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Wage Package Ends Strike at Long Island's Kerns
A tentative settlement improving wages and holding the line on employees' health care costs has ended a 10-day strike by IUE-CWA members at Kerns Manufacturing, a Long Island City, N.Y., aerospace industry parts supplier.
The 120 members of the Kerns unit of Local 81485 walked off the job Feb. 1. The union sought annual raises of $1 an hour to bring workers closer to the national average for aerospace employees.
The union won increases of 70 cents an hour in the first year of the four-year contract, with subsequent raises of 35 cents an hour each year for skilled workers and 30 cents an hour for unskilled workers. Health insurance payments for workers remain the same under the contract and the weekly payment for married employees, which was $6, has been reduced to $3. Workers ratified the contract and returned to work immediately, Local 81485 President Fred Myers said.
"The community worked very hard to get this agreement together," Myers said, quoted in Newsday. "The majority are happy."
Kerns is a privately owned company that has produced parts for engines for military and commercial planes for 47 years. Its workers come from 37 countries, Newsday reported.
The 120 members of the Kerns unit of Local 81485 walked off the job Feb. 1. The union sought annual raises of $1 an hour to bring workers closer to the national average for aerospace employees.
The union won increases of 70 cents an hour in the first year of the four-year contract, with subsequent raises of 35 cents an hour each year for skilled workers and 30 cents an hour for unskilled workers. Health insurance payments for workers remain the same under the contract and the weekly payment for married employees, which was $6, has been reduced to $3. Workers ratified the contract and returned to work immediately, Local 81485 President Fred Myers said.
"The community worked very hard to get this agreement together," Myers said, quoted in Newsday. "The majority are happy."
Kerns is a privately owned company that has produced parts for engines for military and commercial planes for 47 years. Its workers come from 37 countries, Newsday reported.