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Fenn Pact Ends Lockout
Production workers at Fenn Mfg. in Newington, Conn., on March 8 ratified a new four-year agreement, ending an eight-month strike and lockout at the parts-maker for Sikorsky helicopters and other defense contractors.
IUE-CWA District 3 President Sal Ingrassia praised the solidarity of Local 81266, which maintained a strong presence on the picket line since 116 workers went on strike in July 2002. The strike became a lockout in October 2002, when the company refused the union's offer to return to work while continuing to bargain.
Under terms of the agreement, up to 81 workers will return to their jobs on March 24. Fenn will eliminate 35 jobs due to new production methods. The agreement includes a severance package for any worker who chooses not to return or whose job is eliminated.
"Thanks are in order to the thousands of CWA members who expressed their outrage to the company during our national campaign," said IUE-CWA President Ed Fire.
The contract brings a total wage gain of 12 percent over term, with potential for an additional 10 percent per year through a work incentive program, and an increase from $30 to $37 in the pension multiplier, at the end of the four-year term.
While the Fenn workers achieved improvements in life and sickness and accident insurance, their share of health care premiums will increase from 10 percent to 17.5 percent over the life of the contract.
Workers who take a severance will receive from 10 weeks' to 50 weeks' pay, depending upon seniority, and will have their pension multiplier increased immediately by $6 to $36 per year of service.
During the strike and lockout, Fenn continued to operate by using replacement workers. Local President Ray Kotulski, on February 20, made an impassioned plea before the Connecticut General Assembly, seeking legislation to ban the use of replacement workers throughout the state.
"Workers in particular, and society in general, pay a huge price for the current one-way street in labor-management relations," Kotulski said. "To the extent that trade unionism is suppressed, wages will be lower, the safety net will be weakened, and the income gap in this country and in this state will be wider. Ultimately, the assault on unions is an assault on the economic well-being of working families."
The locked-out IUE-CWA members received support from the state's congressional delegation. U.S. Senators Christopher Dodd and Joseph Lieberman; U.S. Reps. Nancy Johnson, Christopher Shays, Rosa DeLauro, James Maloney, John Larson and Rob Simmons; State Senator Biagio Ciotto; State Rep. Sandy Nafis and Newington Mayor Thomas B. McBride all wrote to SPX Corp., Fenn's parent company, urging the resumption of negotiations.
The January CWA News featured a full-page article on the lockout, and together with the CWA website and other internal media sources, promoted a letter-writing campaign to the CEO of SPX and to the Secretary of the Army, challenging the quality and integrity of helicopter parts manufactured by the scab workers.
IUE-CWA District 3 President Sal Ingrassia praised the solidarity of Local 81266, which maintained a strong presence on the picket line since 116 workers went on strike in July 2002. The strike became a lockout in October 2002, when the company refused the union's offer to return to work while continuing to bargain.
Under terms of the agreement, up to 81 workers will return to their jobs on March 24. Fenn will eliminate 35 jobs due to new production methods. The agreement includes a severance package for any worker who chooses not to return or whose job is eliminated.
"Thanks are in order to the thousands of CWA members who expressed their outrage to the company during our national campaign," said IUE-CWA President Ed Fire.
The contract brings a total wage gain of 12 percent over term, with potential for an additional 10 percent per year through a work incentive program, and an increase from $30 to $37 in the pension multiplier, at the end of the four-year term.
While the Fenn workers achieved improvements in life and sickness and accident insurance, their share of health care premiums will increase from 10 percent to 17.5 percent over the life of the contract.
Workers who take a severance will receive from 10 weeks' to 50 weeks' pay, depending upon seniority, and will have their pension multiplier increased immediately by $6 to $36 per year of service.
During the strike and lockout, Fenn continued to operate by using replacement workers. Local President Ray Kotulski, on February 20, made an impassioned plea before the Connecticut General Assembly, seeking legislation to ban the use of replacement workers throughout the state.
"Workers in particular, and society in general, pay a huge price for the current one-way street in labor-management relations," Kotulski said. "To the extent that trade unionism is suppressed, wages will be lower, the safety net will be weakened, and the income gap in this country and in this state will be wider. Ultimately, the assault on unions is an assault on the economic well-being of working families."
The locked-out IUE-CWA members received support from the state's congressional delegation. U.S. Senators Christopher Dodd and Joseph Lieberman; U.S. Reps. Nancy Johnson, Christopher Shays, Rosa DeLauro, James Maloney, John Larson and Rob Simmons; State Senator Biagio Ciotto; State Rep. Sandy Nafis and Newington Mayor Thomas B. McBride all wrote to SPX Corp., Fenn's parent company, urging the resumption of negotiations.
The January CWA News featured a full-page article on the lockout, and together with the CWA website and other internal media sources, promoted a letter-writing campaign to the CEO of SPX and to the Secretary of the Army, challenging the quality and integrity of helicopter parts manufactured by the scab workers.