Concrete Products covers the issues that attract producers of ready mixed and manufactured concrete focusing on equipment and material technology, market development and management topics.
Issue link: http://concrete.epubxp.com/i/323193
6 • June 2014 www.concreteproducts.com GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS AGENCIES Under a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board, Fontana, Calif.-based Commodity Trucking Acquisition LLC has entered a three-year collective bargain- ing agreement with Teamsters Local 137, Redding, Calif., and will cover $262,000 in back pay for drivers at its Dispatch Transportation business, formerly Valley Aggregate Transport Inc. in Yuba City, Calif. The deal was reached shortly before an April hearing NLRB scheduled after ex- amining union-alleged National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) violations, including repu- diation/modifcation of contract plus refusal to recognize and bargain. Those actions reportedly arose after Teamsters 137 was certifed as Valley Transport drivers' bargaining representative in 2010, and ownership of the 100-plus vehicle feet transitioned to Com- modity Trucking/Dispatch Transportation. NLRA requires new owners who hire a majority of employees from a former owner's payroll to recognize and bargain with the existing union. Teamsters 137 contended that Dispatch Transportation failed to hire certain long- time Valley Transport drivers to avoid bargaining obligation. "The employer made it clear that it was not interested in operating a unionized facility and hired only a few of the predecessor's drivers. Thereafter, [it] refused to recognize and bargain with the union," notes the NLRB. "After an investigation of a charge fled by the union, NLRB Region 20 concluded that the employer would have hired many more of the predecessor's drivers but for its desire to avoid a bargaining obligation, and that its subsequent refusal to recognize and bargain with the union was therefore unlawful." After Region 20 issued a complaint, the parties entered into a Board settlement, which in addition to the collective bargaining agreement and back pay provisions, requires Commodity Trucking to restore the Valley Aggregate policy of recalling and dis- patching drivers by seniority. According to Local 137, the three-year contract includes a $20/hour wage rate, overtime and $3/hour Western Conference of Teamsters Pen- sion Plan contribution versus a prior percentage of load pay scheme netting drivers $11–$14/hour. LIMITED DRIVER POOL STEERS AGGREGATE HAULER TO TEAMSTERS' TERMS In a ruling on National Resources Defense Council v. EPA, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia upholds major parts of an agreement the cement indus- try and Environmental Protection Agency reached on the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP), under which producers will invest heavily in emissions treatment and controls equipment toward a 2016 compliance target. "The compliance date reset is providing members additional time needed to comply with the NESHAP standards," Portland Cement Association notes. "Such time is essential to properly complete the planning, engineering, permitting, testing and construction of the various new technologies that will be necessary to implement the revised standards. "EPA's revised cement NESHAP rule struck the right balance in establishing compliance limits that, while still extremely challenging, are realistic and achievable. … The revised standards and compliance period are essential to preserving jobs at domestic cement facilities, providing direct support for an American manufacturing industry that is critical to our nation's infrastructure. PCA supports meeting the demand for portland cement through envi- ronmentally and socially responsible business practices, which have been implemented for decades by our member companies in their local communities." EPA cement plant emissions rule stands Concrete Products June 2014.indd 6 5/30/2014 2:30:57 PM