IBEW Local 1245 members at Sunoptics voted to ratify a new three-year agreement on October 21, 2016. The official vote tally was 50 Yes, 20 No.

Sunoptics employees were organized in the winter of 2013 and secured their first union agreement with the Company on Sept 10, 2014.  During the 2014 negotiations, a wage structure was created in order to bring all members up to contracted wages during the two-year term.  However, when we started preparing for 2016 negotiations, we found 17 members who were still under contract wages.  We came to an agreement to bring all 17 members up to contract rate. Additionally, all employees would receive a lump sum the first year, a 3% wage increase in year two, and 3% in year three.   In addition to the wage increases, two new lead positions were created, and grow in pay for new hires changed from 24 months to 12 months. The new agreement also includes updated vacation/bank hour language, and Veterans Day will now be replacing the floating holiday.

The bargaining committee was comprised of Shop Stewards Todd Davis, Chris Hann, Richard Potter and Rodney Vargas, along with Local 1245 Senior Assistant Business Manager Ray Thomas and myself.

–Cruz Serna, IBEW 1245 Business Rep