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PAUL CASTILLO CAME TO see Fiore the day after Ocean State’s most recent negotiating session with the Union. Using the numbers Ryder worked up just before the matter was taken away from him, Castillo persuaded Brad Hanley to give up the idea of getting a freeze in wages beyond the first year of the contract. Still, he was having difficulty convincing him to make a more reasonable offer for increases in the second and third years.

“At least you’ve made some progress,” Fiore said. “It’s a beginning.”

“Yeah, but the bad news is on the medical. Hanley is dug in at having the employees contribute five percent more of the cost. The Union says the ten percent they’re already paying is too much. Morelli told us they’ll walk before they agree to anything higher. He blew his cool on this one a couple of times during the meeting. The guys on the committee say that if they agreed to a higher contribution and tried to sell it to the membership at the ratification meeting, they’d get thrown out of the room. I believe them, and I think they’re probably right. But Hanley just doesn’t want to hear it. Anyhow, that’s where it stands. There are still a few small items, but they’ll all settle or go away. We’ve got meetings scheduled this Thursday and the last two days of the contract next week.”

“It sounds like you’ve got a good handle on the situation, Paul,” Fiore told him. “You got Hanley to do more on economics in one session than Ryder could do in all the time he was there. I did the right thing in getting him out of the picture.”

Fiore pulled a paper out of the top drawer of his desk and held it up in front of him. It contained the notes he made after Sandy Tarantino laid out the guts of the settlement position for him in the limo coming back from New York. He knew that what he shared with Castillo had to be consistent with the story he told Ryder. “The owners have looked over all of Ocean State’s numbers, Paul, and I passed along everything Hanley said about what the final settlement should be. One thing I know for goddam sure is that the owners don’t want a strike. They think that if you offer the Union a two percent wage increase in the second and third years of the contract, they’ll go for that along with a first-year freeze.”

Fiore waited while Castillo took a yellow pad out of his briefcase and started making notes. “On the medical, keep telling Hanley that Morelli’s right and that this isn’t the time to fight about pushing their contribution above ten percent. Try to make him understand that it will be easier to do when he can offer more in wages. Tell him it’ll kill morale if they have to pay more, and that production will drop way down. Use every argument you can think of. Push him as hard as you can, and don’t worry about anything he has to say. Between you and me, the owners are ready to drop that proposal because they’re not going to let Hanley’s personal vendetta put Ocean State out of business. But if possible, they’d rather see you and Hanley get that done at the table so they don’t have to push it down his throat. If he keeps holding out on either the wages or the medical, let me know right away. But come see me Friday about Thursday’s meeting, okay?”

After Castillo left the office, Fiore decided to try and give him a little help in bringing Brad Hanley to where he wanted him. He called Pat at home and arranged to meet with her on Wednesday night.