Contract talks between GE and workers begin today

Omaha Steve

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Sun May-20-07 07:02 PM
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Contract talks between GE and workers begin today

http://www.laborradio.org/node/5961

Contract talks between GE and workers begin today - 05/21/07

Lede: Contract talks between 13 unions and GE begin today in New York. WIN’s Doug Cunningham has more.

By Doug Cunningham

IUE-CWA’s Lauren Asplen says the GE talks will affect workers nationwide.

: “ GE does set a benchmark. So if they’re able to depress benefits and wages then every other company will say look, we’re not doing as well as GE, you need to come even lower. So it really does affect everybody because GE is one of those companies that people look to and then measure themselves against.”

Asplen says GE is highly profitable and workers there enjoy a defined benefits pension as opposed to a 401K. The 13 GE unions represent about 23,000 workers and are using a coordinated bargaining committee in negotiations. Asplen says GE typically applies the contract provisions won by the unions to about 100,000 U.S. workers. Main issues in the GE talks are job security, pensions and health care.

: “Job security is obviously a big issue for us. We’ve seen thousands of jobs lost over the last couple decades, so that’s number one on our platter and it was the number one response from the survey that we did of the membership.”

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