By Hubble Smith, Las Vegas Review-Journal
May 25–Nearly 600 workers at the Medco Health Solutions mail-order pharmacy plant in Henderson will return to work Friday after ratification of a new three-year union contract, ending a 49-day lockout by the company.
The new contract provides for a medical and dental plan that cannot be altered or changed during the term of the contract, United Steelworkers spokeswoman Lynne Baker said Wednesday.
Other benefits such as life insurance, accidental dismemberment and disability insurance and 401(K) retirement plans have also been restored, she said. Any changes have to be negotiated.
The ratification comes after pharmacy technicians and support staff represented by USW Local 675 were locked out by Medco on April 5. Workers had refused to give up their right to bargain over benefits and were “illegally” locked out, Baker said.
The three-year contract runs retroactively from Sept. 1, 2005, through Sept. 1, 2008. Workers will receive a lump sum of $2,100, an immediate wage increase of 3.5 percent and similar wage increases each September through 2007. Workers will also get $850 bonuses in 2007 and 2008.
“The labor movement joined together to support our locked-out members,” Baker said. “They wrote to Medco and said they would be changing their business to another (pharmaceutical) provider if the lockout didn’t end. I’m talking to people now who are ready to move their business and we’re telling them everything’s settled, keep going with Medco. We’re steering business back to them as we speak.”
Soraya Balzac, spokeswoman for New Jersey-based Medco, said terms of the contract advance Medco’s imperative to operate efficiently and cost-effectively.
“It’s certainly a fair and equitable agreement,” she said. “We recognize contract negotiations require give and take on both sides. This allows the company to retain our competitive position.”
Negotiations have begun for about 800 workers at Medco’s mail-order pharmacy in Columbus, Ohio, and 300 workers at Medco’s call center in Tampa, Fla.
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MHS,
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