Wolf union employees agree to pay and benefit cuts

[undeterred]

About 200 union workers at Madison-based Sub-Zero/Wolf on Friday agreed to a negotiated proposal for a phased-in 20 percent cut in pay and benefits to save their jobs. "The company and the union have reached agreement and the membership ratified a long-term contract," said Chuck Verri, vice president of human resources. "We have an agreement through October 2018." "The jobs stay," Verri added.

Last month, the 200 Wolf employees, who are members of Sheet Metal Workers Local 565, narrowly rejected an initial proposal from the company that was similar in some major respects to the one they ratified Friday by a vote of 110 to 89. Sub-Zero/Wolf had threatened to move Wolf appliance production to Kentucky if the concessions were not approved. But last week, company officials reached out to the union again for another try at negotiations, which took place Thursday, according to Dave Goodspeed, business agent for the union.

Goodspeed said Friday after the vote that the union managed to get "some improvements" to the company's initial offer during Thursday's negotiations. Most importantly, he said, the full 20 percent cut previously would have come immediately in the first year of the contract.

Now, the cut will be phased in, with 5 percent deducted at the start of each quarter, or every three months starting Oct. 18. As before, the workers' pay and benefits then would be frozen for the next four years, Goodspeed said. Verri on Friday described the agreement as mutually beneficial. "It addresses our concerns over wage and benefit costs and it addresses our employees' issues over job security," Verri said. Under the proposal accepted by workers, wages after all the cuts kick in will range from $17.33 to $26 an hour.

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