Pittsburgh

Substantial cuts in benefits of General Electric salaried employees hired after Jan. 1, 2005 received unanimous condemnation from local union leaders on Dec. 3 as unfair and a potential threat to all GE employees. (See the text of the resolution below.)

Meeting at the UE national headquarters, delegates representing the UE-GE local unions nationwide said the company’s action is, “even by GE standards, a particularly egregious example of corporate arrogance.”

Affected by the benefit cuts are all union-exempt and many non-exempt salaried employees hired after Jan. 1.

GE will eliminate: all post-65 retirees’ medical coverage, all company-paid medical insurance coverage for early retirees, all early retirement supplements, early retirement with a full pension at age 60, and benefits associated with permanent job loss events.

The UE-GE Conference Board said in a resolution that the company action eliminates for new hires benefits negotiated by the union over the past quarter-century and previously applied to all GE employees. “Ultimately, these cuts represent a grave threat to all GE employees, present and future, hourly and salaried alike.”

The union leaders asserted the company has no legitimate economic reason for making these cuts, as the GE Pension Plan continues to be overfunded by many billions of dollars.

Conference Board delegates also stated their intention to “resist any attempt by GE to extend these cuts to any segment of the GE employee population in the future, and to work with other unions in the Coordinated Bargaining Committee of GE unions in this regard.”

RESOLUTION OF THE UE-GE CONFERENCE BOARD In Opposition To General Electric’s Attack on the Benefits Of Salaried New Hires

On November 30, 2004, General Electric advised the Union of its decision to effect dramatic cuts in the benefits of all exempt, and many non-exempt, salaried employees hired by the Company on or after January 1, 2005. The Company, obviously hoping that these cuts will receive as little attention as possible, did not even issue a press release about the matter. But we have no intention of allowing GE to sweep these massive and outrageous benefit cuts quietly under the rug. Ultimately, these cuts represent a grave threat to all GE employees, present and future, hourly and salaried alike.

The main features of the cuts are as follows:

• Early retirement with a full pension at age 60 is eliminated. Only those retiring at age 65, or at 62 with 25 or more years of service, will receive an unreduced pension. Otherwise a 5% per year reduction is imposed for each year one retires before 65.

• All early retirement supplements are entirely eliminated.

• All company-paid medical insurance coverage for early retirees is eliminated.

• All post-65 retirees’ medical coverage, including the Medical Care Plan for Pensioners which supplements Part A of Medicare, and the Pensioners’ Prescription Drug Plan, is eliminated.

• Retirees’ life insurance is cut by 70% to a maximum of $15,000, down from $50,000.

• Benefits associated with permanent job loss events such as the Special Early Retirement Option (SERO) and the Plant Closing Pension Option (PCPO) are eliminated.

Thus in one fell swoop, the Company plans to take benefits critical to the security and well-being of GE employees, negotiated by the Union over more than a quarter century, and heretofore applied to all GE employees, and simply wipe them out for these new hires.

These huge cuts might cause a casual observer to assume that GE was in great financial difficulty. Nothing could be further from the truth. This year the Company is set to surpass last year’s record of nearly $16 Billion in net profits, and CEO Jeff Immelt is openly predicting double digit profit growth in 2005. GE remains the world’s most financially successful company, and consistently brags to investors that its brightest days are ahead.

Nevertheless, it is clearer than ever from this latest action that GE envisions no such brightness in the futures of its employees. For them there is to be less, not more security – in their jobs, in their ability to address the medical needs of themselves and their families, and in their hopes for a dignified retirement.

It is particularly ironic that GE is gutting some of the most important features of the Pension Plan, offering the excuse that this is in keeping with “industry trends and practices” and is “cost competitive in the labor market”. The fact is that GE has not contributed a penny to the pension fund since 1987, and that the Plan continues to be overfunded by many billions of dollars.

Similarly, even as the company continues to reap enormous profits as a major player in the health care industry, the long-term effect of its action will be simply to add to the 45 million Americans without health insurance and to accelerate the alarming trend among employers to dump post-65 medical benefits altogether.

Nor can we in any way comfort ourselves that GE’s attack is confined to non-union new hires in the salaried ranks. We must ask ourselves how long it will be before the Company decides that what’s good for the goose is also good for the gander, and attempts to spread this virus to both current employees, and all future employees, including hourly workers.

The UE-GE Conference Board, comprised of delegates from UE-GE Locals across the country condemns this action on the part of General Electric. It is, even by GE standards, a particularly egregious example of corporate arrogance and greed. We intend to prepare to resist any attempt by GE to extend these cuts to any segment of the GE employee population in the future, and to work with other unions in the Coordinated Bargaining Committee (CBC) of GE unions in this regard.

Adopted Unanimously 12/3/04