Union set to vote on offer

Alana Roberts

Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2005 | 10:44 a.m.

Truck drivers at linen company Mission Industries were set to vote this morning on a tentative contract agreement reached Tuesday between Teamsters Local 14 and the company, ending a four-day strike.

Gary Mauger, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 14 which represents the 111 truck drivers at the company, said the proposed contract agreement settles a dispute between the union and the company over the amount the workers would contribute to health care. He said the agreement was reached with the help of a federal mediator with the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service.

"It worked out really well," Mauger said. "The parties resolved those issues."

He declined to specify any details about the latest contract until the ratification vote.

Picketing of the company's three Las Vegas Valley facilities ended Tuesday evening.

The company's previous offer, which was rejected on Friday by the union, would have left workers making $201 a month in contributions to their health care by the end of the three-year contract. He said those contributions would have been in addition to the $54 a month in contributions the workers were already making to health care.

The drivers make $19.17 an hour. Mauger said the workers would also get wage increases in the new contract, but he declined to discuss those before the vote. Wages were not a part of the dispute, he said.

The workers voted both Thursday and Friday to reject previous contract proposals by the company and to strike. The workers began striking the company on Friday at midnight.

David Spurlock Jr., corporate counsel of Mission Industries, could not be reached for comment this morning.