The GE proposals that were slowly unveiled during the morning and afternoon bargaining sessions at the “small table” Tuesday indicate that the company is still not convinced that union members are in no mood to go backwards. The big rally in Erie on Saturday was a good indicator of workers’ determination, but members of UE and the other CBC unions will need to keep the heat on GE bosses to get the message through to the company’s negotiators in New York.
For months, GE has been telegraphing the punch that came Tuesday – a proposal to end post-65 health insurance for retirees. In January 2015 GE eliminated company-subsidized healthcare for new salaried-exempt retirees. So it was no surprise that the very first company proposal of the 2015 negotiations on Tuesday morning was GE’s demand that the CBC unions agree that our members should also lose access to GE post-65 health insurance.
Under the current National Agreement’s post-65 plan which provides a series of supplements to Medicare, GE now pays $1,361 per year toward their health benefits. However, retirees pay almost two-thirds of the cost of these benefits ($3,524 per year), including payments for enrolling in Medicare Part B which GE does not subsidize. A post-65 retiree whose spouse is also covered under the Medicare supplements will suffer a double jolt under which GE will no longer pay $2,722 per year in retiree healthcare subsidies.
As if the attack on retiree health wasn’t bad enough, GE’s second proposal on Tuesday morning was to end company-paid life insurance for hourly employees who retire after January 1, 2016. GE did graciously offer to allow retirees to purchase retiree life insurance with their own money. Under the current National Agreement, GE is required to provide a life insurance benefit which at age 65 is reduced to half of annual pay, up to a maximum of $50,000.
CBC bargainers were deeply troubled by the company’s proposals, which, while not unexpected, were still thoroughly unappetizing. The union negotiators expressed their strong opposition to GE’s attack on retirement benefits, just as thousands of union members and supporters had done during the big rally in Erie on Saturday. When UE, IUE-CWA, UAW, IAM, and IBEW bargainers left the morning session for a lunch break, they were already suffering from indigestion caused by two servings of the company’s distasteful proposals.
Afternoon “Small Table” Focus on Pensions
After the noxious morning proposals, in the afternoon GE offered several proposals on pension issues. Its first afternoon proposal dealt with a new company proposal to automatically enroll new employees in the Retirement Savings Program (RSP), and unless they specifically opt out of the program, GE would immediately begin deducting RSP savings from their paychecks.
Several CBC bargainers expressed the view that encouraging savings is good. But the unions attacked GE’s refusal to permit post-2011 hires from participating in the regular pension, and demanded that pension participation be restored retroactively for those members. When GE bargainers complained that only half of the post-2011 hires save through RSP, CBC leaders replied that the high healthcare costs GE has imposed make it impossible for these workers to afford additional deductions from their paychecks.
GE did offer some minor improvements in the guaranteed pension and proposed a pension update similar to the one offered in 2011, and the company proposed to renew the early retirement supplements, although with no improvements. The company also offered another minor improvement: a slight increase in the annual earnings threshold at which employees are required to make mandatory pension contributions.
When pressed by CBC bargainers to respond to other union proposals to improve pension benefits, GE’s reply was that it “wasn’t interested.” GE couldn’t even give the unions the courtesy of a response to those proposals, or their reasons for their disinterest in the improvements sought by union members.
GE’s proposals on the Special Early Retirement Option (SERO), SERO 30, and the Plant Closing Pension Option (PCPO) were also underwhelming. Although GE did propose to renew those programs and make a small upward revision to the Special Supplement, it did not respond to any of the vital union proposals to make SERO meaningful. UE specifically made the case that the “save-a-job” feature of SERO be restored so that older workers could elect early retirement with medical coverage and supplements, thereby preserving a job for a less senior employee. UE International Rep. Gene Elk recounted how the Erie plant lost hundreds of jobs, but that only 17 senior workers received SEROs since 2012. GE continued to claim that the program was too expensive and continued to resist important union SERO proposals.
At the conclusion of the afternoon season, one CBC bargainer aptly commented: “I know it’s still early in the week, but I have never been so disgusted.” UE was represented at the small table by UE General President Bruce Klipple and International Representative Gene Elk. Small table bargaining will resume on Wednesday, June 17 at 9:00 a.m.
SUBCOMMITTEE MEETINGS BEGIN
In addition to these developments at the “small table,” this was the first day of bargaining sessions of the two subcommittees, in which union leaders from all of the CBC unions meet with company representatives and push for key demands. One subcommittee deals with contract language issues and the other with pensions and insurance.
Fighting for Job Security
The main focus of the contract language subcommittee was the crucial issue of job security. Union representatives from all the unions present hammered GE over the inadequacy of the current contract language on job security, and the company’s reckless policies in subcontracting, outsourcing, farm-out and transfer for work affecting production and non-production jobs. Speaker after speaker offered examples of outsourced work being done poorly, requiring costly and time-consuming rework by the union members who could and should have done the work in the first place. The company is “over-eager” to outsource, said Local 506 President Scott Slawson, one of the two co-chairs of the committee, and is “quick to pull the trigger” on farm-out. “With adequate notice and the chance for us to discuss the company’s needs, it can be beneficial to both union and company. We can often save the company money and do the work quicker and more reliably.” Other union leaders echoed that view, and co-chair, Rick Madal of IUE-CWA Local 707, added, “Nobody knows the work like we do.”
UE’s proposals call for removing the 60-day time limit on decision bargaining; including farm out and maintenance subcontracting in the types of work transfers that require notice and bargaining; and for work transfer notices to become null and void, and the work to stay where it is, six months after the date of transfer provided in the company’s original notice. UE also called for improved benefits in several other job loss events.
Company representatives claimed that outsourcing happens due to “ups and downs of the business,” but union representatives showed, with examples, that such fluctuations are often known months in advance, and that when the union is notified it can often provide the best and most cost-effective answer to the company’s needs. Local 506 Chief Plant Steward Leo Grzegorzewski pointed out that, in Erie, if a machining department has more work than it can handle, a machining area in another building may be able to do the added work. He added, “The vendor is not really ‘on time’ when we have to redo all of their work.”
Matt Louisa of IAM Local 912 in Evendale said that contractors are allowed to circumvent the plant standards, resulting in inferior work. “Not adhering to plant standards is costing the company money.”
Other representatives from the IBEW, IUE-CWA, IFPTE offered similar examples.
Scott Slawson talked about the “epic” transfer of work notice Local 506 was given in 2013 about a massive movement of work to Texas, “to a plant that was already built and already producing when we received the notice.” He described how GE stalled on giving requested information and otherwise abused the process.
Company spokesman mischaracterized UE’s proposal to lift the 60-day time limit as a call for “never-ending bargaining.” But UE Organizer Omar el-Malah pointed out that the law requires good-faith bargaining until the parties reach impasse or reach agreement, and that does not mean “never-ending bargaining.” UE News Managing Editor Al Hart said the company’s game plan in 2013 transfer of work decision bargaining in both Erie and Ft. Edward was to take advantage of the 60-day limit and “run out the clock.”
Local 332 Business Agent Sherice Stark said Ft. Edward workers could have saved their jobs “if we had a chance before you made up your minds.” She said GE is building a new capacitor plant with new equipment in Florida, but, “You could have put new equipment in our plant, and we have the knowledge to make you even more money.” She said GE makes the kind of decisions it makes because, “You don’t put a face to the worker.” That last comment drew applause from the more than 25 union leaders in the room – the only comment that received applause.
After the beating they had taken in the morning session, in the afternoon the company people changed the subject by, for the first time in recent memory, putting forward proposals in a subcommittee meeting. It offered nine proposals, most of which were minor increases or adjustments in such benefits as Income Extension Aid, Relocation Assistance, and Preferential Placement. One proposal was for a cut, reducing the period of the rate guarantee from 78 weeks to 26 weeks.
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
Pension and Insurance
The participation of 30 union negotiators in the Pension and Insurance Subcommittee indicated how important both of those issues are in this year’s negotiations. Co-chairs Jim Ledford of the IUE-CWA and Frank Fusco, business agent of UE Local 506, led a review of all the union proposals on these topics, with extensive discussion of many of them. The morning was devoted to pensions and the afternoon to health insurance. The unions pushed the importance of offering the Special Early Retirement Option (SERO) with a replacement or “save-a-job” feature to open jobs for new hiring, and called for offering SERO windows in 2015 and 2017. They also told the company that current retirees need a real increase in their monthly benefits, not a so-called “13th check,” which is in effect a one-time lump sum for retirees.
Mike Ferritto, Local 506 vice president, said the costs of healthcare are significantly cutting into the standards of living of many GE workers. “When I was hired by GE 10 years ago I was very proud. Now I go to the doctor’s office and people huff and puff when I show them my insurance card. It’s embarrassing.” Ferritto added that disgust with the current health plan is widespread among GE employees at many levels. “I had management people in Erie encouraging me when they heard I was coming to negotiations. ‘Go get them for us, too,’ they told me.”
Ric Cassilli, business agent of IUE-CWA Local 201, told the company that what it did to salaried retirees on healthcare was “heartless and cruel.” He added, “You’ve hit the 90 year-olds in the nursing homes, and you’re telling them to call or go online to get into the health insurance exchanges.”
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.