Collective Bargaining Agreement

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT


BETWEEN


FILENE'S BASEMENT INC.


AND


UNITED FOOD AND COMMERCIAL
WORKERS UNION LOCAL 1445, AFL-CIO


Effective: February 1, 1998
Expires: February 4, 2002


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TABLE OF CONTENTS


PAGE


ARTICLE I -- AGREEMENT...................................................... 3


ARTICLE II -- RECOGNITION................................................... 4


ARTICLE III -- JURISDICTION................................................. 5


ARTICLE IV -- CHECKOFF...................................................... 8


ARTICLE V -- COMPANY RIGHTS................................................. 9


ARTICLE VI -- WORKING SCHEDULES............................................. 10


ARTICLE VII -- OVERTIME..................................................... 23


ARTICLE VIII -- FUNERAL LEAVE............................................... 26


ARTICLE IX -- WAGES......................................................... 27


ARTICLE X -- PROMOTIONS, TRANSFERS & LAYOFFS................................ 35


ARTICLE XI -- SEPARATION ALLOWANCE.......................................... 39


ARTICLE XII -- USE OF COMPANY RECORDS....................................... 41


ARTICLE XIII -- VACATIONS................................................... 42


ARTICLE XIV -- LEAVE OF ABSENCE............................................. 45


ARTICLE XV -- DISCOUNTS..................................................... 47


ARTICLE XVI -- GRIEVANCE INVESTIGATION...................................... 48


ARTICLE XVII -- CONTRIBUTIONS............................................... 50


ARTICLE XVIII -- PUBLICITY & ANNOUNCEMENTS.................................. 50


ARTICLE XIX -- UNIFORMS..................................................... 50


ARTICLE XX -- INSURANCE..................................................... 52


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ARTICLE XXI -- CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATION....................................... 59


ARTICLE XXII -- VALIDITY.................................................... 60


ARTICLE XXIII -- GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE........................................ 61


ARTICLE XXIV -- ARBITRATION................................................. 63


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ARTICLE I


AGREEMENT


This collective bargaining agreement between Filene's Basement Inc., hereinafter referred to as the "Company", and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 1445, AFL-CIO, its successors or assigns, hereinafter referred to as the "Union", shall become effective on the date of its execution and shall continue in full force and effect until February 4, 2002, and thereafter, from year to year, unless notice of requested modifications or termination is given by either of the parties hereto by notice in writing to the other party mailed or delivered at least sixty (60) days prior to February 4, 2002, or February 1 of any subsequent year. Each party agrees that if such notice is given, negotiations shall be started within thirty (30) days and that the parties shall make every reasonable effort to reach an agreement before the expiration of the contract. Should no renewal agreement be consummated by February 4, 2002, or February 1 of an year thereafter, the terms of the agreement shall be extended until ninety (90) days have expired from the date on which notice was given, as herein above set forth, when by joint agreement of both parties the unresolved issues may be referred to arbitration. Notwithstanding the terms of this contract, its expiration date, or any extensions thereof, Article XX(G) shall be construed as a separate contract which shall continue in effect until such time as the Filene's Basement Employees Retirement and Profit Sharing and Savings Plan may be terminated or modified, in accordance with the Provisions of said Plan.


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ARTICLE II


RECOGNITION


A. The Company recognizes the Union as the sole collective bargaining agent with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, or other terms, tenure or conditions of employment for all employees coming under the jurisdiction of the Union; as hereinafter provided, in the Boston store. This agreement is limited to and embraces only such matters as are specifically set forth herein, except as the parties in writing may add to or modify this agreement.


The Company and the Union agree not to discriminate against any individual with respect to hiring, compensation, and other terms and conditions of employment because of an individual's race, color, religion, sex, national origin or age, as provided by law, nor will they limit, segregate or classify employees in any way to deprive any individual employment opportunities because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin or age, as provided by law.


B. The Company agrees that they will not exercise or countenance any discrimination, interference, restraint, or coercion by the Company, or any of their agents, servants, or employees against any employee because of membership in the Union or because of any lawful activities in behalf of the Union.


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ARTICLE III


JURISDICTION


A. The Union shall have jurisdiction over all employees sixty (60) days on the Company's regular payroll with the following exceptions:


1. Members of the following Unions:


Carpenters' District Council of Boston and vicinity;


Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators, and Paper Hangers
District Council 35;


International Brotherhood of Fireman, Oilers, Local Number 3;


Boston Joint Board, Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
when employed in the occupation in connection with which the
Company recognizes these Unions as collective bargaining
agents;


2. Officers of the Company, the Management Board and Executives,
Executive Trainees for the first six (6) months of their employment,
assistants


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and secretaries. A new incumbent shall have the same status with
respect to eligibility for Union membership as the employee whom he or
she replaces;


3. All employees in the following classifications: except
Manufacturers' Representatives whose salaries are paid either in whole
or in part by persons or corporations other than the Company,
Protection Department;


Special employees, except as provided in Subsection (4);
employees on Christmas seasonal payroll (employees hired between
October 15th through the first Monday following the January Inventory);
summer hires; other seasonal employees hired for (90) days or less,
Personnel Division, College Cooperative Students, except in cases where
employment continues beyond the regular Cooperative Student period,
Payroll Clerks, Architects' Staff, Copywriters, Advertising Agents,
Electrical Auxiliary Machine Operators; and,


4. There shall be a ninety (90) day limit on the continued use of
special employees, except in straight commission departments and
replacement of regular employees on disability or leave of absence.
Except as above provided when a job shall have been covered by one or
more special employees for a total of ninety (90) days within a period
of one hundred and twenty (120) working days, thereafter, such job
shall be filled with payroll status.


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B. Regular part-time employees under the jurisdiction of the Union shall be guaranteed a minimum of four (4) hours daily and twelve (12) hours weekly unless mutually agreed upon between the Company and the employee, to a maximum of 29.9 hours per week.


C. Article XX of this agreement shall not be applicable to part-time employees regularly scheduled to work less than fifteen (15) hours per week.


D. All employees, except those exempted in Section A above, shall be required as a condition of employment to join the Union after sixty (60) calendar days on the regular payroll of the Company, and to maintain such membership in good financial standing in accordance with the provisions relating to membership dues and initiation fees in the Constitution and Bylaws of the Union during the life of the contract.


E. An employee who has been in an excluded classification or position and is permanently transferred into one within the jurisdiction of the Union shall be required to resume his/her Union membership, and, if he/she has not formerly been a members of the Union, shall be required to join the Union within sixty (60) calendar days after such permanent transfer. An employee permanently transferred from a position under the jurisdiction of the Union to an excluded position will become ineligible for membership in the Union on the satisfactory completion of the


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trial period, if any, but in any case not later than one (1) month after the transfer. Time spent over one (1) year in the excluded classification will not be applied to bargaining unit seniority.


F. All full time employee shall be deemed to be on probation during the first sixty (60) calendar days of employment on the regular payroll and all part time employees shall be deemed to be on probation during the first ninety (90) calendar days of employment on the regular payroll, during which time he/she may be discharged within the sole discretion of the Company. The probationary period may be extended by mutual agreement of the Company and the Union.


G. The Union agrees to indemnify the Company and save the Company harmless from any claims made against the Company by employees or any other party which may result directly or indirectly from the execution of this agreement or from inclusion in the contract of any provisions which may be invalid under the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, as amended, or as a result of any action taken by the Company at the request of the Union.


ARTICLE IV


CHECKOFF


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The Company agrees to deduct weekly from the earned wages of employees under the jurisdiction of the Union who individually authorize such deductions in writing on a form acceptable to the Company, initiation fees and dues, and once each calendar year a deduction for a political contribution, as provided under the Bylaws of the Union, and to remit same by check to the president of the Union each week.


ARTICLE V


COMPANY RIGHTS


It shall be the exclusive right and responsibility of the Company, subject to and in conformity with the provisions of the agreement, to operate the business under the established policies and rules; to open new departments, stock new lines of merchandise, hire trained specialists to staff such departments if not otherwise available, or to discontinue departments or lines of merchandise; to hire, maintain order and efficiency, transfer, promote and demote, to lay off, suspend or otherwise discipline, or to discharge for reasonable cause, provided, however, that an aggrieved employee shall have the right of appeal through the grievance procedure any such matter not specifically excluded therein.


It shall be within the Company's sole discretion to revise, eliminate, consolidate, or add job classifications; temporarily to transfer employees from selling to non-selling duties and vice-versa; to add non-selling or selling duties to an


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established job classification on a permanent or temporary basis, without additional compensation and without a reduction in compensation, provided that the added duties fall in the same or lower grade except that where less than all of the employees in a job classification are affected by such an addition, the change shall be applied to those employees with the least seniority. It is understood that this exposition of management rights is not all inclusive and it is agreed that it shall not be deemed to exclude other prerogatives generally recognized as the functions of management which are not herein specifically enumerated.


In consideration of this agreement, the Union agrees to cooperate with the Company in maintaining and improving the skill, ability and production of its members as employees and in eliminating waste and abuse of privilege.


The Union further agrees that full consideration shall be given to the necessity for efficient operation of the business.


ARTICLE VI


WORKING SCHEDULES


A. The Company shall determine store open hours. Any changes in store open hours other than those necessitated by Federal or State order shall be discussed with the Union before announcement of such change is made.


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The Company agrees that when a permanent opening occurs in any full-time sales job (thirty hours or more) or a part-time commission sales job (under thirty hours), notice of such opening will be posted in the store. Employees will have an opportunity to be considered for such openings. Job posting will be a minimum of five (5) working days. The Company shall provide copies of such postings to the appropriate stewards in the facility.


B. The regular schedule of hours for full-time status employees working forty (40) hours shall be five (5) days with no day totaling more than eight (8) hours.


C. Permanent changes in regular working schedules for classifications of less than one (1) hour and for individuals may be made at the discretion of the Company upon written notice of two (2) weeks to the Union, except that such notice may be waived by mutual agreement of the Company, the Union and the majority of the employees affected. The Company shall have sole right to make temporary changes in schedules to conform with changes in store open hours.


D. For figuring wage deductions for tardiness or absence, the smallest unit shall be six (6) minutes of any day. When there is a general problem with public transportation, no employee will be charged with a tardy.


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E. All employees scheduled for more than six (6) hours may have at least one-half (1/2) hour for lunch, and such lunch or other meal time shall be unpaid and not included in the schedule of working hours.


F. The Company agrees that schedules shall be so arranged that the day's work is continuous, except for regular meal periods, not to exceed one (1) hour each, and for voluntary extra-duty assignments of employees in departments or classifications other than their own. Such voluntary extra-duty assignments may either precede or follow the employee's regular schedule for periods not to exceed four (4) hours a day.


G. RELIEFS


Daily reliefs for employees on a work schedule of more than four and one-half (4 1/2) hours shall be regularly scheduled as part of the working hours in employment classifications requiring very close application to operating equipment or necessitating actual station coverage. Other employees working on a regular daily schedule of more than four and one-half (4 1/2) hours shall, on request to the department head, be granted a daily relief period of twenty (20) minutes, to be arranged by the department head at a time when it will interfere least with operating or service requirements.


In departments, workrooms, or sections where there is no supervisor in attendance, a daily relief period of twenty (20) minutes shall be regularly scheduled


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for every employee whose regular daily schedule exceeds four and one-half (4 1/2) hours.


H. PAID HOLIDAYS


New Year's Day * Washington's Birthday (or another Memorial Day holiday to be designated by the Labor Day Company) Independence Day *** Veterans' Day Columbus Day ** Christmas Day Thanksgiving Day


* A day off in lieu of this holiday may be scheduled by the Company for
each eligible employee within the period including the two (2) calendar
weeks before and the four (4) calendar weeks after the holiday.


** A day off in lieu of this holiday may be scheduled by the Company for
each eligible employee within the month of January.


*** Veterans' Day shall be a floating holiday with the following
guidelines: employees shall receive time and one-half (1 1/2) for all
hours worked on Veterans' Day; those employees who wish to participate
in Veterans' Day


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parades or meetings may do so with no penalty; employees may take off
another day with pay, mutually agreeable between the employee and the
Company, prior to the close of the year, or they may utilize that day
or a personal day for the purpose of taking Martin Luther King Day as a
paid holiday.


TWO (2) PERSONAL DAYS:


To be taken during the contract year at a time mutually agreeable between the employee and his or her immediate supervisor. At the discretion of the Company, associates will be permitted to utilize a personal day without advance approval for emergencies, illness of family members, or when weather conditions prevent the associates from reporting to work.


If the store is closed on Easter Sunday employees scheduled to work on that Sunday will have an option to take a personal day or work those hours on one of their days off.


Newly hired employees are eligible for two (2) personal days after completing six (6) months of employment. An employee discharged for theft or complicity in theft shall not be entitled to pay in lieu of unused Personal Days.


I. HOLIDAYS AND DAYS OFF


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1. During the workweeks which include the eleven (11) holidays,
all employees, except as are hereinafter provided for in subsections
(2) and (3), who have been employed continuously on the regular payroll
of the Company for sixty (60) calendar days preceding such holiday
workweek and who work the regularly scheduled workdays immediately
preceding and immediately following the holiday, unless the Company
within its discretion waive such requirement for either of such
workdays, shall be paid for such unworked holidays at his or her base
rates. The Company shall have the right to change scheduled days off
for any employees during said eleven (11) holiday workweeks during the
period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and in any week including a
holiday or half holiday on which a store is open. In any other week
containing a holiday or other regularly scheduled day of closing, the
closed day shall be the only day off. Holiday pay for employees on a
regular full-time schedule, except as hereinafter provided in
subsection (2) below, shall be the basic daily wage that the individual
employee would be paid if working his or her regular daily schedule.


Except for Washington's Birthday, Christmas Day, and the two
(2) Personal holidays, employees on a regular weekly schedule of less
than five (5) days, other than as provided in subsection (2) below,
shall receive holiday pay for the hours regularly scheduled to be
worked by any such employee on the day of the holiday. For the holidays
of Washington's Birthday, Christmas Day


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and the two (2) Personal holidays, whether they be scheduled workdays
or not, and when a holiday occurs on a day that is not a regularly
scheduled workday, the employee's holiday pay will be computed by
dividing the regularly scheduled hours in his/her workweek by the
regularly scheduled number of days in such week.


Anyone who works on a holiday automatically qualifies for the
holiday regardless if they work the scheduled day before or the
scheduled day after the holiday.


2. Subject to the same qualifying and eligibility provisions set
forth in Section (1), straight commission employees shall be paid for
such unworked holidays on the basis of average weekly earnings prorated
daily, as determined annually for the preceding twelve (12) month
fiscal period of the Company for the purpose of establishing the
vacation rate.


Such an employee who has qualified to receive holiday pay and
is required by the Company to work on his/her scheduled day off during
any one of the said eleven (11) holiday workweeks shall be paid for the
time worked in accordance with the provisions of Schedule (C).


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3. Any employee otherwise qualified to receive holiday pay who
takes his or her contractual vacation during a week in which any of the
paid holidays as above defined falls, shall receive either a
compensatory day off that is mutually agreeable between the employee
and the Company to be assigned during the vacation period, or straight
time pay for such holiday.


4. There shall be no day off on the days of the taking of
semi-annual inventories and any employee regularly scheduled to have
such a day off shall instead be assigned another day off during the
same week. The Company may also make changes in employees' scheduled
days off during weeks in which the inventory is taken.


5. Departmental working schedules shall be determined by the
Company and, except in emergency or on days of store closing, shall be
posted by 3:00 P.M. on Friday for the following workweek. Available
days off shall be selected based upon seniority by classification
within such supervisory areas as may be established by the Company.


6. Temporary changes in days off may be made when mutually
agreeable between the employee and his or her immediate supervisor no
later than the Friday previous to the week of the change. Temporary
changes in days off and work schedules may be made unilaterally by the
Company between


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Thanksgiving and Christmas, during holiday weeks, the two (2) weeks of
semi-annual inventories, and with notice in the preceding workweek,
once each calendar quarter the Company may temporarily change an
employee's day off and work schedule for one (1) week. This latter
provision shall apply to employees in sales and stock positions.


J. STOCKTAKING


For the taking of the semi-annual inventory, every regular employee shall be expected to work beyond his or her regular schedule. On such semi-annual stocktaking days the Company may arrange special schedules to meet service requirements. All hours worked by an employee over the number of hours in the regular full-time schedule will be paid for at the rate of time and one-half (1 1/2). An inventory allowance of five dollars ($5.00) shall be added to the compensation of any employee if he or she is assigned to work after 6:00 P.M. on semi-annual inventory as above set forth. Inventory night may be the second regularly scheduled night in the workweek and all employees are required to work until completion of inventory.


K. CLASSES


Such voluntary classes or courses of instruction, before or after store hours as are offered by the Company's Training Department in preparation for promotions, shall not be considered as working hours, nor included in the working schedule.


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L. SALES EMPLOYEES


Sales employee's duties will include the cleaning of tops of all glass and outside of showcases (in their own departments), including mirrors and the moving of racks and totes and the picking up of supplies.


M. TEMPORARY SCHEDULES


With the exception of employees classified as Merchandise Clerks, there shall be no temporary change of schedules, either full-time or part-time, without the assent of the Union, except in cases of emergency, during holiday workweeks, during the period from Thanksgiving to Christmas, to conform with store or department open hours, and as otherwise provided in this agreement and in Article VI, Sections C, I, and J.


In the event of any temporary change in store open hours involving an earlier night closing, the starting time for second shift employees on the full-time schedule shall be changed by the Company as they deem necessary to provide for a full work schedule for such nights of earlier store closing.


N. JURY DUTY


An employee called for and accepted for jury duty, including Grand Jury duty, shall be granted leave of absence from work without loss of seniority for the time so spent. Upon submission of appropriate court document or endorsed check received


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for jury duty service, the employer shall pay the difference to the employee for each day or hours of jury duty which occurs on the employee's regularly scheduled workday between the straight time wages up to his/her regular schedule of weekly hours that would normally be paid by the employer and that received from such jury duty service, provided, however, th ...