In Coastal Crop Ltd. Case (CCL), what changes would you make in health benefits as the union in order to save the company from relocating and regaining the contract? Assuming wages, hours of operations are settled

***TABLE POSTED BELOW*** As is shown in Table 1, CCL provides a competitive compensation and benefits package. The average wage at CCL is $20.25 per hour. This compares to an average current wage of $19. 71 for the other firms. The benefits are co-paid (700/o company, 300/o employee). The benefits include dental plan, vision plan, life insurance coverage of two times base salary, medical insurance for hospitalization and prescription drugs, and a sick benefit plan (coverage up to 66.670/o percent of earnings for any absence due to illness, maximum 52 weeks). Current cost of the benefit plan to the employee is $750 per year; the company share is $1,750 per employee per year. In addition, CCL contributes an amount equivalent to 4 percent of each employee's earnings into a retirement fund that can be used by the employee in retirement.

COMPARISON OF WORKING TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SIMILAR FIRMS FIRM 2 FIRM 3 No. of employees Unionized? Contract duration Average wage Year 1 wage increase Signing bonus $500 Year 2 wage increase 1.00% Year 3 wage increase 1.00% OVERTIME Overtime voluntary? Overtime rate VACATION 2 weeks at 3 weeks at 4 weeks at 5 weeks at 6 weeks at FIRM 1 (CCL) 550 Yes 3 years $20.25 years years years years years Yes 1.5 1 5 10 20 650 No N/A $19.50 1.00% 1.00% 1.00% Yes. But will assign in reverse order of seniority if insufficient volunteers 1.5 1 3 10 15 25 625 Yes 4 years $21.75 Signing bonus $1000 2.00% 2.00% No. Management can assign 2 1 3 10 15 20 475 No N/A $18.00 1.00% 1.00% 1.00% Yes 1.5 FIRM 4 1 5 15 20 500 Yes 4 years $19.75 0% 1.00% 2.00% FIRM 5 Yes. But will assign in reverse order of seniority if insufficient volunteers 1.5 1 3 10 15 20 400 Yes 3 years $19.00 Signing bonus $750 1.00% 1.50% No. Management can assign 1.75 FIRM 6 1 4 10 15 AVERAGE 533 3.5 years $19.71 .67% or $750 signing bonus 1.17% 1.42% 1.63 1 3.83 10.83 16.67 21.67 (continued) TABLE 1 COMPARISON OF WORKING TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SIMILAR FIRMS (CONTINUED) FIRM 1 (CCL) FIRM 2 FIRM 3 FIRM 4 SHIFT Regular 2nd shift Regular 3rd shift SHIFT PREMIUM Regular 2nd shift Regular 3rd shift Retirement/pension as % of wage rate Contracting out Layoff/severance pay Health plan: employer cost Health plan cost: employer percentage Yes No $1.50 4.00% No language 3 weeks plus 1 week per year of service; maximum of 30 weeks $1,750 70.00% Yes Yes $1.50 $2.00 4.00% Only if no one on layoff can perform the work 2 weeks plus 1 week per year of service; maximum of 24 weeks $1,500 65.00% Yes Yes 1.75 $2.00 6.00% Only if no one on layoff can perform the work 4 weeks plus 2 weeks per year of service; no maximum $2,100 80.00% Yes No $1.00 0.00% No restrictions 5 years' service = 15 weeks $1,000 50.00% Yes Yes FIRM 5 $1.50 $1.75 5.00% Yes. But only for jobs of