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Nearly 200 members of Local 10 have been on strike for seven weeks after refusing to accept a company proposal that included huge health care and miniscule wage increases. “I gave them the best years of my life,” said John Pennington, an electrician with more than 34 years service at the plant. “I feel insulted. I started at the bottom, now I’m a lead electrician. It means nothing to them. I remember when there used to be a real sense of family in there. Not anymore,” he added.
“They ransacked my
toolbox,” said Jay Russell after retrieving his box. “They gave me a set
of drill bits, put my name on them, said they were mine. Then they took
them back.” Russell, who worked at the plant for nearly 30 years, is a
member of the negotiating committee. The major strike issues are health
insurance costs, retirement security and wages, he explained.
Physicians Prescribe
National Health Care The physicians are promoting a government-financed single payer system to replace the hopelessly tangled network of private health care plans, HMO’s and for-profit hospitals. “The system cannot continue much longer the way it is, “ said Marcia Angell, a Harvard Medical School lecturer. “It’s clearly imploding.” The doctors’ proposal would cover everything from prescription drugs and hospitalization to dental and mental-health care. Under the current system, millions of Americans overpay for their health care coverage and nearly 40 million have no health insurance at all. The proposal for single-payer national health care is certain to revive opposition from pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies and lobbyists for the managed care industry. “These are some of the most profitable companies on the face of the earth,” said Steve Sleigh, director of IAM Strategic Resources Dept. “They will stop at nothing to preserve the current system, no matter how large the cracks and no matter how many fall through.”
Additional information about the single payer national health
plan is available at
http://www.pnhp.org/.
The IAM is mounting a statewide campaign to pressure Raytheon to keep the work in the United States. “We will not let Raytheon leave Wichita in the dead of night,” said IAM District 70 President Steve Rooney. “These are jobs worth fighting for and we will fight for them.” To prevent a similar move last year, workers at the facility presented the company with proposals for productivity improvements to significantly reduce costs. Raytheon officials decided at that time to keep the work in Wichita, but late last month announced plans to outsource the wire harness work.
In addition to
lobbying legislators and calling on workers to send an e-mail to Raytheon
CEO Bill Swanson (http://ksworkbeat.org/Action/action.html),
the Machinists expect to present a plan next week to Raytheon officials
that could further lower the cost of assembling wire harnesses.
On Strike for Jobs at
Standard-Knapp Picket lines went up immediately at the entrance of the central Connecticut facility where workers make case and tray packing machinery. The strike at the plant is the first in 24 years. "The workers of Standard-Knapp are a seasoned, senior team,” said District 26 Directing Business Representative Everett Corey. “Most of our members there are age 50 or older, with twenty or more years of loyal service. They’ve given their all for this company over many years. What do they get in return? A slap in the face and a knife in the back,”
Management proposals
included eliminating recall rights, cutting vacation pay, increasing
employee medical costs and ending provisions which give union workers the
opportunity to keep work in-house. Additional proposals would remove
recall rights for laid off workers and allow management to bring vendor
employees into the plant to do work previously done by Standard-Knapp
workers.
IAM Rail Workers to
Vote on Offer Negotiations have been underway since December 1999 to renew a contract that became amendable in January 2000. Voting will commence immediately and results will be announced on September 15, 2003. “We have repeatedly rejected the offer as inadequate and notified both the Carriers’ negotiators and the National Mediation Board that IAM members would never accept such a proposal,” said IAM District 19 President Robert Reynolds. “However, the membership has both a right and an obligation to vote on the proposal.” The Carriers’ proposal mirrors a recent arbitrator-imposed contract between the NCCC and the Transportation Communications Union (TCU).
“The Machinists Union
is committed to taking all steps necessary to ensure our members receive
an agreement worthy of their ratification,” said IAM General Vice
President Robert Roach, Jr. “A commitment to good-faith bargaining by the
Carriers is required to make that happen. Trying to force the product of
another Union’s arbitration on our membership is not the way to bring
these negotiations to closure.”
Organizing Wins in Nevada,
Pennsylvania & Ohio The IAM’s track record of improving wages, benefits and working conditions for workers at other Yulista facilities was key to the victory, explained GLR Joe Cooper, who said contract negotiations for the new IAM members will begin on August 25. Meanwhile, in a significant win for the union’s Federal Sector organizing efforts, IAM District 4 reports a gain of 71 new members at the Philadelphia Naval Public Works Center. Eastern Territory GVP Lynn Tucker extended congratulations to District Lodge 4 Business Representative Joe Flanders, the entire District 4 Staff, and Local Lodge S43 Stewards for their efforts.
Additionally, District
28 announced a first agreement with
increases in wages, holidays, 401K, and vacation for
newly organized workers at
Conduit Pipe Products, located in
West Jefferson, Ohio. The contract brings the total number of first
agreements for the Eastern Territory to 20 for the year.
Maine Rep Blasts Free
Trade In an address to the Greater Bangor Central Labor Council, Rep. Michael Michaud denounced current free trade policies, saying they have cost Mainers more than 24,000 jobs since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994. "NAFTA has been nothing but a disaster in this state," said Michaud. The attraction of low wages and minimal environmental regulations overseas are too good a deal for U.S. corporations to resist, explained Michaud, who recently introduced legislation to repeal the president’s Trade Promotion Authority and voted against the latest US-Singapore and US-Chile Free Trade Agreements.
“We all have a right to ask, what exactly
are we trading away in these agreements? Our jobs? Our rights? Our
economy?” asked Michaud. “It is time to make sure that American trade is
not just free, but fair.” Read Past iMail | Email Your Opinion | Visit www.goiam.org | Print Version | Sign-Up for iMail
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