IUE-CWA Presses GE Campaign

More than 1,500 IUE-CWA members, community supporters and union members from throughout the region jammed Philadelphia’s Elmwood Park Nov. 17 to protest plans by General Electric Co. to close a profitable power systems plant. In August, GE announced it would close the southwest Philadelphia plant, putting more than 200 employees out of work.

A caravan of buses which brought workers from 11 states to the rally circled the plant before heading to the rally site. There, the crowd heard IUE-CWA President Ed Fire blast GE for a total lack of responsibility to its employees and the communities in which it operates.

“GE, with its latest profit report hitting the $12 billion mark, does not accept that responsibility,” he said.

“This plant, in operation since 1924, made $14.3 million in profits last year, but that’s not enough for GE,” Fire noted. “The company would rather put loyal, hard-working IUE-CWA members on the streets. Half are not eligible for a plant-closing pension, most cannot afford to retire, and all will have a hard time finding jobs with comparable pay and benefits,” he said.

At the rally, union members also heard from CWA District 13 Vice President Vince Maisano, state and local AFL-CIO leaders, and local elected officials who pledged to continue the fight to keep the plant open.

At a news conference a day before the rally, Fire was joined by members of the City Council and other city representatives in releasing the results of an economic impact study of the plant’s closing. Lost tax revenue for the city of Philadelphia, a lower standard of living for working families and increased government expenditures are among the costs that will be borne by taxpayers and workers in the aftermath of GE’s shutdown of the plant, according to an analysis by the Center for Labor & Community Research, a nonprofit consulting group.

The city council endorsed a resolution supporting the workers in southwest Philadelphia and calling on GE “to reconsider its untimely plan to close the plant."

Among the report’s findings:

• The shutdown will cause 154 workers to directly lose their jobs, with another 210 workers thrown out of work because of the economic “ripple” effect of the lost power system plant jobs.
  
• Local, state and federal governments will lose $6.5 million, with almost half that amount directly affecting Philadelphia and Pennsylvania.
  
• The first year following the layoffs, workers’ pay will be 24.3 percent lower than the year before the plant closing. Two years after losing their jobs, workers will be earning just 52.1 percent of their former incomes.
  
• Total tax revenue will drop by $5.8 million, including taxes paid by workers, generated at affected businesses and on lost corporate profits.
  
• Dislocated workers also are at greater risk for increased medical complications, especially stress-related diseases, as well as other social concerns.
  

Meanwhile, GE’s disregard for workers’ rights around the globe was the focus of action by the International Metalworkers’ Federation meeting in Sydney.

The IMF overwhelmingly supported a call for the international trade union movement to meet the challenge of GE’s global strategy with a program that is “strong, determined, dedicated, committed and united.” The IMF represents 19 million workers in 174 unions in 90 countries.

In a presentation to the IMF’s World Congress, IUE-CWA’s Fire stressed that wherever GE operates, “whether in the United States, Europe, southeast Asia or Latin America, it resists workers’ rights to organize and to have trade union representation.”

The IMF is providing full support to efforts to set the recognition of international labor standards by companies such as GE as a condition for world trade, along with full support in all contract negotiations. “GE has a responsibility to be a world-class organization and honor the rights of its workers to organize” but it has failed to do so, the IMF said.