Labor Agreement

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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AGREEMENT

THIS AGREEMENT is made and entered into this 1 st  day of November, 2005, between INTERNATIONAL EXTRUSION CORPORATION , located at 1000 Meridian Avenue, Alhambra, California, hereinafter called “Company” or the “Employer”: and the SOUTHWEST REGIONAL COUNCIL OF CARPENTERS AND JOINERS OF AMERICA, AND CABINET MAKERS AND MILLMEN LOCAL 721, hereinafter known as the “Union”.

It is agreed between the parties signatory hereto, that the above mentioned Union is and shall remain, as long as this Agreement is in force, the sole and exclusive bargaining representative of all persons working for the Company.  Employees working as guards, office workers, salesmen, supervisory personnel, and all administrative employees are excepted as defined by the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947, as amended.

ARTICLE 1
SAVINGS CLAUSE

In the event any Federal, State or local law conflicts with any provisions of this Agreement, the provision or provisions so affected shall no longer be operative or binding upon the parties, but the remaining portion of this Agreement shall continue in full force and effect.

ARTICLE 2
UNION SECURITY

Section a)              The Company agrees that all production, maintenance, transportation and tool and die employees in the bargaining unit, including leadpersons, shall be, or thirty-one (31) days after their employment, as a condition of employment, become and remain members in good standing of Cabinet Makers and Millmen Local 721, of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.

Section b)              A member in good standing is defined to mean: An employee who tenders uniform initiation fees and the current month’s regular Union dues.  Failure to comply with this and upon official written notification by the Union to the Company, said employee shall be terminated within five (5) working days.

Section c)              The Company agrees to furnish the Union with a list of all new hire-ins and re-hires once a month.

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ARTICLE 3
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

Section a )              Neither the Company nor the Union shall discriminate against any employee because of such employee’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin or age (to the extent prohibited by the age discrimination act only) or physical handicap (to the extent they are able to perform the duties assigned.)

Section b )              All grievances alleging a violation of this Section shall be furnished to the other party in writing.

Section c )              If no satisfactory settlement is reached by Step 3 of the Grievance Procedure, such grievances shall not be subject to Step 4 (Arbitration) of the Grievance Procedure, but may be the basis of a complaint before the Federal or State Agency which has jurisdiction over the subject matter.

Section d )              Whenever the masculine pronoun is used in the Agreement, it shall refer to both genders.

ARTICLE 4
MANAGEMENT RIGHTS

Except to the extent expressly abridged by a specified provision of this Agreement, the Company reserves and retains all of its rights to manage the business.  The rights of management shall include but are not limited to, its right to determine prices of products; volume of production and methods of financing; to drop a product line; to establish or continue policies, practices and procedures for the conduct of the business and to change or abolish such policies, practices and procedures; the right to determine the number and type of its operations, and the methods, processes, and materials to be employed; to discontinue processes or operations; to select and determine the number and types of employees required; to transfer, promote or demote employees, or to lay off, terminate for just cause, or otherwise relieve employees from duty for lack of work or other legitimate reasons; and to make and enforce reasonable rules for the maintenance of discipline.  (Provided however, before the Company changes plant rules, the Company and the Union will meet and discuss such changes).  If no agreement can be reached as to the rule being reasonable or with the established rules, the rule may become effective and then subject to the provisions of Article 18.

ARTICLE 5
PROBATIONARY PERIOD

All new production and material handling employees hired after the signing of this Agreement shall be on probation for the first thirty (30) calendar days of employment or reemployment and all skilled craftsman employees hired after the signing of this Agreement, shall be on probation for the first ninety (90) calendar days of employment or reemployment.  During this probationary period an employee shall have no seniority rights.  The company shall have the absolute right, in its sole discretion, to discharge or layoff any probationary employee for any reason.  A probationary employee’s entire work record will be reviewed by the Company in making the determination as to continued employment.  Upon satisfactory completion of the probationary period seniority will be computed from the employees original date of hire or most recent re-hire date.  Extension of the probationary period may be jointly agreed upon by the company and the Union.

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ARTICLE 6
REGULAR WORK TIME

Eight (8) hours shall constitute a regular workday.  Five (5) days shall constitute a regular workweek from Monday to Friday inclusive.  The first shift shall start between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. and each shift shall have an established starting time. Except that the Company may schedule regular shifts at other start times from the first Monday in June until the first Monday in October to meet electrical power requirements and rate availability. Written notice will be posted, with a copy to the Union, at least one (1) calendar week prior to such change and the new schedule will be in effect for at least four (4) calendar weeks.  Upon mutual agreement between the Company and the Union or the majority of employees in a department, for Saturday work only, the normal starting time maybe changed to 5:00 a.m. without overtime penalty.  This option may also apply to a regular work shift by a department, but only with the approval of the Company, the Union and the majority of employees.  The Company shall notify the Union in writing, of the time elected to start the regular workday.  The regular workday shall continue uninterruptedly for eight (8) hours, except for a meal period of one-half (1/2) hour.  If the meal period is less than one-half (1/2) hour, (at the Company’s option) it shall be a paid meal period, except by mutual agreement, between the Company and the Union, for production employees only, there shall be no staggered shifts.  Also, a ten (10) minute rest period is to be provided midway in the morning and ten (10) minutes midway in the afternoon.  This shall be applicable to all shifts.  Any employee who works a scheduled ten (10) or more hour day shall be entitled to a third ten (10) minute rest period during the ten (10) or more hour day.  The time of this third rest period is to be determined by mutual agreement.

All hours worked before or after the shift, above and beyond the regular eight (8) hours, to which the employee is regularly assigned, shall be paid as overtime pay hours.  In the event the employee works eight (8) hours or less, in the preworking hours before his regular starting time, he will be paid overtime if he also completes his normal (8) hour shift.  However, in the event the Company elects to send the employee home prior to the completion of his normal shift, all hours working prior to his normal starting time will be paid for at time and one-half (1 1 ¤ 2 ).

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ARTICLE 7
ADDITIONAL SHIFTS

Section a)              All employees regularly assigned to the swing shift shall receive thirty cents ($.30) per hour above the regular straight time hourly rate of pay and all employees assigned to the graveyard shift shall receive forty cents ($.40) per hour above the regular straight time hourly rate of pay.

Section b)              Shift differential shall be paid for only those hours worked on swing or graveyard shift, unless otherwise specified.

Section c)              A first shift differential of twenty-five cents ($.25) per hour shall be paid for only those hours worked before 6:00 A.M.

ARTICLE 8
OVERTIME

The rate of wages for overtime work shall be as follows:

Section a)              For the first two (2) hours after the first eight (8) hours worked in any one day, and work on Saturdays for the first eight (8) hours, time and one-half (1 ½) the regular hourly rate shall be paid.

Section b)              All overtime work thereafter, and work performed on Sundays, shall be paid for at the rate of double (2) time.

Section c)              Herein listed holidays when worked shall be paid for at the rate of double (2) time plus the holiday pay.

Section d)              If a regularly assigned swing or graveyard shift which begins on Friday or the day before a holiday continues into holiday or Saturday hours, or if a regularly scheduled graveyard shift starts prior to 12:01 a.m. Monday, those shift hours which fall on a Saturday or holiday shall be worked at the applicable straight time rate plus shift differential and not at an overtime rate.

Section e)              Whenever possible, any employee, when required to work overtime during the regular workweek, must be notified by mid-shift of that day.

Section f)                When an employee is required to work on Saturday or Sunday, he must be notified no later than the end of his regular shift on Thursday.

Section g)             To the extent practical, the Company will make an effort to achieve equalization of overtime within a classification and department.

Section h)             Whenever possible, overtime work will be assigned to employees who normally perform the work in question.

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Section i)                The Company will request qualified employees to work overtime on a voluntary basis, if less than a full crew, department or plant are going to work overtime.  If a sufficient number of qualified employees have not volunteered, the Company reserves the right to schedule the remaining qualified employees to work overtime work.

Section j)                The Company will make every reasonable effort to relieve any employee who has a good reason to be excused if a suitable and qualified replacement can be found.  A request naming the qualified replacement may be made in writing and given to the immediate supervisor.  If a request is made in this manner, a denial on the part of the Company must be signed by the appropriate department manager and the appropriate steward being advised of the decision.

Section k)            All work to be worked by an employee on a fourth consecutive Saturday and Sunday will be voluntary.

Section l)                An approved absence under section (j), when a replacement is found will not be charged to the excused employee.

Section m)          The Company will provide a bulletin board located in the time clock area for notices of an employee seeking a qualified replacement to work overtime.

Section n)             Incorrect assignments of overtime will be resolved by the aggrieved party being offered the next opportunity to work available overtime rather than direct payment of any type.

ARTICLE 9
RIGHT OF UNION REPRESENTATIVES

Section a)              An accredited representative of the Union, after making his presence known to the General Manager or Plant Manager or their designated representative, shall have reasonable access to the Company’s place of business for the purpose of handling legitimate Union business during working hours.

Section b)              The Company will provide space on bulletin boards for posting notices of Union business.  Such notices must be submitted to the Plant Manager for approval before posting.

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ARTICLE 10
SHOP STEWARDS

Section a)              The Company will make the Shop Stewards known to all new employees.

Section b)              Shop Stewards shall have reasonable time during the day to handle Union business.

Section c)              Each Shop Steward shall obtain authorization from his supervisor before leaving his work to perform his functions, and shall also report on his return to his department.  In the event that Shop Steward is on a job, which affects the production of another employee or a group of employees, the Shop Steward shall remain on the job until arrangements can be made to obtain a relief.  The supervisor should make the necessary arrangements to relieve the Shop Stewards as soon as practical.  When it is necessary for a Shop Steward to enter a department other than his own, he shall notify the supervisor of that department of his presence and of the nature of his business therein.

Section d)              If available, a Shop Steward is to be present at the time of a suspension or discharge of an employee.

Section e)              The Shop Steward shall be notified three (3) days prior to any major layoff whenever possible.

Section f)                Shop Stewards shall be furnished a weekly list of all newly hired employees.

Section g)             Shop Stewards must have at least three (3) years of service with the Company and will be granted super seniority for layoff purposes only.  At the time of a layoff, by mutual agreement between the Company and the Union, the Shop Steward will be assigned to an available job on the same shift, thereby enabling him to continue in the performance of his duties as a Shop Steward.

Section h)             If an employee is to be disciplined, he may request that a Shop Steward be present.

Section i)                The Shop Steward and the employees will not suffer any loss in pay from regularly scheduled hours of work while attending Step 3 grievance meetings with the Company.  Any time spent outside of the regularly scheduled hours will not be paid for by the Company.

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ARTICLE 11
PAY PERIODS

Employees shall be paid weekly.  Employees shall be paid the full amount of wages due on each pay day, except that in order to facilitate the handling of the payroll, the Company shall be permitted to hold back not more than one (1) week’s pay between such paydays.

ARTICLE 12
SHOW-UP TIME

Providing they are available at the regular starting time, employees ordered to work for whom no work is provided shall receive a minimum of four (4) hours pay and if worked (5) hours or more, shall receive eight (8) hours pay.  If any employee elects to leave his employment before the end of the shift with the permission of the Company, he shall be paid only for the actual time worked.  Employees shall be considered as having been ordered to work if the foreman or working superintendent or person in charge of operations or his representative fails to notify them not to report at the end of the previous work day or shift.

There will be no obligation for the Company to pay the minimum referred to in this Article in the event of floods, fires, power failure or other occurrences such as: bomb threats, earthquakes, major breakdowns, etc., which are beyond the Company’s control.

ARTICLE 13
CHECK-OFF

The Company and the Union agree to a voluntary check-off for monthly Union dues and initiation fees, with the following stipulations:

Section a)              The Union agrees to furnish the Company with signed voluntary authorization cards.  The Union also agrees to furnish the Company monthly with a duplicate list of all employees who have signed authorization cards.

Section b)              During the term of his Agreement and during any extension thereof, as provided in this Agreement, the Company shall deduct on the second pay period of each month the Union dues and initiation fees as designated on the voluntary authorization cards signed by the individual employee.  The Company shall remit such deductions together with a duplicate copy of the check-off list to the Union no later than one (1) week after such deductions are made.

Section c)              Upon notification from the Union that any employee is in arrears in Union dues or initiation fee or any part thereof, the Company will deduct the amount of arrears or unpaid initiation fee at the same time that deductions are made for the Union dues to the extent that such deduction is authorized by said voluntary authorization card.

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ARTICLE 14
JOINT COMMITTEE ON INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

The members of the Grievance Committee shall serve with Company representatives as employee members of the Joint Committee on Industrial Relations.  The purpose of the Joint Committee is to afford a better means of communication between the employees and the Company through informal discussions of matters of mutual interest.  The Joint Committee will meet monthly or as jointly agreed upon by the Chairman of the Grievance Committee and the Company from time to time.

ARTICLE 15
WAGES

Section a)              All employees working in classifications covered by this Agreement shall be paid no less than the hourly wage set forth in Exhibit “A”, attached hereto and made a part hereof.

Section b)              It is understood that the rates listed in Exhibit “A” are hourly rates for experienced employees (after normal progression) for each classification.  Any employee receiving more than these rates, while being classified as such, are not to be reduced during the life of this Agreement.  However, employees who are reclassified into a lower paying position on a permanent basis, due to bidding down, demoted for just cause, or request for voluntary transfer to a lower paying job will have their rate adjusted to reflect such change.

Section c)              Any employee who is reclassified into a lower paying position due to a reduction in force shall receive the contract rate or their old rate when they were classified as such, whichever is the higher of the two.

Section d)              Employees whose current hourly rate is above the classification rate for the position which they currently hold or have bid and were promoted, will retain their rate if such bid is within the same classification or will retain their rate or the new classification rate to which they bid and were promoted, whichever is the higher of the two.

Section e)              All non-progressionary employees shall receive the negotiated increase in wages regardless of their present rate of pay.   No employee shall receive a reduction in pay because of the terms of this Agreement unless expressly provided for as in Article 15 (b).

Section f)                Transfers to higher paid classifications shall be offered to the most senior qualified employees who can perform the job. The Company shall have the right to make all other temporary transfers without regard to seniority for a period of up to thirty (30) days.  Further extensions of the thirty (30) day transfer may be agreed to by the Company and the Union.  Employees temporarily assigned to a lower classification shall not have their wages reduced.  After attaining the classification rate, any employee who works at a classification which requires a higher rate of pay shall receive the higher rate of pay for the actual hours worked in that classification.

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Section g)             Employees involuntarily transferred to another shift shall have placement priority in the first opening in their job classification on their former shift after ten (10) working days.

ARTICLE 16
HEALTH AND SAFETY

Section a)              The Company shall make reasonable provisions for the safety and health of its employees in the plant during their hours of employment.  The Company agrees that it will furnish and maintain first-aid equipment.  The Union and its members will cooperate in maintaining sanitary conditions and in the use of safety devices, making suggestions so as to improve the safety and health of the employees, and taking reasonable care for any safety material provided.

Section b)              Employees injured on the job will not suffer a loss of wages due to visits to the doctor or hospital for examination or treatment during working hours on the day of injury.  Visits to a doctor or hospital after the day of the injury shall be on non-working time; provided, however, if an employee must see a specialist during normal working hours, the Company shall provide time off with pay not to exceed an aggregate of three (3) hours.

Section c)              By mutual agreement between the Company, the Union and the employee’s doctor, the employee, who is unable to perform the duties of his job because of the injury or physical handicap, may be placed in a different job classification at a reduced rate of pay if such a position is available and the employee is physically able to perform the job.

Section d)              The Company reserves the right to send, at any time and at the Company’s expense, an employee to a recognized doctor, hospital or medical clinic to have the employee examined or tested to ensure that he is physically, mentally or emotionally capable of performing his job.  All employees agree as a condition of employment to abide by this procedure and authorize any medical facility so used to release information obtained to the appropriate Company representatives.

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ARTICLE 17
WORK CLASSIFICATIONS

If the Company establishes a new job classification within the bargaining unit during the term of this Agreement, the Company will notify the Union of any new classification and initially set the rate of pay for such new job classification.  If the Union is not satisfied with the rate of pay established by the Company, it shall have the right within ten (10) days after the establishment of such new classification to file a grievance pursuant to Article 18 of this Agreement.  If the grievance proceeds to the arbitration, the arbitrator shall have jurisdiction to determine only whether or not the rate of pay established for such new job classification bears a fair relationship to the other rates of pay set forth in this contract, and if not, what rate of pay would bear such relationship.

ARTICLE 18
GRIEVANCE & ARBITRATION PROCEDURE

Section a)              Should any difference arise between the Company and the Union or between the Company and any employee covered by this Agreement as to the meaning and application of the provisions of this Agreement, an earnest effort shall be made to settle such differences, providing such difference has been submitted within ten (10) working days (except for terminations which shall be five (5) working days) of the incident or discovery or knowledge of the incident.

Section b)              All disputes of employees shall be taken up for settlement in the first instance verbally with the immediate supervisor by the employee and his Shop Steward.  The group should endeavor to reach settlement of the matter within twenty-four (24) hours.

Section c)              If the dispute is not settled with the twenty-four (24) hour period, it will then be reduced to writing, signed by the employee and the Steward, or the Stewards in a group case and specifying the Article and Sections of the Agreement believed violated and what relief is sought and be submitted to the Plant Manager within an additional twenty-four (24) hours.

Section d)              The Plant Manager will answer the grievance within five (5) days and present it to the Shop Steward and the Union.  If the Plant Manager’s answer is still unsatisfactory, then within five (5) days, the Union Business Representative or Shop Steward shall schedule a meeting with a representative  of management designated by the Company.  If the grievance is not resolved at the meeting, the Company will reply to the Shop Steward and the Union within five (5) days.

Section e)              If the dispute is still not resolved, the Union or the Company may appeal the grievance to arbitration within an additional five (5) days.  The parties shall jointly engage an impartial arbitrator to adjust the dispute, whose decision shall be final and binding upon both parties.

Section f)                The arbitrator shall not have the right to add to nor subtract from nor modify any of the terms of his Agreement.

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Section g)             It is agreed and understood that only one (1) issue shall be submitted to one (1)  arbitrator unless the Union and the Company shall mutually agree to submit more than one (1) grievance to the same arbitrator.

Section h)             The arbitrator shall submit his decision in writing within thirty (30) working days after he has heard the case.&nb