnson says she’s content with the overall package.
“It’s got its pros and cons,” she said. “But overall, it’s acceptable.”
OSG President Chris Calhoun said he was pleased with the bargaining agreement. “This is a real win-win for all the parties involved. We’re very pleased with the outcome. Our view is now we can get back to growing the business.”
In statements made prior to the agreement, Calhoun had said the possibility of wage reductions were discussed in order to contain operating costs, but that alternatives also existed. The new contract in fact increases wages, a feat that Calhoun admitted took a great deal of work.
“There was excellent commitment on both sides of the table,” he said. “A lot of excellent work went into reaching this agreement. Hopefully all the parties involved will see that this is a fair, win-win agreement.”
Contract talks began Jan. 3 amidst suspicions that OSG management had plans to possibly dissolve the union. The fears were sparked earlier in the year by the firing of 19 non-union technicians two days before they would have become eligible for membership. Discussions of wage reductions – and then increasing non-union labor numbers – again added to those fears, Robbins had said.
According to OSG workers, rising health care costs also have not been in sync with wage increases, causing an overall reduction in income.
Another component of the new union contract is the “dependability recognition” program, which will reward workers with certain incentives for being dependable.
OSG manufactures products for corporations such as Allendale Pharmaceuticals in New Jersey and Procter & Gamble on a per-contract basis. The Norwich plant manufactures and packages solid doses, non sterile liquids, non sterile semi-solids and hydrophilic urethane sponges.