Kiger's Notebook

Big Blue retirement plan changes has workers seeing red

Big Blue's change to their 401(k) retirement plans has some IBM employees seeing red.

IBM sent staff a notice this week that in 2013 it will cease paying into their 401(k) plans semi-monthly with every paycheck. Instead, the matching discretionary contributions will be made just once at the end of the year.

While that on its own has a pro-union group organizing a petition of protest, IBM added the rule that workers must be employed on Dec. 15 to get the annual 401(k)matching payment.

That means, a employee laid off in November 2013 would not get their annual 401k payment from IBM.

"The problem is, that as everyone knows, IBM has job cuts all year long," says Lee Conrad, spokesman for the Alliance@IBM. "We're asking IBM to reverse this decision, because it financially compromises all IBM employees, even the ones who are not laid off."

For its part, IBM is saying that its 401(k) plans are still better than most companies and this change is necessary keep up with the increasingly stiff competition in the technology industry.

"IBM’s 401k plans remain among the best in the industry – and the country," stated the company in a response release by spokesman Doug Shelton. "This change reflects our continuing commitment to invest in our employee 401(k) plans while maintaining business competitiveness in a challenging economic environment."

The plan, which is considered generous by most companies, gives employees hired prior to 2005 get a dollar-for-dollar match up to six percent of eligible pay. People hired since then get up to a 5 percent match.

If the employee is eligible, IBM will make automatic contributions to their plan, even if the employee doesn't participate. The amount of automatic contribution earned depends on the pension plan that an employee qualified as of December 2007.

No matter how generous the plan, this is not not positive change for employees who have counted on those semi-monthly payments throughout the year, says Conrad.

"This is IBM is just hanging onto the money as long as they can," he says.

The Alliance@IBM, which is pro-union group, expects to soon have a petition ready for employees and their families to sign. It is hard to say how much interest that will attract given IBM employees' well known reluctance to publicly defy the company for fear of losing their jobs.

It is hard to say how this change could impact IBM's Rochester campus and its unknown number of employees. For many years, IBM has declined to say how many people it employs here or elsewhere. The last official IBM tally of its workers in Rochester was 4,200 way back at the end of 2008. There have been many layoffs euphemistically called "resource actions" by the technology giant.

While IBM is commonly believed to be Rochester's second-largest employer behind Mayo Clinic, there is no evidence to prove that is still true.

Will employees picket in IBM in Roch. Tues.?

Alliance@IBM members and supporters are calling for informational pickets at IBM sites Tuesday to call attention to job cuts and off-shoring.

This is sort of a real world version of the protests held a few years ago in Second Life.

Does anyone know if any pickets or protests are planned in Rochester on Tuesday?

Or are there any counter pro-IBM events planned in response to these?

I'm interested in possibly covering if something on either side of this issue is happening here in Rochester.

Here's some the description from the pro-union Alliance@IBM group about the event:

 
IBM no longer releases headcount numbers by country because it is the evidence of massive job shifting.  The Alliance estimates that the IBM US employee population is now at 95,000 down from 132,000 in 2005. Meanwhile IBM employee numbers worldwide, especially in low-cost countries continue to increase.
 
The Alliance calls for:
• No tax breaks or incentives for companies that shift jobs off-shore and terminates US workers.

• Full disclosure of IBM job cuts and where the jobs are being shifted to.

• An end to shifting work offshore and firing US workers.

Urban legend - Bar to open in downtown Roch.

Here's some from my column in today's paper. It looks like the story that a new bar is sailing into the former Gilligan's space is not a tall tale.

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The drinks stopped flowing back in September, but work is under way to open a new downtown Rochester bar in a legendary location.

A new nightspot — Legends — is taking shape as construction rolls along at 11 Fourth St. S.E. in the AFL Labor Temple.

That's the spot where Gilligan's bobbed along for almost four years until Scott "Minnow" Fisher closed it two months ago.

While official details on Legends are sparse, the talk on the street is that the new bar will cater to a different crowd than Gilligan's did.
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Legends is said to be lining up cooks to create a food menu, and even planning some live music performances.
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There's no word yet on when Legend's might launch. Rochester building permits do show that the old bar will be or already has been replaced with a new one, so that seems like a good sign of something happening soon.

Roch. chamber bash 2011 wrapup - Priorities and awards

The Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce's annual member celebration drew a big crowd Thursday as business leaders packed the Rochester International Event Center.

Outgoing Chamber board chair Melissa Brinkman of Custom Alarm handed over the reins of power to Alan De Keyrel of CWS.

Here's the story I scribbled out about the event.

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The Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce's political priorities for the coming year were made clear at its annual member celebration Thursday night.

"There is no political agenda item that we are more committed to as an organization than the passing of the extension of the local sales tax," chamber president John Wade told the crowd of business leaders filling the Rochester International Event  Center.

He said the renewal of the sales tax in November 2012 would fuel a boost to the local economy and benefit Rochester's schools, libraries, infrastructure and more.

The tens of millions of dollars generated by the tax will help leverage hundreds of millions in private sector investment, Wade said.

"Trust me, I can give you a whole list of taxes I don't like. This one is good for business," he said. "I believe in my core that this one is good for business."

To lead the drive toward the passage of the sales tax extension, the chamber is launching a new committee.

Former Rochester school superintendent Jerry Williams will be the chairman of the new group. He also was presented with the President's Award for community service.

Williams accepted both the job and the award.

"As I look out amongst the group here, there are so many of you who have given service of self to this marvelously amazing community," he said looking at the tables full of the local leaders. "To those of you who give so generously of your time, talents and efforts for this marvelous community, I share this with you. I am deeply, deeply appreciative."

While the sales tax extension tops the chamber's political wish list, the expansion of the Mayo Civic Center remains a goal, but is not a pressing one, Wade said.

"Our hospitality industry knows how important the expansion of the civic center is," he said. "But it has to be done at the right time in the right way."

While the presentation to Williams was the most dramatic of the night, it was not the only award given out.

• Business of the Year: Creative Cuisine, the company behind many popular Rochester restaurants that includes Newt's, City Cafe, City Market, 300 First and the recently revived Redwood Room.

Brothers Dave and Mark Currie accepted the award.

• Chamber Volunteer of the Year: Jaimi Stejskal-Kent of Broadway Residence & Suites by Bridgestreet won the award for her work with the chamber.

• The Lamp of Knowledge award: The annual award for outstanding work with education was presented to Wendy Shannon, superintendent of the Byron Public School system.

• Chamber Ambassador of the Year award: After reciting her long list of accomplishments with the chamber's Ambassador program, the award went to Karen Hanson of Home Instead Senior Care.

Sunstone hotels, union agree on new contract

About 400 union members who work at Rochester hotels and a commercial laundry facility will get 2 percent raises in each year of a new three-year contract.

Sunstone Hotel Properties, which owns five downtown hotels and the Textile Care facility, came to an agreement with the Unite Here Local 21 labor union, says union president Brian Brandt.

Sunstone owns the Kahler Grand Hotel, the International Hotel within the Kahler, Kahler Inn & Suites, the Marriott Mayo Clinic, Residence Inn Marriott and Textile Care, a related commercial laundry in south Rochester. Local 21 represents cooks, dishwashers, servers, maintenance workers and other hotel employees, as well as staff at Textile Care.

The contract includes a 2 percent increase for each year of the contract for all of the members except tipped employees.

It also changed requirements to earn vacation time. Now workers will qualify for three weeks of vacation after nine years of employment and four weeks after 15 years. Both are a year earlier that the last contract.

"Overall, it was a fair contract, especially for the economic times we're in," Brandt says. "Obviously, everybody would have liked more than 2 percent. But in times when people are getting wages cut or frozen, we were satisfied to get that."

  "Both parties took a very positive approach to the contract. We were all on the same page in understanding today's environment," said Bob LaCasse, Regional Director of Operations for Sunstone Hotel Properties.

This three-year deal is the first one since 2005. A five-year contract was signed in 2005 and it was extended for one year in 2010.

Mayo Clinic employees and pay

Here's an interesting little tidbit about the pay of Mayo Clinic employees.

In 1999, only 17 percent of Mayo Clinic's employees surveyed said they were satisfied with their pay.

In 2011, that number rocketed up to 82 percent.

Mayo Clinic says it was not paying more money that made the difference. It was communicating more that made everyone happier about their pay.

"We didn't suddenly start paying everybody more. It was a focus on communication… transparency," says Karmen Reid, Mayo's director of compensation in an interview with a group called World At Work. "You can never communicate too much."

The Compensation Café blog picked this up and wrote a little about it.

Here's the World At Work interview.

 

Mayo Clinic project sure sign of good job season

Here's some from a piece I have in today's paper. Look for the full deal in the print edition.

More certain than an almanac prediction, a Mayo Clinic groundbreaking is sure sign of a good fall in Rochester.

This afternoon, Mayo Clinic and city officials were to gather downtown for a ceremony to kick off construction of the $185 million Richard O. Jacobson Building to house a new proton beam therapy center.

For the health of the local economy, that means a boost of about 500 jobs for construction workers for the next three to four years.

"It has been a tough time for a long while. Now the picture is looking pretty good for our nucleus in this area," said Mike Krahn, the president of the Southeastern Minnesota Building & Construction Trades union council. "When Mayo gets going, everything gets going around them."

The Jacobson Building is the largest of many local Mayo Clinic projects that have been launching in the last months or two. That adds up to busy season for workers, who typically would slow down as the weather cools off.

"It is going to be a great fall. The timing couldn't be better," said Krahn, who also represents the Cement Masons and Plasterers union and the area Construction Partnership, Inc.

As things have picked up in recent weeks, he said his "union bench" of available workers has been empty. Krahn has been forced to bring in people from outside the area.

"It is a good problem to have," he said.

The proton beam project already has been driving local jobs for most of the summer as Boldt Construction has been digging new subway tunnels from the Charlton North Building to the future Jacobson complex.

Crenlo for sale? Maybe

Is the conglomerate that owns a Rochester manufacturer looking to sell it off? Maybe.

A local anonymous call and international media reports based on unnamed sources say Dover Corp. has hired a firm to try to auction off Crenlo.

Crenlo's CEO Lance Fleming and the Dover headquarters in Illinois are making no statements to confirm or deny it.

Crenlo, which employs about 650 at two Rochester facilities, was reportedly abuzz Thursday with meetings. One employee told me staff members were told the company is looking for a buyer, but the employee did not want to be named.

The issue is arising just after Crenlo celebrated the 60th anniversary of its founding in Rochester. It's unclear what a sale could mean for the Rochester workforce.

An article in the Financial Times says that the $5 billion Dover Corp. has hired Lazard Middle Market to sell Crenlo as well as two other industrial subsidiaries.

Citing two unnamed sources, the piece said work on auctioning off Crenlo, Texas Hydraulics and Paladin began a couple months ago.

 This is not the first time Crenlo has faced such a prospect.

Dover made a similar announcement in the fall of 2007. After 10 months with no suitable buyer, it pulled Crenlo off the market and re-committed itself to supporting the manufacturer.

Union to rally in downtown Roch.

Look for the labor union representing workers at a Rochester hotel to stage a large rally and picket in downtown today, beginning at 4:30 p.m.

UNITE HERE Local 21 is in a contract dispute with the owner of the Rochester City Center Hotel, formerly a Holiday Inn Express. The rally is scheduled to be in front of the hotel at at 220 S. Broadway.

“We have been in contract negotiations with hotel owner Mike Bhatka for several months and he has given us a final offer which the union has rejected," says union president Brian Brandt in a statement.

Bhatka says he is instituting a contract this week, which he describes as "competitive."

Brandt says the contract cuts housekeepers' wages by $3 an hour and the pay of the only remaining maintenance worker by $5 an hour. He says the contract that the union opposing also takes away all health coverage, sick pay and pension benefits.

IBM gives $1,000 bonuses for good 2010

 Spotted a couple articles today on InformationWeek and Bloomberg today about IBM giving non-execs $1,000 stock bonuses last year's performance.

A memo from the Big Blue Boss Sam Palmisano is reported as stating all non-executive employees who performed consistently during the execution of the company’s 2010 strategic plan will get the bonus.

I wonder how many of the IBMers in Rochester will get this bonus?

IBM, which doesn't release any specific employee numbers any more, is not saying how many of its about 400,000 staffers will get this.

The shares will vest in 2015.