BNA - Guild News

Dec. 11, 2002

BNA Proposes New One-Raise System

BNA proposed a new wage structure Dec. 10 under which all Guild-covered employees would receive one annual raise, a major change from a system in place for a number of decades.

The new structure would replace contract provisions under which most employees receive "step increases" in their first six years of service and all employees receive a negotiated "general increase" each year. The proposal also would add a Grade 11, but did not specify which jobs would be so classified.

Management bargainers said the new system would result in average increases of about 3 percent for Guild-covered employees in each of the next three years. The annual "consolidated raise" is pegged to a proposed one-time 3 percent increase in the "midpoint" salary in each grade.

BNA said the proposal included several recommendations developed over two years by the Joint Compensation Committee, which was established under the 2000 contract.

Under the proposed new structure, each employee's annual raise would depend on where their salary falls in one of four "quartiles" in the wage table. The quartiles would not be linked to the 12-month intervals in the current steps.

The percentage increases would be highest (5.50 percent of the grade midpoint) at the low end of the grades. The percentages would decrease as employees advance through the quartiles, to a low of 2.5 percent at the high end.

Workers above the maximum (red-circled employees) would receive annual raises of 1.5 percent of the grade midpoint. For example, a G-6 above the new maximum of $45,825 would receive a raise of $597 each year; a G-8 above the maximum of $58,058 would receive $736; and a G-10 above the maximum of $73,500 would receive a $907 raise.

Under BNA's proposal, employees in grades 1-3 could go from the minimum to the maximum in six years, grades 4-6 could take eight years, grades 7-8 could take 10 years, and grades 9-11 could take 12 years to reach the maximum.

The new table would be similar to the current scale, but it would provide for a wider minimum-to-maximum spread for each grade. In explaining the proposal, BNA benefits director Kathy Muller said the new minimum-maximum spreads would range from 25 to 55 percent, compared to the current ranges of 24 to 32 percent.

In expanding the range, BNA proposed higher maximums in all grades, as well as lower minimums for Grades 7-10, even after the proposed 3 percent increase. The new maximums would range from $26,247 for G-1 (current $25,273) to $73,500 for G-10 (current $66,077). The new supergrade (G-11) would start at $52,712 and go to a maximum of $81,586.

As under the current step increases, raises would depend on employees receiving an annual "satisfactory" performance rating; "unsatisfactory" employees would receive no raise. Employees would be eligible for their raise on their anniversary date of hire or promotion to a new job.

Muller said the proposal is consistent with the recommendations of the Joint Compensation Committee that there be wider salary ranges and that adjustments to the salary structure be separated from adjustments to individual salaries.

The proposed new structure will be discussed at a Guild Membership Meeting from noon to 1 p.m. today (Dec. 11) in the South Bldg. second-floor open space.

Bargaining resumes at 3 p.m. Thurday (Dec. 12) in the Bldg. 4 Training Rooms.

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