We built this company. In GE towns like Erie, Schenectady, Lynn, Evendale, Louisville and others, generations of union members produced the locomotives, turbines, aircraft engines, and appliances that made this company hugely successful and profitable.
Since 2011 GE profits soar, while workers’ take-home pay barely tops inflation
For more than 75 years, through successive National Agreements with GE, UE has been fighting for income security for our members when we retire.
Over the past decade, GE workers have contributed $1.64 billion of their earnings in the GE Pension Plan, while GE has made a signle contribution - just $433 million - in 2012. By paying for our pension, GE workers have boosted the bottom line profits made by GE. We've earned and deserve better pensions.
On January 1, 2015, GE eliminated post-65 Medicare health insurance supplements and life insurance for future salaried exempt retirees. Also on that date, the company took away Medicare supplements from current post-65 salaried exempt retirees. Instead, GE forced these retirees into a private health insurance “exchange” where they have to buy their own Medicare supplements, with GE only providing a $1,000 per-person stipend.
Everybody agrees the GE healthcare cuts have hurt. That’s why, in 2015 negotiations, UE is demanding that GE restore rational employee health insurance that covers our needs and is simple to use. GE now pays almost 10% less for our health benefits than it did in 2011, while our deductibles and co-pays have escalated.