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World Unions Rally Around GE Action Plan
CWA President Morton Bahr joined leaders of the world’s trade unions in calling for an international code of conduct requiring General Electric Co. to respect workers’ rights wherever it does business.
Delegates from more than 20 countries gathered in Washington for the GE world council meeting of the International Metalworkers Federation on March 22-23. They discussed organizing and union recognition among GE workers in Malaysia, Brazil and the United Kingdom, reviewed pending contract negotiations for workers in the United States and adopted a GE Workers Plan of Action — a global union strategy to combat GE’s bid to take its corporate irresponsibility wherever it goes.
About 45 percent of GE’s workforce is employed outside the United States, and GE has predicted that by the end of this year, most of its employees will work in countries outside the United States.
The company’s global strategy has been not only to move jobs from the United States to Latin America, Europe, Asia and other areas, but to move from country to country anytime it finds the level of environmental, labor or other regulation to be undesirable.
At the meeting, CWA President Morton Bahr joined IMF leaders and top officers of the Coordinated Bargaining Committee unions, which represent workers at GE.
“The outcome of GE bargaining in the U.S. this year doesn’t just matter to the 40,000 union members who will be fighting for a fair and just contract. All workers who see their jobs affected by globalization and who worry that their opportunities are disappearing should closely follow our progress,” Bahr told delegates. There may be other executives who admire the management philosophy of GE’s top executive Jack Welch, Bahr said, adding, “we all need to be concerned that GE’s mean-spirited style of labor relations can spread to other companies in other industries around the world.”
On the issue of pension fairness, Bahr contrasted GE’s tactic of refusing to increase pensions while posting $1.1 billion in interest earned from the pension fund to its bottom line with the actions of such companies as Bell Atlantic. Through dialogue with CWA, Bell Atlantic retirees will receive lump sum payments averaging $7,000, with some payments up to $20,000, Bahr said. “GE management sees the pension fund as a profit center for shareholders, not a promise or reward to retirees for their past service,” he added.
Bahr pledged CWA’s support not only for the current round of negotiations, but in building the international labor solidarity necessary to “hold GE management accountable for its role in declining living standards and undermining human rights around the world.”
Ed Fire, president of the Electronic Workers, which represents some 17,000 workers at GE, was joined at a news conference by IMF officials and other CBC presidents.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney reiterated the labor movement’s full support for the CBC and the GE workers’ fight, and called on GE unions worldwide to continue their efforts to gain support for organizing and recognition campaigns in countries of all levels of economic development and to fight for internationally recognized labor standards in all countries in which GE operates.
“All workers who see their jobs affected by globalization and who worry that their
opportunities are disappearing should closely follow our progress.”
— Pres. Morton Bahr
Delegates from more than 20 countries gathered in Washington for the GE world council meeting of the International Metalworkers Federation on March 22-23. They discussed organizing and union recognition among GE workers in Malaysia, Brazil and the United Kingdom, reviewed pending contract negotiations for workers in the United States and adopted a GE Workers Plan of Action — a global union strategy to combat GE’s bid to take its corporate irresponsibility wherever it goes.
About 45 percent of GE’s workforce is employed outside the United States, and GE has predicted that by the end of this year, most of its employees will work in countries outside the United States.
The company’s global strategy has been not only to move jobs from the United States to Latin America, Europe, Asia and other areas, but to move from country to country anytime it finds the level of environmental, labor or other regulation to be undesirable.
At the meeting, CWA President Morton Bahr joined IMF leaders and top officers of the Coordinated Bargaining Committee unions, which represent workers at GE.
“The outcome of GE bargaining in the U.S. this year doesn’t just matter to the 40,000 union members who will be fighting for a fair and just contract. All workers who see their jobs affected by globalization and who worry that their opportunities are disappearing should closely follow our progress,” Bahr told delegates. There may be other executives who admire the management philosophy of GE’s top executive Jack Welch, Bahr said, adding, “we all need to be concerned that GE’s mean-spirited style of labor relations can spread to other companies in other industries around the world.”
On the issue of pension fairness, Bahr contrasted GE’s tactic of refusing to increase pensions while posting $1.1 billion in interest earned from the pension fund to its bottom line with the actions of such companies as Bell Atlantic. Through dialogue with CWA, Bell Atlantic retirees will receive lump sum payments averaging $7,000, with some payments up to $20,000, Bahr said. “GE management sees the pension fund as a profit center for shareholders, not a promise or reward to retirees for their past service,” he added.
Bahr pledged CWA’s support not only for the current round of negotiations, but in building the international labor solidarity necessary to “hold GE management accountable for its role in declining living standards and undermining human rights around the world.”
Ed Fire, president of the Electronic Workers, which represents some 17,000 workers at GE, was joined at a news conference by IMF officials and other CBC presidents.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney reiterated the labor movement’s full support for the CBC and the GE workers’ fight, and called on GE unions worldwide to continue their efforts to gain support for organizing and recognition campaigns in countries of all levels of economic development and to fight for internationally recognized labor standards in all countries in which GE operates.
“All workers who see their jobs affected by globalization and who worry that their
opportunities are disappearing should closely follow our progress.”
— Pres. Morton Bahr