Utility Workers Union of America
Local 600
AFL-CIO
Representing Office, Clerical, Technical and Residual Employees 

April 21, 2005

Mr. Jim Anderson
President
Local Union 600, IUU
Utility Workers Union of America
810 Brighton Street
Newport, Kentucky 41071

            Re:      East Call Center

Dear Mr. Anderson:

During the 2005 – 2008 contract negotiations, representatives of the Company and the Union discussed the East Call Center. 

            As agreed, the East Call Center organization will be staffed with a combination of full-time and part-time employees.  Employees, with the exception of Customer Relations Representative A’s (A Reps) and Administrative Office Clerks, are classified as Customer Service Representatives (CSR) in one of the following four groups:  full-time incumbent CSRs; full-time new CSRs; part-time incumbent CSRs; and, part-time new CSRs.  Incumbents are defined as CSRs who were employees in the East Call Center prior to the original call center agreement of 1996.  

            East Call Center wages (and the wages of employees in Contact Services Support) will be administered per the attached sheet.  None of the CSRs will have their wage rate reduced as a result of these changes.   

Incentives for A reps and CSRs, in the East Call Center and in Contact Services Support, will be based on the achievement of established performance measures (see attached).  Any A rep or CSR, who is serving in a non-call-taking role will receive a bonus equal to the average bonus payout for call-takers, unless an alternative method is mutually agreed upon by management and union representatives.  There will be a quarterly review by management and union representatives, prior to the quarterly payout, to ensure that bonus calculations are accurate and that the parameters remain reasonable in light of changes in the business environment.   Assuming the union representatives involved in this review are in agreement with the calculations, the Union agrees not to support or process grievances related to the bonus calculations.  

An employee, who leaves the East Call Center, prior to the end of a quarter, will receive a prorated bonus for the time worked in the East Call Center organization.   

Full-time employees who left the East Call Center, on or after 1/1/04, may still opt to be included on the call center voluntary overtime list.  They would only be considered for overtime during storms or other emergencies and only after all call center employees on the voluntary overtime list were offered overtime. 

All part-time CSRs will receive part-time employee benefits, regardless of the number of hours they work.  While the intention is for part-time CSRs to be scheduled for less than 32 hours per week, they may exceed this number of hours due to actual or expected peak call volumes, trading of hours between employees, etc. 

It is expected that representatives working evening, night or weekend shifts provide at least three hours notice if they are going to be unable to report to work, whether due to illness or other factors.  It is understood that there will be times when an emergency occurs within three hours of the start of an employee’s shift.   

Employees, who are called out for other than planned overtime, will be paid a minimum of 4 hours at the appropriate overtime rate except when they come in, relative to storms, less than four hours before their scheduled shift.   In this case they will only be paid at the applicable overtime rate for a minimum of 2 hours. 

The Union agrees to support the following call center CIN-10 initiatives:

Virtual Routing

·         The Union agrees to not grieve the routing of Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky customer calls to available representatives within the East Call Center, West Call Center or outsourced center(s).  The East Call Center will handle a mixture of call types such as service orders, billing, gas and electric trouble, miscellaneous calls handled by the centers today and potentially some credit.  The outsourced portion of this work is not subject to the Labor Management Executive Committee outsourcing process developed in December of 2004.

·         Representatives are expected to move to being able to handle a mixture of all the call types listed above for Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky customers.  Recognition for representatives, when they reach this point, and consequences, if they do not reach this point within in a reasonable amount of time, will be determined by management at a later date, with input from a joint union and management team.

·         There will be a semi-annual discussion between management and union representatives to discuss any issues that arise relative to the virtual routing process.   As a result of these discussions, process changes can be made if mutually agreeable.  These meetings will include either the President or Vice-President of the UWUA Local Union 600.

Staffing Mix

·         The Company has the right to offer full-time new CSR positions directly to part-time CSRs based on performance criteria established by management.  If performance of two or more part-time CSRs is equal, years of service in the East Call Center will be used as a tie-breaker.    

·         As of 3/1/05 there were six employees earning less than $14.00 per hour. If any of these six employees bid on a full-time CSR job opening and are able to qualify for the position, the Company will offer every fifth job opening to the most senior qualified bidder of these six employees.   If any of these six employees don’t bid; bid but turn down an offer; or, fail to qualify on tests, they will be eliminated from the list and will not be considered for any future full-time new CSR job openings.   Other than these six employees, in order to qualify for the position of full-time new CSR, an employee must have 1 year of experience in the East Call Center within the last 3 years.

·         Full-time new and part-time representatives, within the East Call Center, who demonstrate, through assessment, that they are fluent in Spanish, will be paid a premium of $1.00 per hour.

The Company agrees that the average annualized staffing within the East Call Center will not drop below 50 FTEs in 2005 and will not drop below 45 FTEs in subsequent years.  If the performance of the East Center meets or exceeds the performance of the West Center, for a period of one year, in terms of cost, customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction, this minimum number will, at that time, be increased to 55.  This level would be maintained as long as the level of performance is maintained as well.

This letter will be in effect through the term of the agreement. 

Very truly yours,

                                     John E. Polley

                                                                        General Manager

                                                                        Labor Relations

Cinergy East Call Center Wage Schedule

*Note:

·   Any part-time CSR who was hired before 1/1/05 and meets and maintains  the required performance criteria to qualify for promotion to a full-time new CSR by the end of 2005, will be moved to $14.00 per hour, when they are promoted to a full-time new CSR position. 

·   Any part-time CSR hired before 1/1/05 and meets and maintains the required performance criteria to qualify for promotion to a full-time new CSR by 7/1/06, will be moved to a starting full-time salary of $13.50 per hour, when they are promoted to a full-time new CSR position.  

·   In all other cases, the starting full-time new CSR salary will be $13.00.

·   The minimum wage rates for CSR-FTN and CSR-PTN positions will not increase with annual base wage increases.

Cinergy East Call Center Individual Bonus Criteria

Notes:

·         There will be a reduction of 10% to an employee’s bonus for each mishandled gas leak call or fire call during a quarter.

·         Coordinators will provide monthly feedback to employees

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Last modified: August 04, 2005