Tentative Agreement Reached at GE
After four weeks of tough bargaining, IUE-CWA and the United Electrical Workers Union (UE) late last evening reached tentative national agreements with General Electric (GE).
The four-year tentative pact provides for gains in wages, pension and job and income security. The settlement will be voted on by the union negotiating committees then submitted for membership ratification. Details of the proposed agreement will not be released until later this week.
Ten unions have been bargaining with GE since May 24 as part of a joint union Coordinating Bargaining Council (CBC). The unions represent industrial workers who manufacture everything from jet airplane engines to locomotive train diesels, electrical appliances, small motors and lighting systems.
In addition to IUE-CWA and UE, the CBC includes representatives of the United Steelworkers (USW), Machinists (IAM), National Association of Broadcast Employees & Technicians-CWA (NABET-CWA), UAW, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), Electrical Workers (IBEW), Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA), Plumbers and Pipe Fitters (UA) and the Firemen & Oilers division of SEIU.
North Shore Mass. Workers Win Voice and Contracts
Aliza Levine, organizer for the North Shore Labor Council in Massachusetts, sends us this report on some recent worker victories.
In these tough economic times, labor unions fight on and workers are winning some significant victories. On May 26, the North Shore Labor Council (NSLC) in Massachusetts celebrated three important wins for workers: IUE-CWA 201 members won their first contract at Budget Rent A Car after a two-year battle; nurses in the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) won essential safe staffing improvements in new contracts and more than 700 human service workers voted to join SEIU 509.
Even while working people are facing enormous difficulties, these three groups of workers fought to defend their rights on the job. A combination of solid organizing and political action helped these workers achieve victories at the ballot box and the negotiating table. In a month with lots of defensive battles on the horizon in Massachusetts—including legislation to limit health care coverage for municipal employees coming up in the state Senate—the council took some time to celebrate the workers’ hard won victories.
$93 Million Upgrade Will Save GE Plant and 700 Jobs
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Workers at a General Electric’s (GE’s) refrigerator plant in Bloomington, Ind., have been fighting to keep the facility viable in the cutthroat global economy. Now, two years after the company said it was going to shutter the plant, workers are celebrating a new day. Instead of closing the plant, GE has announced it will invest $93 million in upgrades and begin to produce energy-efficient refrigerators at the plant.
Not only will that save the jobs of the plant’s 700 workers, most of whom have 20 years or more experience, it will create 200 new jobs, which GE will move back to Bloomington from Mexico.
In a video (above), the workers credit their union, Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 2449, for much of the turnaround. One worker, Tammy Gilstrap, says:
We have a great union that is willing to go out and do what it can to save our jobs. We have a lot of dedicated employees in here and if we can get new technology, that’ll be a good future for us.
Kentucky Retirees Mobilize to Make Sure Election Night’s Not Fright Night
Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican U.S. Senate candidate and Tea Party poster boy, “scares the you-know-what out of Roy H. Streeter, an IUE-CWA retiree. Rightfully so, too.
Paul, who wants to phase out and privatize Social Security and Medicare, said yesterday that seniors need to pay more for whatever form Medicare would be left after he sliced the heart out of it if elected to the Senate. BTW, Paul’s campaign admits he received half his income from Medicare and Medicaid payments.
At a recent get-out-the-vote rally in Louisville (see video), Streeter said:
This guy Paul, he scares me. He wants to do away with Social Security….Everything is a “No,” “No.” All the things we as union members have worked hard for will be taken away from us if we don’t stand up and be counted. Your vote will count. If you don’t vote, you’ve voted anyway for your opposition.
New York State Workers Fight Layoffs—and More Bargaining News
New York state employees are fighting unilateral layoffs, and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,300 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
NEGOTIATIONS
Multiple, State of New York: New York Gov. David Paterson last week announced plans to move ahead with the layoffs of state workers, seemingly in violation of an agreement he reached with the Civil Service Employees Association/AFSCME and the Public Employees Federation/AFT-SEIU that guaranteed no layoffs before 2011. Danny Donohue, president of CSEA, said the announcement was “counterproductive, impractical and bad for New Yorkers all around.”
6,000 Steelworkers Win Strong Pact at Alcoa—and More Bargaining News
Some 6,000 members of the United Steelworkers negotiated a strong contract at Alcoa workplaces nationwide, and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,200 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
SETTLEMENTS
USW, Alcoa: United Steelworkers (USW) members at 11 Alcoa facilities across the United States ratified a new four-year contract. The 6,000 workers successfully resisted attempts by the company to reduce health benefits and impose a two-tier pay system.
Union, Community Rally for Whirlpool Workers Punching Clock for the Last Time
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Braving a chilly and dreary rain yesterday, several dozen union and community activists rallied outside the gates of Whirlpool’s Evansville, Ind., plant. They were there to show their support for the nearly 500 second shift workers on their way to clock in for their last shift on the line.
Whirlpool is closing the refrigerator plant, laying off 1,100 people and moving jobs to Mexico. Eliminating the second shift is the first blow, the other jobs end in June.
IUE-CWA Local 808 member Lori Houchin says that yesterday’s rally and the massive February march to the plant gates helps spotlight the damage to workers and their communities when corportions like Whirlpool shutter their U.S. plants and ship jobs overseas. She told the Evansville Courier & Press:
It’s happening across America—factories are picking up and moving somewhere the labor’s cheaper…all the factories are moving jobs outside the U.S.
Community, Labor Unite with IUE-CWA at Whirlpool Rally
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| CWA Vice President Seth Rosen (left) and IUE-CWA Division President Jim Clark joined union members and community supporters in solidarity with workers at Whirlpool. |
When more than 5,500 workers and community and religious activists from at least six states converged in front of the Whirlpool plant in Evansville, Ind., members of IUE-CWA led the way to deliver the message to “Keep It Made in America.”
Local 808 President Darrell Collins said:
We have had small rallies before and Whirlpool ignored us! They will not ignore us today! This is just the beginning of something big. We will carry this fight on till it changes. There is no limit to what we can accomplish as long as we work together.
One of the Whirlpool workers who stands to lose her job is Natalie Ford. A member of Local 808, Ford told the rally:
This doesn’t just affect us, it affects everyone in our families…This is the only life we’ve known–now it’s gone. The questions run through my mind: Am I going to lose everything I’ve worked my entire life for? I try to be strong for my family, but deep down I’m scared to death, not knowing what the future holds for us.
Whirlpool Exec’s Letter Strengthens Workers’ Resolve
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Whirlpool executive Paul Coburn’s memo warning Whirlpool workers not to participate in a rally tomorrow to save their jobs has only made the workers more determined than ever to fight the company’s decision to lay off 1,100 workers and send jobs to Mexico when U.S. unemployment is at its highest level in decades.
The reaction to his “open letter,” contained in an internal newsletter, has been quick and strong. It also has put a national spotlight on the practice of many employers to cut costs and raise profits by moving jobs offshore without regard for the communities and workers they leave behind.
Show solidarity with the Whirlpool workers, 900 of whom are members of IUE-CWA Local 808, by signing an online petition urging Whirlpool to reverse its decision and Keep It Made in America: Save Our Jobs. Click here to add your name to the nearly 40,000 who already have signed the petition.
More than 630 people commented on the story about Coburn’s letter on the Huffington Post, many condemning Coburn for trying to stifle dissent and for moving good jobs out of the country. Many cited the $20 million in federal economic recovery money Whirlpool received and the boost in sales from the government’s push for energy-efficient appliances.
Whirlpool Warns Workers to Skip Friday Rally
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In an internal newsletter at Whirlpool Corp.’s Evansville, Ind., plant, Paul Coburn, vice president of Whirlpool’s Evansville Division, says the decision to close the plant and kill 1,100 jobs will not be reconsidered and warns workers about attending a Friday rally protesting the shutdown:
…these negative activities will only hamper employees when they look for future jobs….We fear that potential employers will view the actions of a few and determine whether they would want to hire any of Evansville Division employees in the future.
You can read more about Coburn’s memo on The Huffington Post here.
Show solidarity with the Whirlpool workers, 900 of whom are members of IUE-CWA Local 808, by signing an online petition urging Whirlpool to reverse its decision and Keep It Made in America: Save Our Jobs. Click here to add your name to nearly 40,000 who already have signed the petition.
