SCI and Chicago Funeral Directors Reach Agreement – UPDATED

Quote from Chicago area funeral director:

June 30, 2010, 6:30 pm it was presented to the Members of Teamsters Local 727, Funeral Directors and Drivers, the result of ten days of hard bargaining. The result was a concession on wage cuts for 11 of the longest term (most senior) funeral directors (6% reduction) and the maintaining of the health and pension benefits which has led to a new 3 year contract between SCI Dignity Memorial, Houston, TX and the Chicago Dignity Memorial Funeral Directors. The bottomline, Chicago Local 727 Funeral Directors were serious with our plan to strike and Houston saw that intent.

From ChicagoUnionNews.com :

The union representing funeral directors and drivers at 17 Chicago-area sites reached an agreement with the owner Wednesday, averting a possible strike at some of the better-known funeral homes in the region.

The contract was set to expire at midnight, but Chicago’s Teamsters Local 727 and Houston-based Service Corporation International hammered out a last-minute agreement, union officials said.

Following is a statement from Local 727:

Funeral directors, embalmers and drivers voted to ratify a three-year contract after Teamsters Local 727 representatives and SCI management reached an agreement

during the final negotiation session on Wednesday, June 30, 2010.

Local 727 representatives were able to preserve pension and health and welfare benefits for all bargaining unit members.

“From Day One, we made it abundantly clear to SCI management that pensions and health and welfare benefits were the top priorities for our members,” said John Coli Jr., Local 727 Vice President. “We fought long and hard and we had to make some sacrifices, but in the end, we were able to protect the things our members value most.”

In order to preserve the pensions and benefits, members were forced to take three-year wage freezes with incentive-based bonuses.