The union representing civilian Red River Army Depot employees is waging a battle with the depot's new primary contractor over benefits.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers alleges VSE Corp., which assumed the role of RRAD primary contractor May 16, is guilty of unfair bargaining and of gutting the healthcare benefits employees received under the former primary contractor, AECOM, in violation of the federal Service Contract Act, in complaints to the National Labor Relations Board and U.S. Department of Labor.
Neither VSE or VSE attorney Harold Koretzky of New Orleans responded to requests for comment Tuesday.
About 1,000 employees who work under VSE and VSE subcontractors are affected, according to IAM spokesman Bob Wood. Those employees include welders, mechanics, machinists, painters, heavy equipment operators and more.
VSE beat out AECOM for the RRAD contract last year and took over as primary contractor May 16. While the law requires a new contractor to pay workers and provide fringe benefits, such as health insurance, at the same rates as negotiated in a collective-bargaining agreement with the previous contractor, the union endeavors to make the transition smooth for its members through a "bridge agreement."
"The negotiations did not start out well," Wood said.
Wood said Koretzky was recording the negotiations without acquiring consent from the union, "which is illegal under the National Labor Relations Act."
Wood said VSE, which also spoke for Texarkana-based subcontractors White's Paint Blast and HPLogIT at the bridge negotiations, refused to divulge its cost for health care while proposing and then enacting changes in employee health coverage that amount to higher costs and a reduction in the value of fringe benefits.
Union members rejected a proposed bridge agreement May 22 because the newly proposed health care plans include higher costs. Wood said some employees lost coverage mid-May and that most employees were without health care on June 1. On June 3, VSE "unilaterally" implemented a health care plan the union complains has higher deductibles, reduced drug coverage and higher co-insurance rates, for example. Wood said annual deductibles were reset as of June 3 and will zero-out again Jan. 1, meaning employees are paying two annual deductibles for 2016.
The IAM's complaint to the National Labor Relations Board is addressed in a June 9 letter to the union's lawyer from NLRB Regional Director Martha Kinard. The letter states that the board is fast-tracking the union's complaint.
"This extraordinary relief is available only in situations where the board's normal procedures will not provide effective relief because, by the time the board issues an order, the damage caused by the illegal acts cannot be undone," Kinard's letter states.
The letter notes that NLRB may seek immediate relief from VSE's allegedly unfair actions in U.S. District Court. The board could seek a temporary injunction forcing VSE to abide by the terms of the prior primary contractor's collective-bargaining agreement. Presumably, the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas over which U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder III presides would have jurisdiction.
"Thus you should be prepared to present all of your evidence, including impact evidence, as quickly as possible," Kinard's letter on behalf of NLRB to the union states.
Wood would not speculate as to VSE's motives. However, the Service Contract Act protects employees working under government contractors from having their wages and benefits reduced because a company wants to prevail in a bidding war, according to a June 13 complaint IAM filed with the Department of Labor.
"These provisions were included in the statute in order to prevent service contractors from cutting wages or benefits to its workers in order to underbid each other and win government contracts, because 'when a government contract is awarded to a service contractor with low wage standards, the government is in effect subsidizing sub-minimum wages,'" the complaint states, referring to case law.
The union is seeking a "make-whole remedy," from the DOL that would compensate employees for financial losses incurred as a result of the change in health care benefits. Wood said the union's lawyer has received notice from the DOL that the agency is investigating the union's complaint.
"The workers at Red River Army Depot are hard-working Americans," Wood said. "All they want is what the law says they are due. Sadly, VSE seems determined to force upon them lesser benefits than those to which they are entitled. We should expect better from a government contractor receiving taxpayer money."