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IUE-CWA Pacts End Strike at Visteon, Lockout at Alstom Signaling
Two new contracts have sent IUE-CWA members back to work at Visteon Corp. in Bedford, Ind., and at Alstom Signaling in Henrietta, N.Y.
At Visteon, Local 84907 members ratified a four-year pact in mid-June, ending a two-week strike. The contract provides job security for 700 workers and a $25,000 separation payment for up to 250 workers who voluntarily leave the company or face layoffs.
Members rejected Visteon's last contract offer May 28 and went on strike May 30 after the company removed equipment from the plant, announced it would cut 600 jobs and said it would seek a 30 percent cut in labor costs from remaining workers.
But IUE-CWA Automotive Conference Board Chairman Jim Clark and the local bargaining committee returned to the table, obtaining a pact that will preserve jobs for most, ease the transition to new employment or retirement for others, restore the machinery that had been removed and bring new work to the plant. The vote to ratify was 528-410.
"This is a pact for the future for our members and for the company," Clark said. "The company agreed to maintain the Bedford facility into the future, and the international believes this agreement puts them in a position to do so for many years."
The contract preserves a significant part of a 2004 cost-of-living allowance the company had wanted to cut from $1.09 an hour to just 5 cents an hour and yields a 3 percent overall wage increase at the beginning of the fourth year. Workers will continue to pay about 8 percent of their health care premiums, with increases over the term of the contract capped at 20 percent of what they now pay.
"The company had wanted retirees to pay 20 percent of their health care premiums," Clark said. Retirees will now pay the same portion of their premiums as those still working.
At Alstom Signaling, a dispute over outsourcing led to a two-week lockout for 130 Local 81323 members.
Members ratified a new three-year contract by a 3-1 margin June 7, largely because it guarantees no additional outsourcing for at least two years, said Joe Giffi, area director for IUE-CWA Region 3.
Throughout the lockout, Giffi said, "the membership held strong and sent clear messages to the company, winning a contract that all parties could buy into."
The contract also addresses members' desire to limit cross-training and movement of work within the plant. The company, near Rochester, N.Y., manufactures products for railroad and rapid transit applications.
Another determining factor in the ratification was that the workers will retain the same company-paid health care benefits they had under the old pact. The membership previously voted down two so-called "last and final" management offers, Giffi said.
At Visteon, Local 84907 members ratified a four-year pact in mid-June, ending a two-week strike. The contract provides job security for 700 workers and a $25,000 separation payment for up to 250 workers who voluntarily leave the company or face layoffs.
Members rejected Visteon's last contract offer May 28 and went on strike May 30 after the company removed equipment from the plant, announced it would cut 600 jobs and said it would seek a 30 percent cut in labor costs from remaining workers.
But IUE-CWA Automotive Conference Board Chairman Jim Clark and the local bargaining committee returned to the table, obtaining a pact that will preserve jobs for most, ease the transition to new employment or retirement for others, restore the machinery that had been removed and bring new work to the plant. The vote to ratify was 528-410.
"This is a pact for the future for our members and for the company," Clark said. "The company agreed to maintain the Bedford facility into the future, and the international believes this agreement puts them in a position to do so for many years."
The contract preserves a significant part of a 2004 cost-of-living allowance the company had wanted to cut from $1.09 an hour to just 5 cents an hour and yields a 3 percent overall wage increase at the beginning of the fourth year. Workers will continue to pay about 8 percent of their health care premiums, with increases over the term of the contract capped at 20 percent of what they now pay.
"The company had wanted retirees to pay 20 percent of their health care premiums," Clark said. Retirees will now pay the same portion of their premiums as those still working.
At Alstom Signaling, a dispute over outsourcing led to a two-week lockout for 130 Local 81323 members.
Members ratified a new three-year contract by a 3-1 margin June 7, largely because it guarantees no additional outsourcing for at least two years, said Joe Giffi, area director for IUE-CWA Region 3.
Throughout the lockout, Giffi said, "the membership held strong and sent clear messages to the company, winning a contract that all parties could buy into."
The contract also addresses members' desire to limit cross-training and movement of work within the plant. The company, near Rochester, N.Y., manufactures products for railroad and rapid transit applications.
Another determining factor in the ratification was that the workers will retain the same company-paid health care benefits they had under the old pact. The membership previously voted down two so-called "last and final" management offers, Giffi said.