The UAW represents more than 600 workers in Evendale and Erlanger, and union leaders said GE’s current proposals aren’t cutting it. Dozens of UAW members rallied Tuesday at the Hard Rock Casino to protest the contract negotiations.
Workers threatened to strike against a proposed nearly 40% health care cost increase while demanding better job security and time off. As of Wednesday morning, UAW told us that GE countered with a 31% health care cost increase. However, the union said that’s not good enough.
A spokesperson for GE Aerospace sent us a statement Wednesday evening at around 11:30 p.m.:
“We are proud of our last offer we tabled for our 640 UAW-represented employees and are disappointed the Detroit-based UAW leaders have decided to strike before our employees have an opportunity to vote. We remain focused on serving our customers and have activated a detailed contingency plan, deploying experienced and qualified GE Aerospace employees to ensure continued operations with the highest levels of safety and quality.”
The final offer GE Aerospace made to UAW members Wednesday evening would have added approximately $29,000 on average in additional compensation for workers for the three-year contract, according to a spokesperson with GE Aerospace. It also would have created “significant” increases in paid time off, sick and personal pay and added three days of paid vacation, the spokesperson told us.
Brian Strunk, president of UAW Local 647 spoke with us Tuesday during the rally at the Hard Rock Casino.
“It’s unsustainable, really, for our members,” Strunk said.
Workers like Jake McElroy, a GE Aerospace production assembly mechanic, said they’re more than willing to strike. McElroy has worked for GE in Evendale for over a decade and said the company’s policies don’t consider the human impact.
“They don’t want to hear the human side of what their policies do,” McElroy said. “They just want to know the facts and the figures. I’ve had three sick days every year for 13 years.”
UAW President Shawn Fain joined GE Aerospace workers on Tuesday, encouraging them to stay in the fight.
“The wealthy divide the working class and get us to turn against each other so the elites can continue to rob us blind. And they’ll do that at a single place like GE in a heartbeat, so we need to stick together,” Fain said.
McElroy said he hopes the company will eventually come to the negotiation table in fairness.
“I hope the company is reasonable with us,” McElroy said. “What we’re asking for, it’s a rounding error to these people. They could pay every single member’s healthcare, and it would be less than two weeks of the CEO’s pay.”
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