On July 30, one day before expiration of their old contract, UE Local 262 members at Madico, Inc. voted to approve a new three-year contract that includes wage increases of 4 percent each year, retirement improvements and increases in other benefits, as well as language improvements and a bonus plan.
Members of Local 204 used stickers, lunch time meetings, vocal chords, and a final-day march to the front office to achieve a three-year contract the committee could unanimously recommend, and the members would overwhelmingly ratify. Management at Haskon knew that to go beyond the August 6 expiration date would leave production completely in hands of the members without the “no work stoppage” clause of the contract being in effect. Once the expiration date rolls around, bosses are never quite sure what Local 204 has in store for them.
UE Local 799 has negotiated a new two-year agreement with the Delaware City Schools, with an across-the-board wage increase of 2.5 percent each year and additional raises based on years of service.
On May 14, workers at Merkle Korff, a factory producing sub-fractional electric motors, voted 41-32 to join UE. Together with the organizing win a few days later at Ferro Pfanstiehl in Waukegan, this brought nearly 120 new manufacturing workers into UE’s ranks in Greater Chicago.
In a tough fight for their second contract as UE members, Local 1110 members at Republic Windows & Doors showed that they still have the fighting spirit that helped them organize into UE in 2004. Workers defeated the company’s regressive bargaining tactics and, in an industry badly impacted by the depressed housing market, won a new three-year agreement that increases their wages by $1.60, and retains the gains they made in their first contact.
A few weeks after settling its contract with Republic Windows & Doors, UE Local 1110 has also reached agreement on a new contract with Ruan Logistics, Republic’s trucking contractor.
Picketing by UE Local 1008 members at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) Center in California paid off in early June when the negotiating committee for employees of lead contractor Stanley reached a tentative agreement with the company on its reorganization plan.
UE Local 150 members in the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) are continuing their Mental Health Workers Bill of Rights campaign, and are gaining in both momentum and public recognition.
Workers at Lakewood Engineering and Manufacturing rallied outside the plant on May 29. The demands of the UE Local 1101 members were for jobs, and for a decent package of severance benefits for workers who are about to lose their jobs.
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