TruStage, Labor Union Blame Each Other for Stalled Contract Negotiations

Both TruStage and the labor union that represents 450 of its employees are blaming each other for a standstill in labor negotiations.

Three weeks after ending what the union has described as an unfair labor practices strike, the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 39 (OPEIU 39) said that they have been unable to make progress in negotiations with TruStage, formerly CUNA Mutual Group, in Madison, Wis.

“Union members have been coming to the table with thoughtful proposals meant to help reach a fair settlement while TruStage continues to bargain in bad faith,” Joe Evica, chief steward for OPEIU 39, said in a prepared statement.

TruStage said in its prepared statement that it is “extremely disappointed” in what the company called “repeated false claims” from the union.

“For more than a year, we have offered numerous proposals and bargaining opportunities on behalf of TruStage’s represented employees,” TruStage Spokesperson Barclay Pollak said. ”These overtures were met with silence from the union. Only in recent weeks have they agreed to come to the bargaining table.”

Pollak said the two sides met for several hours last Wednesday and claimed the union did not respond to TruStage’s proposals.

But the union is claiming that TruStage came to the table unprepared and unwilling to engage in the services of the federal mediator.

“Last Wednesday the union put forward proposals that would have moved several open proposals off the table that were open between the parties,” OPEIU Local 39 said. “The employer was unable to provide a counter response to our proposals after two hours and eight minutes of caucusing, asked no substantive questions about our proposals and had zero proposals of their own to present. The actions by the employer made last Wednesday are the same, bad faith, surface-bargaining the employer has engaged in for the last five months.”

However, TruStage contended that the union failed to address multiple open items, did not respond to the company’s pending information requests, and did not follow up on any of the numerous responses to their information requests and proposals the company has provided over the past two weeks.

“Rather than engaging in meaningful discussions, union leadership has focused on making false claims in the media,” Pollack said.

“This is rich coming from the company, but we have come to expect nothing less,” the union retorted. “As stated above, our package proposals, if agreed to, would have moved several open items off the table had the employer actually engaged in real bargaining with OPEIU.”

Labor negotiations began in early 2022 before a collective bargaining agreement expired on March 31. However, talks broke down in January 2023. Since then, OPEIU 39 has filed several unfair labor practices charges against TruStage with the National Labor Relations Board for allegedly refusing to meet with the union to negotiate, failing to provide information legally required for bargaining, surveilling union members and terminating the union’s chief steward Joe Evica without cause.

The union began its strike on May 19 and continued to walk in a picket line in front of TruStage’s headquarters through June 4 when the strike ended. Although the union initially said the strike was suspended, it was actually called off after the OPEIU 39 cited positive movement in negotiations during the work stoppage. Nevertheless, the union said TruStage immediately relapsed to its previous behavior of not negotiating in good faith.

TruStage has repeatedly denied the union’s allegations of unfair labor practices, insisting that it is determined to reach a fair and market-competitive agreement that meets the needs of its employees, its customers and the company.

According to TruStage, more than 3,700 of its employees are not members of the union.