A new bargaining bulletin from Local 506 reports on a proposal the union presented to GE yesterday. Local 506 negotiators Wayne Burnett, Scott Duke, Mike Hayes and Mike Ferritto were joined by UE General President Bruce Klipple for the June 17 session, as well as International Rep. Gene Elk. The bulletin (which you can download from the link below) says in part:
The educational paraprofessionals and security aides employed by the Wolcott Board of Education (BOE) waged a year-and-a-half-long struggle to defend their pension, and their unity and persistence resulted in a new four-year contract that provides 12 percent in pay raises, improved grievance language, and the preservation of the defined benefit pension.
The 100 members of Local 1166 work hard every day to make the APL warehouse run smoothly. The warehouse stocks after-market locomotive parts for Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), now owned by Caterpillar. Members voted on May 2, by a two-to one margin, to ratify a new contract with the company which includes pay raises and some gains they had tried to get for years.
Local 506 today issue a news update on bargaining sessions with GE over the company's plans to move work out of Erie. You can download the complete bulletin at the link below.
The union update begins:
In a bulletin issued to members June 7, Local 506’s bargaining committee wrote: “After three meetings last week and two bargaining sessions this week (June 3 and 4), we regret having to inform you that there has been no real progress in our efforts to save the 950 jobs. At every bargaining session, your officers and the national union have repeatedly asked the Company for proposals to save jobs. As of yesterday (June 4), GE made no proposals and has not offered any concrete ideas to save even one job.”
(Click on the link below to download the bulletin as a PDF file.)
On May 1, members of UE Local 610 ratified a new three-year contract that improves wages, maintains the defined benefit pension for eligible employees, preserves the existing health plan with some changes, and makes other improvements. The company had sought to freeze the pension plan for tier 1 employees, and pushed that issue until late in negotiations.
UE Local 222’s Sub-local 80 – representing secretaries, custodians and food service workers in the Woodbridge public schools – has negotiated a three-year contract that includes major increases in wages. The new agreement goes a long ways toward the union’s goal of reducing wage disparities with workers on comparable jobs in neighboring school districts.
May 31 was a national “Day of Action” by UE members in support of the ongoing fight by Local 506 members to keep their work and good-paying union jobs in Erie, Pennsylvania – a community that has made GE profitable for more than 100 years.
At its May 16-17 meeting, the UE General Executive Board adopted a “Statement of Solidarity” with Local 506 that called for support from all UE locals, starting with a day of action on May 31 in all three UE regions.
Meeting at UE's national headquarters in Pittsburgh, the union's national leadership body, the General Executive Board, adopted a statement in solidarity with UE Local 506, which is fighting GE's plan to lay off 950 union members and transfer a significant portion of work from the Erie plant to a non-union plant in Fort Worth, Texas.
(You can download a pdf file of the GEB statement by clicking the link at the bottom of this page.)
UE General Executive Board – May 16, 2013
There was still no real progress as talks continued this week between UE Local 506 and GE over the company's plans to move work out of the Erie plant to Fort Worth, Texas and to lay of 950 union members. Here's a link to Local 506's May 17 bulletin to their members.