Representatives of five CBC unions – UE, IUE-CWA, UAW, IAM, and IBEW – opened bargaining today at the so-called “small table” in the final week of bargaining. The unions met with 5 GE representatives for a short period of time on Monday afternoon to discuss bargaining schedules and other minor matters.
The small table members are empowered to negotiate, and if possible, conclude tentative agreements with GE on all bargaining issues, with the UE-GE contract subject ultimately to UE-GE Conference Board and membership approval. But there was no real bargaining during today’s short meeting, which lasted less than an hour.
The first two weeks of bargaining at the UE “large table” were marked by sharp disagreements on issues like wages, healthcare, retiree healthcare, job security, and pensions during which UE and other CBC unions presented detailed proposals. But today GE came to the bargaining table and offered no response to any of the union proposals. Some CBC unions sharply criticized GE’s failure to engage in real bargaining today and called the meeting a waste of time. However, it is anticipated that GE will begin responding to CBC proposals when the “small table” resumes Also beginning at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, two subcommittees comprised largely of rank-and-file local union leaders of CBC unions will meet with company representatives. One subcommittee will discuss pensions and insurance, the other will deal with contract language.
ERIE RALLY ROCKS THE BARGAINING
But the big news on Monday was still reverberating from the giant Contract Rally conducted by Local 506 this past Saturday which rocked the Erie Bayfront. Demanding justice for workers in a new labor contract with GE, Local 506 members, their families, other unions, and supporters from the Erie community came together for a spirited rally Saturday at the Bayfront Convention Center along Erie’s Presque Isle Bay. Local news media estimated the size of the enthusiastic crowd at 4,000 to 5,000 people.
Speakers, including Local 506 President Scott Slawson, Business Agent Frank Fusco, UE General President Bruce Klipple, and International Rep. Gene Elk, laid out the issues in negotiations and the union’s determination to fight. They were frequently interrupted by applause and shouts of support from the members.
Deb Gornall, UE Eastern Region president and a former Erie GE worker and chief steward in the salaried unit, UE Local 618, brought solidarity greetings from locals around the eight-state region. She addressed the company: “GE, if you are going to lead, lead in treating your workers with the respect they deserve.”
Scott Slawson said GE overreached in 2011 and now must fix the mess it’s made of GE workers health insurance. The pending closing of the Ft. Edward plant, the sale of the GE Appliances business, and the transfer of work from Erie show that, “We need better job security protection,” he said. The membership of Local 506 has been reduced from 3,800 four years ago to 3,200 today, and yet farmout and subcontracting continue. He said GE has said at the bargaining table that some of the things workers expect in this contract will “not be automatic.” Slawson turned that around and warned GE that contract ratification will not be automatic.
“For 78 years we’ve negotiated wages and benefits in good faith,” Slawson concluded. “For 78 years we’ve been the best at what we do. For 78 years we have been and will continue to be UE 506.”
Mike Ferritto, vice president of Local 506 and master of ceremonies of the rally, added that GE should not make the fatal mistake it made in 1969, of thinking that GE workers are not prepared to strike if they need to.
Frank Fusco made a special point of recognizing several retired Local 506 leaders in the hall who passed on the union’s traditions and principles to him, including Pat Rafferty, Dave Kitchen, Ron Flowers and Dale Stubenhoffer. He said it was great that so many families came out for the rally, and thanked his fellow officers for doing a great job. Fusco talked about the current health plan that “doesn’t work,” and asked if people agreed that it needs to be drastically improved if he could get a “Hell yeah” from the crowd. The cavernous hall resounded with 4,000 voices shouting, “Hell yeah!”
Fusco also emphasized the need for better cost-of-living protection, improved job security, and SEROs to allow early retirements and save the jobs of younger workers. Finally, the UE Local 506 Business Agent reminded everyone that UE is great because “The members run this union.”
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Mike Divins, the new president of Local 618, thanked Local 506 for its solidarity and for including his local whose struggles, he said, are the same as those of the hourly workers.
Matt Louiso, president of Machinists Local Lodge 912 at the big GE jet engine plant in Evendale, Ohio, brought a message of militancy and solidarity. “Enough is enough,” he said. “We have given and given. Sisters and brothers, let’s take this company on!” Darrell Fisher of the Sheetmetal Workers also expressed solidarity.
Gene Elk, UE’s chief negotiator, said he was heartened by the reports he heard from the chief stewards at Local 506’s executive board on Friday. “It was great to get the hell out of New York” Elk said, “and hear what the members are saying and doing to support our bargaining program.” Workers in the buildings are taking on the company over the contract issues, and Elk urged them to “Keep it up!”
Elk briefly reviewed the key issues in negotiations, but reported that while the union has presented detailed proposals on every issue, the company has so far, two weeks into bargaining, presented no proposals. “Their response to us is always the same: ‘We understand your proposals.”
He said the company has not been truthful about healthcare, lied about how much workers are paying even when their own statistics prove that workers are paying even more, and yet, Elk said, the company wants workers to pay still more than that. The company has also been dishonest about the pension plan, which they now call a “social cost” and which they say is too high. But they don’t want to talk about the costs of the pensions of GE executives each of whom will get millions of dollars a year when they retire. Elk urged members to keep up and intensify the fight in the final seven days of bargaining.
“We’ve got a fight on our hands,” said UE President Bruce Klipple, and it’s a fight for our community and our jobs. He expressed his pride, and the pride of UE, in the membership of Local 506. “We can win the arguments at the bargaining table on the facts,” he said. “But what really makes the difference is when we have the muscle to get what we deserve.” He asked the members if they have the backs of the bargaining committee, and the crowd response was another resounding “Hell yeah!”
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Other highlights of the rally were a motorcycle parade of Local 506 members from the Union Hall across town to the rally site; the presentation of colors by Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 435; and the singing of the National Anthem by the choral group Lake Erie Sound. The invocation was given by Rich Wolf, a Local 506 member in Building 10. UE Young Activists presented a Workers’ Memorial Wreath, and Ferritto called for a moment of silence to honor workers who have died on the job.
Andrew Dinkelaker, UE General Secretary-Treasurer, prepared a short video that connected UE-GE workers’ struggles past and present. It included footage from the 1946 GE strike, the 2011 Erie contract rally, the 2013 jobs rallies, and photos from Local 506 struggle and current bargaining. Dinkelaker also made brief remarks, as did the chair of the rally organizing committee, Dave Poeta, Local 506 chief steward for Building 10. He noted that Erie County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper and State Senator Sean Wiley had both accepted the union’s invitation to the rally but backed out after workers conducted a four-hour walkout. Poeta suggested that just as union members can put candidate into office, we can also throw them out when they abandon us.
The rally ended with a video, featuring the lyrics on the screen, of the late Pete Seeger and the Almanac Singers performing labor’s anthem “Solidarity Forever,” which the crowd joined in singing. The crowd then marched along Bayfront Parkway to nearby Liberty Park and the Pepsi Amphitheater for a free picnic and concert by local bands Thorne, Sleeping Dogs and Jake’s Blues. “UE 506 Rocks the Bayfront” was the union’s theme for the day’s events.
See more photos from the rally at UE's Facebook page.
