UE NEWS Updates

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Local 506 Bulletin Blasts GE's Evasive Bargaining Position

May 10, 2013
Erie, PA

Local 506 today issued another update to its members on what are, so far, very frustrating negotiations with GE in Erie over the company's job transfer plans. (Click the link below to see the local's bulletin.) The headline is "UE Local 506 Deeply Upset With GE's Bargaining Position." The bulletin also announces that UE has filed an unfair labor practice charge (ULP) with the NLRB against GE for failing to meet its legal bargaining obligations.

Grand Opening of Worker-Owned Factory, As Former Republic Windows Workers Launch New Era Windows Cooperative

May 8, 2013
Chicago

The worker-owners of New Era Windows Cooperative, who are members of UE Local 1110 and some of the former employees of Republic Windows and Doors, will hold a grand opening and press conference on Thursday, May 9. The event will take place at 3:15 at the site of the new plant, 2600 West 35th Street in Chicago.

Elected officials, supporters, customers and remodeling contractors will join New Era Window Cooperative worker/owners in celebrating the launch of the new cooperative, a unionized, 100 percent worker-owned and operated business.  

Local 243 Retains Good Health Plan, Makes Other Gains in New Contract

April 25, 2013
New Haven, CT

Local 243's bargaining committee reached agreement on March 20 for a new three-year agreement with Sargent Manufacturing, and the members ratified it later the same day. The settlement came six days after the expiration date of the old contract, at the end of a long, tough fight over the company's effort to eliminate the existing healthcare plan, and replace it with two inferior plans. Through the determination of Local 243's members and leadership, they retained their health plan. The local also won wage increases and other improvements.

Massive GE Jobs Rally Demands, 'Keep It Made in Erie'

April 17, 2013
Erie, PA

SIGN PETITION TODAY!

Approximately 2,000 members of UE Local 506 rallied on Tuesday, April 16 just outside the East Gate of the Erie GE plant to defend jobs. They were joined by supporters from other unions and the community. GE announced on April 9 that it plans to lay off 950 UE 506 members by the end of the year, and to transfer a substantial portion of the work now done by UE members to its newly-built non-union plant in Fort Worth, Texas.

Local 1008 Enjoys String of Grievance Success

April 8, 2013
Laguna Niguel, CA

UE Local 1008 was organized in early 2008, over fierce employer opposition, and it took a tough six-month struggle (including a short strike) to win their first contract. Since then the young local has undergone a change of employers and second negotiations. The local's 400 members are now employed by FedConsulting Inc., the federal contractor that operates the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service Centers in Laguna Niguel; St. Albans, Vermont; and Chicago, all of which are now represented by UE.

Wolcott Paras Negotiate Significant Raises, Retain Defined Benefit Pension

March 5, 2013
Wolcott, CT

The members of Sub-local 84 of UE Local 222 - the paraprofessionals, library and security aides in the Wolcott public schools - have a new four-year labor agreement with significant wage increase, and which retains their defined benefit pension plan. The negotiated settlement comes at the end of a long, hard battle which included a trip to binding arbitration.

Long Struggle, "Rally for Respect" Lead to Pay Raises and No-Concession Contract

March 5, 2013
Greenfield, MA

After eight months of struggle and three contract extensions, UE Local 274 members who drive, dispatch, and maintain buses for the Franklin Regional Transit Authority (FRTA) approved a new contract on February 6. The agreement brings a 1.5 percent general wage increase retroactive to July 1, 2012, the expiration date of the old contract; a 3 percent raise in July 2013; and 2.4 percent in July 2014. The contract will expire on January 31, 2015. The union also negotiated a $100 increase in the clothing allowance for maintenance workers.

Workers at USCIS Chicago Center Win First Contract, Major Gains

February 19, 2013
Chicago

Workers at the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service Center (USCIS) in Chicago were fed up with pay cuts and insults from supervisors. They began organizing last August, and on October 18 they voted nearly unanimously for UE in a National Labor Relations Board Election to UE. They then got down to the work of building their new union, UE Local 1118, and preparing to negotiate with the company, federal contactor FedConsulting Inc. (FCi).

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