6 June, 2011Company proposals to shift new employees onto an inferior pension plan and questions related to healthcare and job security are the main differences between unions and management in the negotiations for a new four year contract covering 15,000 U.S. workers at General Electric.
USA: Ten U.S. trade unions, working together as the Coordinating Bargaining Council (CBC) of General Electric (GE) Unions, are negotiating with the industrial and financial giant toward a June 19 expiration of a four-year agreement covering 15,000 workers.
The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) and the International Union of Electronic Workers/Communications Workers (IUE/CWA) are the largest U.S. unions at GE, representing 11,000 industrial workers. Collective agreements for the UE and IUE are national in scope.
UE Local 506 in Erie, Pennsylvania, hosted a CBC rally of 4,000 trade unionists on June 4. The bargaining manifestation was held at Gannon University in the western Pennsylvania city.
Negotiations began in New York City on May 24 and after five rounds of bargaining it is evident that pension issues and health care costs have become the main agenda items. GE is trying to separate all new hires from a defined pension plan and shift them to an inferior plan. It also wants higher cost-sharing on medical insurance from workers and introduction of inferior option plans.
Despite the financial crisis, GE is faring well in the marketplace and American unions are resisting any rollbacks to pension schemes and health care costs. And they will seek a significant yearly wage increase and cost-of-living improvements.
GE paid out three dividends to shareholders in the past year and recorded US$14.2 billion in gross profits in 2010. GE's cash surplus was US$82 billion in first quarter 2011, and UE claims GE workers produced an average of US$42,000 each in net profit for the company last year.
The CBC of GE Unions consists of the UE, the IUE/CWA, International Association of Machinists (IAM), NABET/CWA, the United Steelworkers (USW), the United Auto Workers (UAW), the International Federation of Professional and Technical Employees (IFPTE), the Electrical Workers (IBEW), Sheet Metal Workers Union (SMWIU), the United Association of Plumbing and Pipefitting Union (UA), the Firemen & Oilers division of the Service Employees Union (SEIU).
For more details go to ICEM's latest news report on the GE negotiations here:
http://www.icem.org/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4461-American-Unions-in-Tough-Talks-for-15-000-General-Electric-Staff
To follow the negotiations on UE's website go to:
http://www.ueunion.org/unity2011.html