Good deal at Cessna

USA: On Saturday, October 13, members of the IMF-affiliated International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers approved by an overwhelming majority a 35-month collective contract with the airplane maker Cessna. According to IAM negotiators, it is one of the best contracts in the light aerospace industry in the last three years.
Union bargaining priorities were for general wage increases, job security, health care and pension benefits. Achieved in the settlement are provisions for:

• a 4.25 per cent general wage increase in the first year, 4 per cent in the second year, and 3.25 per cent in the final year;
  
• free medical insurance and a paid prescription card with which the employee pays only $3 for generic and $5 for name-brand drugs;
  
• increased sick leave for overtime work, Sunday overtime to be voluntary and the overhaul of the grievance procedure to ensure workers get a quicker, fairer hearing;
  
• improvement of shift differential by 33 per cent and longevity pay by 29 per cent;
  
• increase in retirement by 24 per cent to $41 per year of service, by the end of the contract;
  
• an employee laid off as a direct result of subcontracting to receive 4 weeks' pay, with a continuation of his/her health insurance until the end of the month following the layoff;
  
• employees to become full partners with the company in determining how work should be performed in their shop;
  
• employees to be paid to attend mechanics school and can move into more highly-paid, highly-skilled areas of the plant.