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| The UE-GE Conference Board, representing UE locals at GE workplaces, reviewed the tentative agreement and overall situation, and recommended ratification. |
On June 29, members of the nine UE locals that represent General Electric workers voted to ratify a new four-year national agreement. The tentative agreement was reached on June 18 after a month of negotiations in New York City. UE was part of a bargaining coalition, known as the Coordinated Bargaining Committee (CBC), that includes nine other unions and represents a combined total of 15,000 GE workers nationwide.
Militant workplace action by UE members, in particular in the two manufacturing plants, Erie, PA and Fort Edward, NY, significantly improved the final agreement. Local 332 at Fort Edward conducted several plant gate rallies - the biggest on June 17 - and Locals 506 and 618 in Erie kept pressure on the company with "band practice" and other demonstrations of union determinaton. Local 506 organized a national rally in Erie on June 4, to which members of other GE unions travelled by the carload and busload. More than 3,500 participated in this enthusiastic and massive showing of solidarity. A special section of this website with daily updates from the bargaining table as well as updates on member actions helped the members stay well-informed and mobilized.
A statement issued by the UE national officers described the new contract as including "some good improvements as well as some major deficiencies." Workers were to receive a $5,000 lump sum payment in July, and general wage increases of 2.25 percent in 2012, 2.5 in 2013 and 3 percent in 2014. The cost-of-living formula was improved to more accurately compensate workers for the effects of inflation, and members will receive eight cost-of-living pay adjustments (COLA) over the term of the contract. The new COLA formula represents a 12 percent improvement over the old formula.
PENSION
The new agreement contains many pension improvements. Multipliers under the guaranteed minimum tables will now range from $35 to $80 per month times years of service, up from the previous $34 to $70 range.
Employees with 25 years or more of service or who are age 55 or older with at least 20 years will also receive an "update" of their accumulates pension benefit under the alternative career earnings formula. This will result in substantially higher pension for many workers in this category.
The early retirement supplement was increased to $20 per month times years of service, while the special supplement applicable to those with 25 or more years was increased to $400 per month. Both improvements are payable until the age of eligibility for 80 percent of Social Security.
A major gain was also won for workers who retiring on a disability pension, by eliminating the reduction factor which previously reduced the benefit by as much as 12 percent.
The company also agreed to an additional payment to current retirees who retired on or before June 1, 2007. They will receive a "13th check", equal to an extra month's pension payment, in December 2011. One major disappointment is that the unions were unable to stop GE's determined effort to exclude workers hired after January 1, 2012 from the defined benefit pension plan. However, the unions negotiated favorable terms for a defined contribution retirement plan for future workers. These workers will receive an annual company contribution of $600 plus 3 percent of pay into the worker's Savings and Security Plan (S&SP) account, plus a match of up to 4 percent of pay on employee contributions to the S&SP account. The company also signed a side letter pledging that there will be no attempt to freeze the defined benefit pension plan over the term of this contract and the succeeding contract, which likely means until at least 2019.
The company proposed to eliminate the Special Early Retirement Option (SERO), but this is renewed in the new contract. Workers facing a layoff who are at least 55 years old with 25 years of service can instead retire with their full pension, a substantial pension supplement, and full medical coverage. However, workers opting for SERO to save a younger worker from layoff will not receive the supplement nor fully-paid health insurance. A SERO "window" will be offered this year to 400 eligible applicants, who must be age 55 to 59 with 30 or more years. The "window" applicants with the highest pension service will be able to retire with full pension, supplements, and health coverage.
Another 400 applicants age 60 and above who elect to retire next December will receive a bonus of 75 percent of their annual pay under a new Voluntary Retirement Incentive Program (VRIP) opportunity.The contract includes numerous other job security improvements. Workers with as little as six months service will qualify for Income Extension Aid (IEA), an unemployment supplement. Language is strengthened on Job Preservation Committees through which local unions have been able to create and save jobs. Jobs preserved through this process will be guaranteed for a minimum of 18 months, and the coverage of the job preservation clause is extended to bargaining units as small as 25 workers. Eligibility to participate in preferential placement to other GE plants for this laid off was expanded.
PAID TIME OFF
The new contact adds a third paid sick and personal leave day for employees with one to nine years of service, the first increase since the 1970s. The vacation schedule is improved to provide for three weeks for five years of service, up from 2.5 weeks. Legal guardian is added to the list of covered relatives under bereavement.
HEALTHCARE
Healthcare was the most contentious issue of the negotiations. While the agreement resulted in a step backward when compared to the previous GE health plans, the union did succeed in negotiating significantly lower levels of contributions and co-pays than exist in the exempt salaried plan.
In addition the union was able to maintain coverage in the existing plans for all present pre-65 retirees and for those who retire during 2011.
Insurance improvements included an increase in the dental schedule and new partial coverage for dental implants. Weekly short-term disability pay will increase from $700 to $800 over the duration of the contract. Vision care improvements include additional coverag for disposable contact lenses and the addition of covered services for those diagnosed with "low vision."
The lesson to be drawn from these events, the UE officers' statement concludes, is that "we must continue to increase our efforts at membership education and mobilization in the entire GE chain in the face of what will surely be difficult dealings with GE in the future. The next round of bargaining in 2015 may seem to be a long way off, but the time to begin preparing is now."
The UE-GE bargaining committee included Roger Zaczyk, president and Wayne Burnett, business agent of Local 506; Scott Gates, president and Angel Sardina, business agent, Local 332; Mary Stewart-Flowers, president, Local 618; Harold Spencer, chief steward, Local 1009. Leo Grzegorzewski, Local 506, also participated in the second week of bargaining and Ron Flowers, president of the Retirees Association of General Electric (RAGE) participated all four weeks. The UE committee was assisted by General President John Hovis, General Secretary-Treasurer Bruce Klipple, UE-GE Conference Board Secretary Steve Tormey and International Rep. Gene Elk. International Rep. Chris Townsend represented UE at the IUE-CWA bargaining table.
(See the Summer 2011 UE NEWS for further coverage of GE negotiations and the new contract.)