GE workers end strike over increases in health costs
By Bruce Schreiner Associated Press Writer
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – General Electric Co. workers, who say the corporate giant has pushed them too far, manned picket lines Wednesday on the final day of their two-day strike over an increase in their out-of-pocket health care payments.
Braving bone-chilling temperatures, pickets here said the vigil also signaled their resolve if contract negotiations later this year turn sour.
“We’re letting GE know that we’ve had enough,” striking Louisville plant worker Dave Ehrler said. “They pushed too far and it’s time to start pushing back a little bit.”
The striking workers are members of the International Union of Electronic Workers/Communications Workers of America and the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America.
GE spokesman Gary Sheffer said the strike was affecting operations at plants, but that the company was meeting customers’ needs.
Sheffer said about 17,500 employees were involved in the two-day strike. Union officials put the number at about 20,000. The strike affects 48 locations in 23 states.
The company sought an order Tuesday in state Supreme Court to unblock the gates at a Power Systems factory in Schenectady, Power Systems spokeswoman Jan Smith said. “The union has a right to strike on this issue, but workers have a right to come to work,” she said.
Sheffer said orders were also being served on the union for two other Albany-area sites, the silicones factory in Waterford and the research center in Niskayuna. Those were the only sites nationally where the strike caused “serious access issues,” he said.
The cases won’t reach court until after the strike, but may set legal groundwork for the future, Sheffer said. GE plans to address the access issue with the National Labor Relations Board as well, he said.
“It’s just a warmup,” said striker Corkey Durocher, outside the main factory entrance in Schenectady just before 7 a.m. Wednesday.
“There is absolutely no need for a company that’s going to make $16 billion in profits this year to say we’re going to stick it to these active members and we’re going to stick it to retirees, and try to squeeze 30 million bucks out of all of us, and at the same time pay Jack Welch $8 million in pension benefits,” IUE president Edward Fire told cheering Schenectady strikers. Welch retired in 2001 as GE’s chairman and chief executive.
Smith said GE still pays 90 percent of the costs for employee health care, and the increased employee contributions are modest. The $30 million savings stands against a total health care cost increase of $300 million, she said.
“The fact that our former chairman is receiving pension benefits has nothing to do with rising health care costs,” Smith said. “That’s just standard rhetoric.”
Some workers said they would be back on picket lines later this year. Negotiations are scheduled to begin this spring for a new contract to replace one expiring in mid-June, said Randy Payton, president of IUE-CWA Local 761 in Louisville.
The strike was called to protest an increase in certain health care co-payments by workers. The increase took effect Jan. 1 for a range of services, including prescription drugs and hospital visits.
GE said it increased certain co-payments for employees participating in the GE Health Care Preferred plan by about $200 per employee in 2003.
The company said its average health care cost per employee is expected to be $2,350 higher in 2003 than in 1999. Since 1999, GE’s total health care costs have risen 45 percent, from $965 million to $1.4 billion in 2002, GE said.
Union officials said the copay increases will cost the average worker an additional $300 to $400 annually.
On Tuesday, in the early hours of the walkout, one striking worker died after being struck by a police car outside the Louisville plant.
Kjeston “Michelle” Rodgers, 40, died at the scene of multiple traumatic injuries, Deputy Coroner JoAnn Farmer said. Rodgers was a production employee at the plant since 1994.
A U.S. flag was lowered to half-staff outside the local union hall. Picketing workers wore black arm bands, and a floral cross was placed at the spot where Rodgers died.
Rodgers was carrying a picket sign as she walked in a dimly lit area at about 5 a.m., said Dwight Mitchell, a Louisville police spokesman. Authorities said the car was from the police department in nearby Hollow Creek.
The strike is the first national walkout at GE since 1969, when workers were off the job for about 14 weeks.
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On the Net:
http://www.ge.com
http://www.geworkersunited.org