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Sidebar, TA, Ground Rules – this is the sort of terminology that is tossed across most bargaining tables. But if this is your first time with a seat, that’s not something you would know. Members of Local 1243 at Red River Army Depot (RRAD) in Hooks, TX, who will head into negotiations later this year and next, knew they needed some assistance to be ready.
“It was an ideal situation that I was able to come to the Local and work with this group one-on-one. Just like at the Winpisinger Center, it was a full week, filled with hard work and learning curves. But by the end of it, this group came together and became a force to be reckoned with and that will speak loudly at the bargaining table,” said Jorge Bonilla, an education representative from the William W. Winpisinger Center.
“2.7%, that’s the answer. I ran the numbers and I’m sure of it,” said DeLaine Cornelius excitedly during the costing out part of the week. She is one of six machinists who will negotiate a new contract for the nearly 600 members working at RRAD. The base agreement was recently taken over by government contractor AECOM and both a bridge agreement and a new deal will need to be negotiated by this team.
“This group has a big job in front of them. Not only are many of them first-timers at the table, but they need to bring home a strong, machinist contract for the hundreds of IAM members working at RRAD who take care of our U.S. Servicemen and Women. But I am positive they will be ready after this week,” said IAM Southern Territory General Vice President Rickey Wallace. “We have supplied the tools, but they have furnished the passion necessary for a successful contract that will take care of workers and their families in the surrounding communities.”
