Published: August 15, 2008 10:50 pm      

LOCKPORT: Cornerstone employees on strike

There were a few lines Friday at Cornerstone Community Federal Credit Union on South Transit Road, but there was one outside that wasn’t a line for banking.

Cornerstone employees from the Local 212 chapter of the Office and Professional Employees International Union went on strike Friday after the union rejected management’s final contract offer a second time. The 73 Cornerstone employees of the OPEIU have been working without a contract since the previous four-year deal expired in November 2007. On Tuesday OPEIU membership rejected the last tentative agreement Tuesday, which included asking employees to pay a portion of health insurance costs.

The union represents some of the tellers, customer service representatives and clerks who work for Cornerstone.

A good chunk of the employees were out Friday with picket signs in hand, receiving a few honks of encouragement from passing motorists. A former Delphi Harrison worker slowed down in his truck and asked what was going on. He offered some words to striker Glenn Krulisky, a Cornerstone veteran of 17 years. Krulisky said Cornerstone had one of their best years financially, and the contract wasn’t fair to the employees.

“If they were losing money it’d be one thing,” Krulisky said. “But they saw record profits.”

Deana Fox, Local 212’s business representative, said Cornerstone management made the same offer twice. OPEIU membership shot down the offer both times, first on June 16 and then again Aug. 12. There was a brief meeting the next day but neither side budged and no solution was found. Fox said negotiations are stalled and no new ones have been scheduled, but the union is willing to talk.

“There are ways to solve this,” Fox said.

Joan Schrier, a Cornerstone employee of five years, said the OPEIU members felt the final offer from Cornerstone was unfair. As a result, the employees picked up a sign and stood along Transit and Rapids Road. The strike began at 8 a.m., and then at 9 a.m. at other locations.

“It doesn’t reflect their current status,” she said. “We tried to negotiate, they’re not willing to budge.”

In a statement, Cornerstone officials said the deal would have continued to provide employees with a more than competitive benefit package, including single and family health insurance coverage for full-time employees and a 401(k) retirement plan.

As part of the agreement Cornerstone was asking its employees to pay a small portion of health insurance costs, by contributing five percent of the monthly health insurance premium starting in November 2009. According to credit union management, health insurance costs have risen 53 percent between 2004 and 2008.

“The board of directors and management staff of Cornerstone provide all employees with a fair wage and benefits package, and according to the New York state Department of Labor, the current average wage rate for Cornerstone’s union employees falls above the 90th percentile when compared with the wages of employees at other regional and statewide financial institutions,” Cornerstone President and chief executive officer Ann Brittin said. “As a member-owned credit union, we must also maintain a fiscal responsibility to our members as stewards of their assets.”

Fox said there was more to the health insurance issue than the five percent request. It is a change in plans with a higher deductible. If employees want to keep the old plan, they have to pay the difference.

Fox said 18 bargaining sessions were held before the offer was first made in June. And then not a single meeting took place from June until the second time the offer was made in August. The union voted to strike Aug. 12.

Both sides said they didn’t want to short change the credit union members. In a prepared statement, Cornerstone said its board of directors and management team “will ensure the continued provision of normal services to its membership” by maintaining full operation at the South Transit Road location in Lockport. Locations on Stevens Street in Lockport and State Street in Middleport were closed, but customers can still access automated teller machines at both branches. Full account access and basic banking for customers was available through five shared service locations, which are branches of other credit unions that are a part of a national network.

Long lines of cars and people were found Friday at Cornerstone. Not making it hard for the customer was something management and the union could agree on.

“We hate to inconvenience our membership,” Krulisky said.

Brittin said Cornerstone has had a history with unions, and supports the position of a union as representative of its members’ best interests. As the former Unit No. 1, Cornerstone was built from a membership with Delphi Harrison and the United Auto Workers Local 686. In addition, six of the nine members of the Cornerstone board of directors are affiliated with unions.

Beginning in 1957 as Unit No. 1 Federal Credit Union, Cornerstone is a community-chartered, federally insured credit union. Cornerstone has more than 43,000 members and assets in excess of $240 million.

Contact reporter Joe Olenick

at 439-9222, ext. 6241.