5 July, 2011General Electric (GE) workers in America ratified a four-year labour agreement in late June that now sets a pattern for 15,200 unionised GE workers in the US.
USA: Members of both ICEM-affiliated United Electrical, Radio, Machine Workers' of America (UE) and IMF-affiliated International Union of Electrical Workers / Communication Workers of America (IUE/CWA), representing 11,500 of those workers, approved the deal in local-by-local voting at some 40 union branches in late June.
The new collective agreement came together on the final expiry day of the past contract, 19 June. The UE-GE Conference Board of America's independent union recommended acceptance of the four-year proposal on 23 June.
The IUE/CWA also recommended the agreement. "These were difficult negotiations in a difficult economic climate," said IUE-CWA GE and Aerospace Conference Board Chairman Bob Santamoor. "Members evaluated the package as whole and found it acceptable." Thirty-four IUE/CWA local branches, representing 7,800 GE workers, voted accumulatively by 70 per cent in separate branch referendums for overall acceptance. The UE did not announce its vote tally.
The agreement calls for a first-year bonus due this month of US$5,000, with benefit increases in proportion to that award. In June 2012, workers will get a 2.25 per cent increase, while in 2013 and 2014, wage hikes of 2.5 per cent and 3 per cent will go into effect. GE will outlay US$76 million for the first-year bonuses.
Union members will receive modest pension benefits over the life of the agreement, and will see an improved cost-of-living formula each year. That benefit represents a 12 per cent improvement over the past formula in inflation protection. The unions also won an additional sick day per year and added vacation days.
The contract also serves as the template for collective agreements for eight other US unions that represent GE workers.
For more information, go to http://www.icem.org/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4537-Four-year-GE-Pact-Takes-Effect-in-USA