It's been a several month battle for Genesys technical workers and the company to get a contract.
Now, the employees are rolling up their sleeves and preparing to strike.
MBC25 sat in on the latest Teamsters meeting Tuesday afternoon where the union says it's getting ready for war.
"We are building our troops for a war that we do not want to enter, but a war that we're going to have to enter," says Nina Bugbee, Teamsters Local 332 president.
She says sometime this week the Teamsters will issue a strike notice.
Teamsters leaders say they wanted to start the strike on Monday, Labor Day, because of its significance, but that a few things need to be in place before that happens.
One of the union's strategies is filing several unfair labor practices. It says, an unfair labor practice strike means those jobs can not be permanently replaced.
It's also asking its nurses in the membership to sign pledge cards, backing up the technical workers.
Here's what the pledge cards say:
1. Nurses will support technical workers in the event of a strike.
2. Nurses will not work any overtime hours, except mandatory.
3. Nurses will support a Genesys boycott during a strike.
4. Nurses will not do the jobs of others.
5. Nursus will report any unsafe practices.
6. Nurses will wear stickers and buttons supporting the tech workers.
7. Nurses will picket 4 to 8 non-working hours a week.
Genesys RN Judy Haas says, "We're just here to show our support and let them know that we're behind them 100% and only hope that Genesys chooses to get back to the table and do some ernest bargaining."
Genesys says its latest contract offer was extremely fair. A spokesperson says, "It includes a 2% wage increase each year for the next four years, preserves retiree healthcare coverage and provides the continuance of a competitive pension plan for our technical employees."
The statement goes on to say, "Genesys is not entirely surprised. Even before Genesys made our final offer, the Teamsters leadership has maintained an agenda that overlooks the best interest of our local patients and the employees."
Genesys says it provided a fair contract despite tough economic times.
The union says the company is hiding behind economic conditions.
Bugbee says, "We're not going to tolerate this capitalizing on the state of the state and this union busting and anti-union, anti-worker activity."
Once the strike notice is given, there's a minimum of 10-days before technical workers could strike.
