Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

NOTE 8 – COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES:

Outstanding standby and commercial letters of credit as of December 31, 2014 approximated $18,903, the majority of which serves as collateral for the IRBs.

In 2010, UES-UK was awarded a government grant of approximately $1,083 (£680) toward the purchase and installation of certain machinery and equipment – portions of which were received through 2012. Under the agreement, the grant is repayable if certain conditions are not met including achieving and maintaining a targeted level of employment through 2017. UES-UK’s level of employment currently exceeds and is expected to continue to exceed the targeted level of employment; accordingly, no liability has been recorded.

Approximately 53% of the Corporation’s employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements. Of the six bargaining agreements, one of the agreements, representing approximately 18% of the covered employees, expired in 2012; however, employees continue to work under the expired agreement while negotiations proceed. The remaining agreements have expiration dates ranging from December 2015 to May 2018. Collective bargaining agreements expiring in 2015 (representing approximately 39% of covered employees) will be negotiated with the intent to secure mutually beneficial, long-term arrangements.

See Note 11 regarding derivative instruments.

See Note 17 regarding litigation and Note 18 for environmental matters.