Feb. 7, 2003 -  When union employees of The Greenbrier resort were shown details of a tentative new labor agreement, one phrase was shown three times in large, white letters under the heading of health and welfare: 

"NO EMPLOYEE LOSES BENEFITS!" 

Health care had been the major sticking point in negotiations between the resort and more than 1,300 union employees. But in a 681 to 177 vote, the union approved a five-year deal Thursday night, a day after negotiating committee members presented the details. 

Management had asked that employees be required to work more than 1,000 hours to be eligible for health care. Union officials had said that would harm seasonal employees at the 6,000-acre resort. 

Under the agreement, employees who work less than 800 hours will pay about twice in co-payments what full-time workers do, said Pat Coughlan, chairman of the union negotiating committee. 

Full-time employees' co-payments will increase slightly. Coughlan said a single person's payment will increase from $34 to $47 and a family plan will increase from $68 to $95 over the five-year period. 

"In this community, people are paying $260 a month for family health care," Coughlan said. "I think we got a pretty good deal." 

Coughlan is vice president at-large and regional director of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International. More than 800 of The Greenbrier's workers represented in talks are members of Coughlan's group. The 34-member negotiating committee represented eight other unions. 

The deal also includes: 

• Pay increases of 2 percent a year for the first three years and 3 percent a year in the final two years. 

• Bonuses to be set by an employee committee of between 1 percent and 3 percent each year. 

• A dental plan beginning Feb. 1, 2004. Time-and-a-half pay for shifts longer than eight hours. 

• A life insurance increase of $15,000 to $30,000 per worker. More allowances for funeral days off. 

• Listing Martin Luther King Day as a holiday. 

Union negotiators and management reached the deal after marathon talks late last week. In the early morning Saturday, the deal was finished, avoiding the resort's first walkout since 1980-81 when workers were off the job for 69 days. 

Talks continued through 33 of the final 42 hours before a tentative agreement was reached early Saturday, Coughlan said. A deal was not reached before the 12:01 a.m. deadline, but employees at the resort continued to work early Saturday, knowing an agreement was in sight. 

Union members had approved a strike authorization a week earlier. The resort is the county's largest employer with an annual payroll of $50 million. 

The CSX Corp.-owned resort has been a home-away-from home for many presidents, and its grand opening following its use as a military hospital during World War II was marked by the attendance of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. 

President Bush will speak to a congressional retreat at the resort on Sunday. 

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(c) 2003, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. CSX,