Brothers and Sisters, the solidarity among our UE family is unmatched. Your resolve to stand united in support of family sustaining jobs is honorable and brave—we salute you. Keep supporting your fellow workers, keep checking in for communications updates, and keep talking to your families.
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO
- FILE: Please file for unemployment today. This is a lockout.
- LOG ON: www.uc.pa.gov
- Click File an Initial Claim
- Follow step-by-step filing instructions
- REASON FOR SEPARATION: Strike/Lockout
- SIGN UP: If you haven’t signed up for a picket shift, call your chief steward and sign up for a picket shift now.
- COMMUNICATE: Check in with your Chief Steward, Picket Line Captain or your Steward. Check the website, or Facebook for updates. If you would to receive updates via email please got to www.uelocal506.com and CLICK the MEMBER SIGN UP button.
- ASK FOR HELP: As an employee of Wabtec, your benefits include access to the Employees Assistance Program (EAP). You can call EAP at any time for any reason at 877-234-5151. It is a completely confidential resource. Feel overwhelmed? Call 2-1-1 and somebody will be there to help you, whatever you need.
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
1. We are fighting to maintain current wages and working conditions in the plant while we negotiate a new contract. A contract that GE considered acceptable and profitable. It’s demoralizing and unnecessary.
2. Wabtec assertion that our wages are too high “for that region” is an insult to every person living in Erie County. This is not just about our jobs—this is about the future of our local economy, our community and family sustaining jobs across America.
3. Wabtec is not poor—and the Lawrence Park plant under the current collective bargaining agreement has been highly profitable every quarter for years. Wabtec is a profitable company that is expected to bring in nearly $8 billion this year – doubling its revenue as a result of the merger. They had enough money to provide over $120 million in payments to executives at Wabtec and GE, including a $16 million handout to Wabtec’s CEO.