At approximately 1:00 a.m., Sunday, June 23, the officers of UE Local 506 released the following statement to the news media. The local officers will have additional information for their members on Monday.
June 23, 2012
In a bulletin issued to union members today, UE Local 506 says that analysis by an independent financial expert of documents provided by GE shows that the Erie plant is twice as efficient as the new Fort Worth, Texas plant in building locomotives and off-highway vehicle (OHV) wheel motors. Since its April 9 announcement of plans to move work to Fort Worth and lay off 950 Local 506 members, GE has repeatedly claimed, without proof, that the Fort Worth plant is "20 percent more productive" than Erie.
In the seven weeks to date of weekly “Moral Monday” protests and civil disobedience at the North Carolina state legislature, thousands of people have participated and 485 have been arrested, including 84 on June 17. This week’s arrestees were charged with failure to disperse, criminal trespass, and violating General Assembly rules that prohibit singing, loud talking, and holding signs. It took five department of corrections buses to haul away the protestors.
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:
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
If you like what you read, please consider subscribing to the UE NEWS — for as little as $5/year you can support great labor journalism and receive the print edition of the UE NEWS four times per year.
You can also sign up to receive monthly UE NEWS Bulletins via email, or follow UE on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.