Workers at Smead Manufacturing have voted to cut their workweek to 32 hours, rather than put about 100 of their co-workers out of a job. In doing so, they are taking advantage of a state program that helps companies retain key employees during recessions.
The 650 workers will participate in a state program that allows them to collect unemployment pay for the one day a week they are not working.
The Smead workers, represented by PACE Local 7-717, accepted the deal on April 1 by a 2-1 margin, said Paul Lindgren, an international representative for PACE. 'There was a lot of healthy discussion on it' among the more than 400 members who turned out in a snowstorm to vote, he said.
Program limits cuts in hours
When all is said and done, Lindgren said, the workers will lose a half-day's pay each week and accumulate vacation benefits more slowly. Workers at the plant, who produce expanding folders and other office supplies, make a weighted average wage of about $12.25 an hour, he said.
The state's program, called Shared Work, helps companies that are suffering a business slump retain key employees for up to a year, said Jim Rickey, the program's coordinator at the Department of Economic Security.
Companies that qualify - essentially those companies that don't routinely have seasonal layoffs - agree to cut hours for a fixed group of employees by a fixed percentage, ranging from 20 to 40 percent, he said. Employees must have been at the company full time for at least six months.
In addition, the program allows companies to cut benefits only by the same percentage as they are cutting hours, Rickey said. That means employees are unlikely to lose such key benefits as health insurance or pension eligibility.
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Workers retain most of pay
Employees do comparatively well under Shared Work because they still work at least 60 percent of their normal hours at regular wages, plus receive half of their lost wages as unemployment insurance, Rickey said. Because they are using up unemployment eligibility only one or two days at a time, they still will have the majority of unemployment eligibility available even if they later are laid off entirely.
'You won't exhaust your unemployment under Shared Work,' Rickey said. 'Even if you're not working one day a week for six months, you've only used a total of 5 weeks out of your maximum 26 weeks. You still have 21 weeks of benefit eligibility left.'
In the meantime, workers are still earning wages that count toward eligibility in a future base period. Further, under Shared Work, workers sometimes can take on a limited part-time job without affecting their unemployment benefit.
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Rickey said Shared Work has been around since 1994, but that it has not been heavily used until this past year's recession. He said the program currently has about 140 companies enrolled, and that the state is signing up an average of 2 to 5 companies a week.
This article was written for The Union Advocate newspaper, the official publication of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. Used by permission. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@mtn.org
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Workers at Smead Manufacturing have voted to cut their workweek to 32 hours, rather than put about 100 of their co-workers out of a job. In doing so, they are taking advantage of a state program that helps companies retain key employees during recessions.
The 650 workers will participate in a state program that allows them to collect unemployment pay for the one day a week they are not working.
The Smead workers, represented by PACE Local 7-717, accepted the deal on April 1 by a 2-1 margin, said Paul Lindgren, an international representative for PACE. ‘There was a lot of healthy discussion on it’ among the more than 400 members who turned out in a snowstorm to vote, he said.
Program limits cuts in hours
When all is said and done, Lindgren said, the workers will lose a half-day’s pay each week and accumulate vacation benefits more slowly. Workers at the plant, who produce expanding folders and other office supplies, make a weighted average wage of about $12.25 an hour, he said.
The state’s program, called Shared Work, helps companies that are suffering a business slump retain key employees for up to a year, said Jim Rickey, the program’s coordinator at the Department of Economic Security.
Companies that qualify – essentially those companies that don’t routinely have seasonal layoffs – agree to cut hours for a fixed group of employees by a fixed percentage, ranging from 20 to 40 percent, he said. Employees must have been at the company full time for at least six months.
In addition, the program allows companies to cut benefits only by the same percentage as they are cutting hours, Rickey said. That means employees are unlikely to lose such key benefits as health insurance or pension eligibility.
online pharmacy order elavil without prescription with best prices today in the USA
Workers retain most of pay
Employees do comparatively well under Shared Work because they still work at least 60 percent of their normal hours at regular wages, plus receive half of their lost wages as unemployment insurance, Rickey said. Because they are using up unemployment eligibility only one or two days at a time, they still will have the majority of unemployment eligibility available even if they later are laid off entirely.
‘You won’t exhaust your unemployment under Shared Work,’ Rickey said. ‘Even if you’re not working one day a week for six months, you’ve only used a total of 5 weeks out of your maximum 26 weeks. You still have 21 weeks of benefit eligibility left.’
In the meantime, workers are still earning wages that count toward eligibility in a future base period. Further, under Shared Work, workers sometimes can take on a limited part-time job without affecting their unemployment benefit.
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Rickey said Shared Work has been around since 1994, but that it has not been heavily used until this past year’s recession. He said the program currently has about 140 companies enrolled, and that the state is signing up an average of 2 to 5 companies a week.
This article was written for The Union Advocate newspaper, the official publication of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. Used by permission. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@mtn.org