Author Archives: UEAdmin

May 31st Day of Action

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MAY 31 DAY OF ACTION

 

At its May 16-17 meeting, the UE General Executive Board adopted a “Statement of Solidarity” with Local 506 that called for support from all UE locals, starting with a day of action on May 31 in all three UE regions. In the Northeast Region, dozens of demonstrators rallied at GE’s corporate headquarters in Fairfield, CT. Petitions with more than 10,000 signatures were presented to a GE representative outside the guarded entrance, along with a “Keep It Made in Erie” T-shirt for GE CEO Jeff Immelt. Participants came from UE Locals 203, 243, 274, 279, four sub-locals of Local 222, and included a Local 332 contingent who arrived by motorcycle from the GE plant in Fort Edward, NY. UE Local 506 members Lee Singleton and Terry Gigax came from Erie to help lead the Fairfield picket, and leaders of several UE locals spoke, as did Director of Organization Bob Kingsley and Northeast Region President Peter Knowlton.

 

Also on May 31, 40 people rallied at the headquarters of GE Transportation in Downtown Chicago, including members of Local 896, 1103, 1166, 1177, Warehouse Workers for Justice, Chicago Teachers Union, Workers United and Jobs with Justice. Two Local 506 members, Bill Bane and Joe Bradney participated, as did UE Secretary-Treasurer Andrew Dinkelaker. A delegation of four went inside and met with a human resources manager and delivered petitions with thousands of signatures.

 

The Day of Action in Erie was three actions, as members participated in plant gate shift rallies at 7:00 a.m., 1:30 and 3:00 p.m. Combined turnout for the three events was in the thousands. GE workers were joined by members of other UE locals and other unions, and the rallies were chaired by Eastern Region President Deb Gornall. “We need to tell this company, ‘You stole our work, bring it back!” UE General President Bruce Klipple told members, and he added, “We’re in the fight of our lives, and your national union will do whatever is needed to help you.”

 

Gene Elk blasted the company’s illegal movement work to Texas before giving the union notice, and for showing no interest at the bargaining table in saving jobs. “We’ve met with them 10 times now, and we’ve wasted time” discussing such things as the attendance policy, even though the company admits that if it got the changes it wants in attendance rules, it would save no jobs.

“Every day we’re in negotiations we ask them how we’re going to save jobs,” Elk continued. “And this company has not put forward a proposal to save even a single job.” Elk said the union suspects that the company would try to squeeze union members and take back the wage increase that is due on June 24. He asked members for their answer to that, and each time the crowd roared, “No!”

Local 506 President Scott Duke said “The community has embraced this local like I’ve never seen before. When I walk in a store with a UE shirt on, strangers come up and tap me on the shoulder and say, ‘Thank you, we’re with you.’” Duke added, “Our proposal is to keep these 950 jobs. That’s our proposal! Anything else ain’t gonna happen. Wage freeze? Not going to happen. We earned and fought for those wages. They’re union wages.”

 

LEGAL FIGHT

 

In addition to its efforts in the community, that workplace and at the bargaining table, the union has taken legal action against GE’s attack on jobs. By transferring work prior to giving the union notice and the opportunity to bargain, says UE General Counsel Joseph Cohen, “The company has violated both the National Labor Relations Act and the contract.” So in addition to grievances filed by the local, the national union has filed unfair labor practice charges. “We feel like we have pretty strong evidence,” says Cohen, “but our optimism has to be cautious because history as shown us that the National Labor Relations Board and the federal courts are not exactly friends to workers.” Three Local 506 divisional chief stewards – Scott Slawson, Bob Herrick, and Giovanni Caputo – have given affidavits to the NLRB detailing the company’s movement of jobs, and Gene Elk has also given an affidavit. “We’ve submitted several position statements and we continue to present the labor board with evidence as they conduct their investigation,” Cohen added. The union is asking the NLRB to seek an injunction against GE, under Section 10(j) of the labor act, because the illegal movement of work has placed the union at an unfair bargaining disadvantage. “We’ve been put in a position where not only do we have to negotiate to try to save jobs six months from now, but we have to negotiate to try to save jobs that have already left. That’s bad faith bargaining by the company,” Cohen concluded.

Keep it made in ERIE!

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“Keep It Made In Erie!”

Local 506 in Jobs Battle with GE

Erie, PA

Local 506, the largest local in UE and one of the oldest, is now in a major battle with General Electric over jobs. The local’s 3,500 members manufacture locomotives and electric wheel motors for off-highway vehicles (OHV) – giant mining trucks. On April 9, management of GE Transportation announced that it intends to transfer a substantial amount of work from Erie to a newly-built non-union plant in Fort Worth, Texas, and to lay off 950 UE members later this year.

GE’s announcement came after months of deliberately misleading Local 506 and the Erie community. The company had insisted that Ft. Worth would be an “overflow” plant that would not cost Erie any jobs. Despite its earlier claims, GE had already begun to move both locomotive and OHV work to Texas long before its April 9 announcement.

GE pays substantially lower wages in Fort Worth than in Erie, and this job transfer is part of its self-proclaimed “competitive wage” strategy, aimed at driving down the incomes of GE’s manufacturing and other workers to near-poverty levels. The attack on Local 506 comes despite GE Transportation – GE’s Erie-based division – making record profits in 2012. After the division’s profits more than doubled between 2010 and 2011 to $757 million, they grew another 36 percent in 2012 to $1 billion. For the first quarter of 2013, GE Transportation profits were up another 15 percent.

In 2012 GE made $8.4 billion in profit. A major contributor to GE’s profitability was GE Transportation, for which GE named the transportation division “business of the year.” The head of GE Transportation walked around the Erie plant showing off the trophy that came with that title – the result of the hard work of Local 506 members.

GE CEO Jeffery Immelt chaired President Obama’s “Jobs and Competitiveness Council”, whose stated purpose was creating jobs in the U.S.  “GE says is it is dedicated to reviving American manufacturing and our economy,” said UE’s National President Bruce Klipple. “But what GE has done is close 40 factories in the U.S. in the last five years. And GE is conducting a so-called ‘competitive wage’ campaign to cut workers’ pay by as much as 50 percent.” At the same time GE is cutting wages, Immelt received an 80 percent pay raise, bringing his 2012 compensation to $20.6 million.