GENERAL ELECTRIC 4-year pact includes raise of more than 11 percent

If union leaders approve, workers will be voting on the pact early next week.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- General Electric workers' wages would increase more than 11 percent over the next four years if members ratify a tentative agreement between the conglomerate and its two largest unions, a local labor leader said.
"We feel it's a good contract, fair and equitable considering the economy we're in," said Janet Bernard, a Youngstown native and president of Local 734 of the United Electrical Workers-Communication Workers of America.
Bernard is part of a 34-member committee negotiating a new international bargaining agreement for 24,200 GE workers in New York City.
Besides the pay increases, she said, the four-year pact includes a "minimal increase" in employees' health insurance contributions -- the company originally talked about making workers pay 30 percent of their health-care costs.
Major issue
The health-care issue was expected to be a major sticking point in the talks, which began May 19. Thousands of GE workers, including hundreds at the company's plants in Niles, Warren and Austintown, struck for two days in January to protest new increases in health-care copayments and to oppose future increases.
Ed Fire, IUE/CWA president, said in a prepared statement that the agreement would also substantially increase pensions.
Janice Fraser, a GE spokeswoman based in Cleveland, said bargaining committees for the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America and the IUE/CWA will vote today and Wednesday on whether to send the tentative pact to their memberships for a vote.
She said more details on the proposed agreement will likely be released after that.
Voting
If the committees approve, ratification votes will be scheduled. Some voting may occur Saturday, Fraser said, but most workers around the country will likely vote Monday and Tuesday next week.
William J. Conaty, GE senior vice president for human resources, said the agreement strikes a balance that benefits workers as well as the company.
"GE jobs are good jobs and these four-year contracts will make them even better," he said. "The agreements provide good wages, pensions and benefits to GE workers while allowing our businesses to compete in tough markets. & quot;
The agreement was reached Sunday, a few hours before the contracts' midnight expiration. GE has said it has a 30-year track record of reaching union contract agreements without a strike.
GE employs about 600 in the Mahoning Valley: 260 at the Ohio Lamp Plant in Warren and 115 at GE's Austintown plant, all represented by IUE/CWA; and 220 at the Niles GE plant who are represented by UEW.
vinarsky@vindy.com