JANESVILLE — As many as 65 bank workers represented by Janesville’s autoworkers union appear to be mired in a labor contract dispute with employer Blackhawk Community Credit Union.
The credit union hasn’t publicly acknowledged any stalemate, but United Auto Workers Local 95 union President Tim Silha said negotiators between the credit union and the union workers as of Tuesday had begun to lose traction as labor talks have faltered over the past several weeks.
He said the union has now been working several weeks under an expired labor contract as it tries to negotiate wage and benefits increases.
“I don’t want to say at an impasse, because we’re still talking,” Silha said. However, Silha said talks over the last few weeks have appeared to begin to grind toward a halt.
Silha said Blackhawk Credit Union, first established to serve UAW workers at General Motors’ former Janesville Assembly Plant, appeared unwilling to budge on wages and insurance.
Local United Auto Workers branches under bylaws are required to formally file with their national chapter an intent to strike or walk out. National UAW chapter OKs workers to strike based on general recommendations from the union’s top regional labor negotiator.
That UAW negotiator, Silha said, worked on the UAW’s last contract with Blackhawk Credit Union, a set of talks Silha said at times got fraught.
“They’re well aware, very familiar with the (labor) situation here,” he said.
Silha said most of Blackhawk Community Credit Union’s 65 union rank-and-file workers voted a few weeks ago not to ratify a tentative agreement, because he said the credit union’s negotiators continued to offer up the same package they started with.
He said some nonunion executives for Blackhawk Credit Union have paydays in the “high six figures,” while he said costs continue to rise for middle-class employees who haven’t seen noticeable pay increases since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s same old song, just a different tune. They (Blackhawk executives) are making a ton of money, but they don’t want to share any with their employees,”
Silha pointed out that rank-and-file bank employees such as tellers were among the nation’s “critical” frontline workers during the COVID lockdowns and were among those people haled at the time as brave and self-sacrificing.
“Now we get outside of that, and it comes time to ask for just rewards. You know, the answer is “No.” Because they workers, they obviously went from heroes to zeroes. And that’s where we’re at. The (union) membership doesn’t believe that they’re valued and certainly not compensated for the value that they believe they have.”
The local UAW at one time had thousands of rank-and-file workers, but the branch’s numbers dwindled markedly after GM shut its Janesville assembly plant in 2009, despite the union’s moves to establish union shops at other, smaller manufacturers and workplaces including at some Mercyhealth clinics.
Cee Cee Philipps, spokeswoman for Blackhawk Community Credit Union, wouldn’t address Silha’s statements that the union and Blackhawk are at odds.
Phillips said Blackhawk doesn’t divulge private negotiations with employees, but she said Blackhawk is “proud of its long relationship” with the UAW workers.
Phillips said that “we’re not uncomfortable where we’re at” in talks with the UAW, adding that “it’s a good sign that we (the credit union and the UAW) are meeting again” on Wednesday.
Philipps said the credit union is “hoping it’s going to go in the right direction,” although she didn’t say whether that might involve compromise from either side.
Silha said neither the UAW nor Blackhawk appeared to concede any ground as talks wound down on Tuesday. He said the union’s growing dissatisfied with Blackhawk bringing forward the same, unchanged proposal as union continues to reject it.
“I don’t know if they (Blackhawk) believe they’re going to call our bluff or what,” Silha said. “But I know our patience is running thin.”
Different take
Blackhawk Credit Union CEO Lisa Palma tells a different tale about talks.
”We feel like we put forth a really strong offer,” Palma said, disclosing that the credit union has offered an average pay increase of 11% for all employees, plus weekend overtime pay, more paid holidays, and a $10 a month decrease in health insurance premiums for most of the union workers.
Palma said she’s stunned to hear Silha’s characterization that the credit union has been resistant to negotiate union employee pay increases. She said the UAW and the credit union are involved in a form of negotiations called “collaborative bargaining.”
Palma said that means both the union and the employer negotiate collective lists of “goals.” Whether the process is all that different from past contract talks between the two sides, Palma said Blackhawk’s goal has been to “build trust and solidarity” with the workers’ union.
Palma said Silha was once a member of Blackhawk Community Credit Union’s board of directors. She said she thinks Silha’s framing of the contract talks does not match the tone of talks that she’s personally sat in on. Palma suggested Silha’s former role as a credit union board member presents a “conflict of interest.”
