General Electric National Negotiations Opening Remarks. James D. Clark, President IUE-CWA, Chairman CBC

Transcription

1 General Electric National Negotiations Opening Remarks James D. Clark, President IUE-CWA, Chairman CBC May 21, 2007 Good afternoon and welcome to everyone as we gather here today to start national negotiations with General Electric. I am pleased by the strong union turnout and support, particularly from the negotiating committees and special guests from the CBC unions, as well as Bob Santamoor s IUE-CWA negotiating committee and CWA President Larry Cohen, from whom you will hear shortly. I want to extend a special welcome to the representatives from the IAM, led by Rich Michalski and Tom O Heron as they rejoin us at the national table for this round. As most of you know, this will be my first set of negotiations with General Electric. But these are not my first set of negotiations, not by a long shot. I started as a General Motors employee, making shocks and struts at the plant in Kettering, Ohio, in I worked my way up from second shift committeeman, or steward, to shop 1

2 chairman of Local 755, IUE-CWA s founding local. From there I was elected chairman of the Automotive Conference Board before being named and then elected as president of the IUE-CWA Division. I owe much to the members of IUE-CWA with entrusting with this important responsibility. As president I have faced plant closings, bankruptcies and difficult talks at locals large and small. Truth be told, there has been little good news over the past several years. But we, the IUE-CWA, have never diverted from our primary goal of delivering for our members by protecting and improving their jobs and benefits and delivering for our retirees by protecting and improving their pension and health benefits. I review my background just to let you know that not only will I bring a new perspective to these talks, but I also bring a historical perspective of what this Union stands for and what it is willing to fights for. The middle class and manufacturing jobs are under 2

3 attack in this country. We have lost more than three million US industrial jobs in the last decade and GE has contributed to that number as well! The loss of jobs isn t just a statistic. It is the lowering of our standard of living. It is the weakening of families. It is the loss of our communities and their tax base it is the erosion of the American dream that has made this country so great. I will not in anyway allow the outcome of these talks to add to further the destruction of this nation s middle class. I will not stand for it this bargaining committee will not stand for it.and most of all.our members will not stand for it! Of course, I am not the only new face at this table. You, Bill, are also new to the role you will play. Bob and Vinnie sit in new positions. Rich will be new to the small table. And we have first timers on our negotiating committees as well. This can all be good. I think that having fresh approaches is a benefit for all of us. 3

4 I would hope that instead of pulling out the same old play books and spouting the same old tired positions that we can instead focus on how everyone comes out a winner. Because we need to be new and innovative if we are to ensure a successful negotiations. There is no denying the impact of global competition. But in my experience those that survive and prosper aren t the corporations that drive down the wages and benefits of workers. No, the corporations who come out on top.recognize the value their workers bring to the process they respect their workers and work cooperatively with them. That s how you get high productivity and quality and that s what wins repeat business. In anticipation of these talks, I have been traveling the country visiting with different GE locals to observe first hand their operations. I thank all of the locals and. local management as well..for their hospitality. I must say, I am impressed. Not only by the vast variety of the products but also with the high skill level 4

5 these jobs require. Our members are experienced and talented. They earn their wages with their skill and dedication. And I hope that GE recognizes those efforts at this table. These are technical jobs. These are the type of manufacturing jobs that this country needs. And we need collectively to make sure that these jobs stay here. We also need to make sure that we lay the groundwork for new work by investing in our plants so that our members and the next generation have a future. We are not interested in watching our plants wind down by default because they don t have the technology and investment that will keep them competitive. And this includes all of our facilities, products and jobs. I know that we can devise new solutions to our problems by tapping into the knowledge that is sitting around this table. Another thing that impressed me as I visited the GE locals was how hard our local leaders have worked to make their facilities 5

6 competitive. From appliances to aircraft engine services, I heard how work was coming back into the plant, even from China. That demonstrates that American manufacturing is not dead. We can be competitive through ingenuity and hard work. But one area where we can t compete and shouldn t be asked to compete is wages and benefits. That s a non-starter a losing proposition for all concerned. The fact is that we can t match wages from third world countries, where workers have no rights not even human rights.and we shouldn t be asked to try. As I mentioned my background is in the automotive industry. That is an industry that has fallen on hard times. But despite the simplistic view found in the media and pushed by the corporations the fault does not lie with workers and retirees and their wage and benefit package. The industry s problems instead rest on poor management and poor strategy. In one facility, workers were laid off making $8 an hour. How much lower did they need to go? You look at transplant companies and they are 6

7 able to make a profit on decent wages and benefits. So no, the answer does not come through lowering workers income. GE is an internationally admired company. But I fear from press statements and employee communications that rather than continue to set the benchmark for good employee treatment, GE is tempted to try to lower the water mark. A one-size fits all approach to wages and benefits has not and will not work. Sure, we have had to make some tough decisions at some of the plants IUE-CWA represents. But those decisions are made to save a plant, to give our members an opportunity for a future. They were never made to fatten corporate profits. GE simply isn t in the same category as employers on the rocks. My experience is that when a company is doing well, it shares that wealth. And when a company has a downturn, you sometimes have to take unwelcome actions to save it. 7

8 But in the past, GE hasn t seemed to want to share that wealth, regardless of how well this company done--- and I ll leave the statistics to the researchers but year after year of record profits means.that you don t have to ask for workers to pay more for health care it means.that you don t have to leave retirees out there living on just a couple of hundred dollars a month it means that you don t have to stop providing early retirement opportunities. Our member s theme this year is GE: Greed at Work. And that is what we see. When we see a company crying poor despite paying the same percentage of its profits for health care as it did a decade ago, we call that Greed at Work. When we see a company refuse to increase pension benefits for current retirees for seven years despite a $16 billion overage in the pension fund, we call that Greed at Work. When we see a company refuse to offer job 8

9 security despite making a profit of $65,000 a year per employee, we call that Greed at Work. I could go on and on. This year I will not do as was done in the past and review your great financial performance in detail.i am sure over the next few weeks you will be trying to convince these bargainers that the $20.8 Billion after-tax dollars that GE enjoyed last year was not all that much..good luck.and I am sure the 16% raise that Jeff Immelt received was just to get competitive..good luck I am sure we will hear the $16 Billion over funded pension plan, that GE has not put a nickel into since 1987, can t handle new workers, early retirements or retiree increases.good luck And of course healthcare the 800 lb gorilla. yes this country needs reform and during these talks we will be laying out plans to support legislation to provide a US Universal plan in which every American will be covered we need you to join us in the National fight for change. 9

10 We will not allow the nation s problem in Healthcare to be laid at this bargaining committee s feet We will not allow it to be put on the backs of our members. I have full confidence in Chairman Santamoor and the entire team these are brilliant men and woman. But that s what the next couple of weeks are about. And it isn t me you need to hear from. It is the leaders of the workers in your plants. Because that was something else I saw as I visited all over the country. I saw and heard a determination from the leadership and their members that they want to be treated fairly they want to get the wages and benefits they deserve and they are willing to fight for them. There is solid unity behind this negotiating team. You don t have to believe me. Ask the supervisors in your plants. They will tell you. 10

11 This set of negotiations finds us at a crossroads, both as a union and as a country. We need to turn around manufacturing and it starts here with GE. We are more than willing to work with you. But we will not allow you to work against us. Let s commit ourselves today to making a new start on a stronger and better relationship to blazing a new path to a success that we all share in. That is the goal that I set for us today. We on this side will work as hard as we can to achieve it in these talks and I hope you will do the same. I look forward to the negotiations. And I thank everyone for their attention. Now, on to business. Thank you. 11