MADISON, Wis. CUNA Mutual Group has extended the terms of a recently expired four-year labor deal a third time, through April 10, as negotiations heat up.
The reach of the union, the Office of Professional Employees International Union Local 39, which has had acrimonious relations during the last two contract negotiations, has diminished significantly during that time, with just 700 of CMG’s 1,750 Madison employees now represented by the union, down from 862 in 2008 and more than 1,200 in 2005. The diminished influence of the CUNA Mutual union comes as Wisconsin has become the focus of anti-union legislation, with the state passing legislation strictly limiting collective bargaining rights for public employees’ unions.
The current contract expired March 31, 2012, but was extended a year, then again through April 4, and yet again through April 10.
CUNA Mutual’s recent labor negotiations have been marked by acrimony between the two sides. In 2005, the company and OPEIU Local 39 hit a bargaining impasse, leading to months of picketing, but not a strike, at company headquarters here. Then-CUNA Mutual CEO Mike Kitchen was forced to resign after it was learned that he had illegally given financial assistance to a union splinter group. The 2008 talks were marred by the union’s fight against the company’s outsourcing of union jobs, then by an unsuccessful effort by managers to break away and form their own bargaining unit that the union alleged was backed by the company.
As a result, the 2008 contract, which provided union employees with raises of 2% in 2008 and 3% in each of the final three years, and a one-year moratorium on employee cutbacks in Madison, included a commitment to build a better working relationship between the company and the union.
This year’s negotiations comes in the shadow of big profits for CUNA Mutual, with the company reporting an 81% surge in annual earnings for 2012, its fourth straight year of rising profits.
The two sides are currently negotiating length of contract, wage increases, health insurance costs, retiree health, and pensions, according to sources. Among other concessions, the company wants represented employees to contribute more to health care costs.
“We won’t comment on items being negotiated through the collective bargaining process,” said Rick Uhlmann, a spokesman for the credit union insurer. “CUNA Mutual respects that process and believes the important issues facing the company, our customers and employees are best settled at the table, not in public forum.”
Union representatives declined several telephone and e-mail requests to comment.
