With less than 72 hours remaining before the National Agreement expires, little progress was made at the small table today. CBC negotiators representing UE, IAM, UAW, IBEW, and IUE-CWA had erroneously hoped that yesterday’s progress on small contract issues could create a path toward agreement on the tough issues.
However, this morning GE came back into negotiations and spent several hours trying to explain its woefully inadequate wage and so-called COLA proposals. CBC representatives were extremely frustrated when GE representatives gave convoluted examples of how its proposals would increase workers’ pay and overtime over the next four years. GE bargainers promised to provide new examples.
In the afternoon session, GE returned with new counter-proposals on pensions. Several of its pension offers were very solid and addressed proposals made by the unions, who in turn offered modifications to some of the improvements, while accepting other company proposals without change. But that’s where the progress stopped.
On health insurance, the company has not responded to union counter-proposals and continues to demand substantial and unwarranted contribution increases which it first made earlier in the week. On job security, GE made two proposals which would have no significant impact in providing protections against either plant closings or subcontracting.
Most importantly, GE’s demand to do away with post-65 healthcare subsidies has remained unchanged from when it was originally unfurled on Tuesday. At this point in time, the issues of health insurance, post-65 healthcare subsidies, wage and COLA increases, and job security are nowhere near being resolved, if in fact they can be resolved at all.
“We still have two days left in bargaining,” said UE International Rep. Gene Elk, “and I remain hopeful that GE will move significantly closer to us on the issues that are truly important to our members.” Bargaining will continue on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. UE was represented at the small table by General President Bruce Klipple and Gene Elk.
BOTH SUBCOMMITTEES WRAP UP THEIR WORK
Both the Pension and Insurance and Contract Language Subcommittees wrapped up their four days of work on Friday.
The Pension and Insurance Subcommittee spent the morning discussing disability issues, and the company made some additional movement in response to the unions. As a result, the two sides were able to reach tentative agreements on improvements to weekly minimum and maximum benefits for short term disability, increasing the monthly minimum benefit on long term disability insurance, addressing the beneficiary issue, and improving the disability pension supplements. These tentative agreements were then referred to the small table.
In the afternoon union members of the subcommittee spoke on how important pension improvements are to them and their members. Several members of the committee spoke passionately about these issues. “It’s high time to increase the pension for retirees,” said Frank Fusco, Local 506 business agent, and he also talked about the need for SEROs with the replacement feature that saves the jobs of younger workers. Fred Harris, Local 601, said he recently spoke to a woman in the Grove City plant who is on “competitive wage” and is also excluded from the pension. He asked if she was saving through RSP and she replied that does not have enough left to save from her low wages after her high health insurance costs. “Providing everyone a pension benefits both the workers and the company,” he said.
Mike Ferritto, Local 506 vice president, said a range of pension improvements “have to happen” and asked GE officials if they think it’s fair to take away pensions from new hires while the company spends $5.1 billion on executive supplementary pensions.
Joe Terlisner of the IAM in Milwaukee said, “without good pension improvements, an agreement will be hard to ratify,” and Dave Day, also of the Milwaukee IAM, said the physical jobs union members do take a toll on our bodies.
In ending the work of the Pension and Insurance Subcommittee, all 42 union members gave closing statements. Many of them warned GE that their members are angry about the cuts GE imposed in the 2011 contract and will not accept a similar settlement. Mike Barrell, a Steelworkers local president and veteran of several rounds of GE negotiations, said the 2011 settlement was the worst he’d ever seen. Danny Crabtree, IAM Local Lodge 912, said “We’ll get eaten alive if we bring back a contract like last time.”
Mika Plott of IFPTE Local 138 in Erie said every union member he knows in GE cares about the business more than the company will ever realize, and that GE “needs to take advantage of the expertise of the members. We can show you how to do it better and save money,” but the way GE cuts costs is wrong. “You’re sending engineering work to India. It’s going to hurt quality.”
Ken Hall of the UAW said, “People have given their lives to this company. To see what you’re trying to do to them is hard to take.”
Melvin O’Dell, UE Local 332 at Ft. Edward, read a letter from members in his shop in response to hearing from GE that their work is “appreciated” even as they are about to lose their jobs. “Over the last few weeks we have neither heard nor seen anything from your side that even remotely resembles” the definition of appreciation, they wrote. The letter, written by UE Local 332 Recording Secretary Paul Rosati said: “Actions speak louder than words. Your words do not pay our bills, and we are running out of time for words. If we really are appreciated then you will take a long hard look at your unacceptable demands before you force us into walking the walk.” O’Dell also said that Ft. Edward workers are in solidarity with other GE union members and are ready to join them on the picket line if needed. His remarks were applauded by the other union representatives.
“Don’t make the mistake you made in 2011,” said Frank Fusco. The comment of Dana Crittendon, president of IUE-CWA Local 861 in Louisville, was, “I’m concerned. I’m hoping I can be proud to bring something good back to my members.”
Janet Bernard of IUE-CWA read a summary of remarks by the union people, and she got applause when she concluded. Jim Ledford, IUE-CWA representative, thanked all the members of the committee, in particular some of his longtime associates from his own union as well as UE Local 506. He also thanked the company people for their work. But he said years of trust between GE and the unions has been broken, and, “You need to fix it. The company has most of the control of what happens up to Sunday night. After that, it’s up to the membership of our unions.”
UE was represented on the Pensions and Insurance Subcommittee by Frank Fusco and Mike Ferritto, Local 506; Melvin O’Dell, Local 332; Fred Harris, Local 601; and Peter Knowlton, Northeast Region president.
CONTRACT LANGUAGE COMMITTEE: JOB SECURITY IMPORTANT
The Contract Language Committee reached agreement on one additional issue on Friday morning, updating the no discrimination language to include all military veterans. The two sides discussed several other issues after which they agreed to disagree and pass the issue on to the small table. The unions would not agree, for example, to the company proposal to eliminate double time for early call-ins on first shift, and Local 506 President Scott Slawson and others explained the inconvenience of being called into work in the middle of the night. Slawson also explained UE’s proposal on decision bargaining over transfer of work, which differs sharply from what the company proposed.
The subcommittee discussed how sick and personal pay has been impacted by state laws granting similar leave, such as in Massachusetts. Ric Cassilli of IUE-CWA Local 201 in Lynn, MA was brought in from the Pension and Insurance Subcommittee to explain how the state law works, but after hearing his explanation the company still wanted to work around the law to give workers only the minimum required by law.
The subcommittee wrapped up with closing remarks from the unions and the company. Co-chairs Eric DeJohn and Rick Madal of IUE-CWA thanked all the participants, as did Scott Slawson. Slawson also spoke of the 2011 contract with which “no one was happy except the company. Learn from history or you’ll repeat it.” Slawson added, “We came here looking for fair and balanced contract that preserves the jobs we hold dear.” Job security is high on the union priority list, he said, because, “there’s been a lot of pain over the past four years,” citing the GE Appliances sale, Ft. Edward closing and Erie transfer of work. “We don’t want to make it easier for you to move our jobs,” he concluded, and his comments were applauded by the union members.
UE was represented on the contract language subcommittee by UE Local 506 President Scott Slawson, UE Local 506 Chief Plant Steward Leo Grzegorzewski, UE Local 332 Business Agent Sherice Stark, UE Local 618 President Mike Divins, and UE Field Organizer Omar el-Malah.