Our Contract
Overview
In 2003, the members of Local 34 signed an extraordinary contract for clerical and technical workers here at Yale University that we can all be proud of. Below, you will find a brief summary. For a full text (and searchable) version, click here. Hard copies of the contract is also available at the union offices.
If you have questions about specific contract provisions, you should speak with your steward, committee representative or organizer.
Our contract is the product of an extraordinary effort on the part of our members. Yale workers demonstrated unparalleled strength, unity, courage and determination in every facet of the contract campaign, from filling out surveys to attending rallies to going the distance during the strike.
We now enjoy contracts that benefit all of us. Our contract has raised the standard for our members and the expectations for other workers around the country. We all have a right to be proud!
"Best Practices"
New in our 2003 contract is a major opportunity for our union and university management to create a more collaborative relationship to address issues of productivity, efficiency and job satisfaction in our departments.
Highlights of the Local 34 Contract
Pensions| Benefits| Job Security
WAGES
Our new contract raises wages across the board, eliminating the bottom steps in each labor grade and creating new promotional opportunities for employees by establishing a fifth salary grade. The average increase, not including upgradings or promotions, will be 57% over the life of the contract.
Because your salary in your last years of work at Yale factors heavily into pension calculations, these wage increases also boost pensions significantly.
Across-the-board raises
(compounded over the life of the contract):
2002: 4%
2003: 5%
2004: 4%
2005: 4%
2006: 5%
2007: 5%
2008: 5%
2009: 5%
Market adjustments
In order to be responsive to changing market rates for different kinds of work while remaining fair to current Yale employees, we have agreed on a new, more equitable formula for increasing the salaries of incumbent employees when Yale offers new hires higher rates in classifications where Yale salaries are below the market.
PENSIONS
Because of the dramatic improvement in the pension benefit formula, combined with wage raises averaging 57%, retirement benefits will nearly double by the end of the contract.
Pensions increase dramatically because of the higher multiplier and the raises.
New: Early Retirement
Early retirement with no penalty is now available at age 60 with 25 years of service.
New: Pay for sick leave at retirement
Employees who retire now will be paid in cash 25% of their accumulated sick time. The 75% balance will be applied toward years of service for retirement.
Employees retiring in 2008 or later will be paid in cash 50% of their accumulated sick time. The 50% balance will be applied toward years of service for retirement.
BENEFITS
Improved: Employee Tuition Reimbursement
The maximum annual reimbursement for our tuition for courses or degree programs outside Yale has been increased from $2,500 to $3,500 per year.
In addition, unlike in past contracts, the maximum tuition reimbursement will increase over the life of the contract. Beginning July 1, 2005, the amount will increase each year by the value of the Local 34 across the board increase for that year, ensuring that this benefit does not lose its value over time.
Scholarship for Children of Employees
The Scholarship for Children of Employees program remains in effect with two significant changes: first, children of staff enrolled on a full-time basis in a community college will now be eligible for the scholarship. Until now, this program has been limited to students enrolled in accredited four-year undergraduate colleges who were candidates for a bachelor’s degree.
Second, Local 35 members who are regularly scheduled for 35 hours per week now qualify as full time for the purpose of determining eligibility. Until now, Local 34 members were eligible at 37.5 hours, but anyone in Local 35 working fewer than 40 hours per week was excluded from this benefit. The amount of the scholarship is equal to one-half of the school’s tuition and general fees (excluding room and board), up to a maximum amount that is determined annually by the Yale Corporation. The maximum for the 2003/2004 academic year is $11,600.
Life Insurance Benefit
The life insurance provided to all employees at no cost will increase from $4,000 to $5,000. The coverage for those who retire in the future will also be increased from $1,000 to $5,000.
New: Car Pools and Mass Transit
If you commute by bus, train or car pool, you will get three free parking passes a month to park in a Yale lot.
JOB SECURITY
Improvements affecting all layoffs
Most members of Local 34 who are laid off want to stay at Yale and choose to enter the Interim Employee Pool (IEP). Employees in the IEP maintain their salary, benefits and seniority while they work in temporary assignments and look for work.
We made a number of improvements to the benefits offered to laid-off employees in the IEP. First, laid-off employees with six or more years of service are now eligible for 15 months in the IEP, instead of the previous 12 months. In addition, any Local 34 member with more than 15 years of service who does not find a position by the expiration of her IEP time will receive a lump sum severance payment equal to 1 week for every 2 years of completed service at Yale.
 In any case where someone facing layoff is at least 50, but less than 55 years old, and would have 20 years or more of service by the time she turns 55, she may choose to continue in the IEP until she turns 55 and takes early retirement.
New protections in case of major layoffs or where employees need retraining because their skills are unusual
Although our bargaining unit has grown steadily, we wanted to provide additional protection in case large layoffs occur in the future. Based on our experiences when Yale transferred its Psychiatric Institute to Yale-New Haven Hospital, we wanted to secure better retraining benefits and more pool time for people involved in large layoffs and for those whose unusual skills make it more difficult to be placed in jobs in the Local 34 bargaining unit. These protections are additions to our prior contract. Yale must continue to meet all the existing contractual requirements before any of us can be laid off or have our hours reduced.
Under the new language, whenever a layoff of 25 or more people is planned, Yale must give us at least 6 months advance notice. This will ensure extra planning and transition time for those affected and—if the University and union make good on promises of future cooperation—might provide an opportunity to limit the scope of the layoff or help employees in other ways. Where a layoff does occur, all affected employees will receive a minimum of 18 months pool time and will have release time and special access to training. This training will include the employee’s choice of access to Yale internal skills training programs, or the opportunity to attend training outside Yale with up to $3,000 tuition paid by the University. Finally, anyone not placed in a Yale job by the end of her IEP time may also elect to receive either a training grant of 3 months’ salary or salary and benefit continuation option of one week of pay for every two years of service.
By mutual agreement of the union and Yale members of the job search team, the training and IEP provisions described above can also apply to laid-off employees whose skills make them hard to place in the Local 34 bargaining unit.
Casuals and Temporary Employees: Six- and Nine-Month Jobs
The overuse of casual and temporary employees for positions that are neither casual nor temporary has been a long-standing problem in Local 34. New contract provisions will help ensure these practices are curtailed and permanent jobs are created where permanent work exists.
First, there will now be automatic notification and automatic payroll cutoff after 20 weeks for a casual or 26 weeks for a temporary employee, except when an individual is covering a permanent employee’s leave of absence. This means that individual departments cannot continue to pay casual or temporary workers beyond the limits established in the contract, as has happened in the past. These provisions apply whether the casual/temporary worker is paid directly by Yale or through an outside agency.
 Second, within the next year, at least 40 new floater-type, 6-9 month seasonal, or fixed-duration permanent positions will be added to our bargaining unit.
Third, where permanent-but-seasonal work exists, which is common in departments like Athletics, 6-9 month jobs can be created, with prorated benefit coverage and eligibility for the Interim Employment Pool, rather than using casuals or temporarys to cover this regular but less than full-year work.
New : Upgrading Opportunities: Labor Grade E
When Local 34 was first formed in the 1980’s, one of the biggest issues was salary compression. Women and minorities were all “compressed” down at the bottom of the salary scale and in the lower labor grades.
Over the years, our contracts have restructured salaries to correct these economic inequities and move employees up commensurate with their years of experience. However, our jobs have changed significantly over those years, demanding new and more sophisticated skills and technologies. That has created a new kind of compression—one where long-term, highly-skilled and specialized employees now bump up against the top of the salary structure with nowhere to go.
Salary Grade E was created to address this new kind of compression. An outside consultant, jointly chosen by us and Yale, will review the jobs now in Labor Grade D, set a “dividing line” between jobs that belong in D and those that should be reclassified as E, and make an initial determination of who will be placed in the new labor grade.
Initially, 200-300 positions in the bargaining unit will be classified Labor Grade E. More positions can be upgraded after this initial round; unlike earlier proposals from the University, there are no artificial numerical or percentage limits on the number of jobs that can be upgraded during the term of this contract. If your job meets the criteria for Labor Grade E, it will be upgraded.
No one can be downgraded as a result of the initial placement process; no one who refuses to participate in the process will be upgraded. There will be a rapid appeal procedure for anyone who disagrees with the initial placement decision, with the appeal going to a joint Local 34–Yale board. The deciding vote will be cast by a representative of the consultant. The entire process will be completed by the end of December 2004.
Salary increases resulting from these initial upgradings will be paid in two parts. In January 2005, each upgraded employee will be placed halfway to the full upgraded rate; in January 2006, everyone will move to the full upgraded rate.
Training Opportunities
Local 34 members have long sought opportunities for training. Unfortunately, Yale’s internal training courses have consistently been oversubscribed, and many departments have refused to release workers for training.
Beginning in 2004, the new contract guarantees every Local 34 member four days of release time each year for training. It also creates a joint training committee to help oversee the expansion of course offerings and to consider appropriate bonus payments for completion of degree programs or extensive training programs. Training can now be an everyday part of work and advancement at Yale.
Job description system and audit procedure
In this contract, if your job is audited, you may be reclassified into a new title if there is no existing job title in the appropriate labor grade and job family.
Instead of, or in addition to, the standard job description questionnaire, custom-designed, shorter questionnaires may be used for particular job titles, classifications or types of work by agreement between us and Yale.
With Yale, we will jointly review all employees now classified in Labor Grade A within the next six months. These reviews may be done as “desk audits” without formal applications, interviews or site visits. When a written survey is necessary, a shorter, custom-designed questionnaire may be used.
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