CONNECTICUT Contract talks set to start for GE, unions

A union official says he's not looking for a fight but is prepared for difficult talks.
STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Contract talks are scheduled to start today between General Electric Co. and its unions, four months after employees staged a national walkout to protest increased health care payments.
The negotiations cover about 24,400 GE employees who work at plants that make aircraft engines, appliances, locomotives, medical equipment, power turbines and other products. Major issues include health care costs, wages, job security and pensions.
Locally, GE's lighting division has about 600 hourly workers at plants in Warren, Niles and Austintown.
The three-year contract for workers from the largest unions expires June 15. Thousands walked off the job for two days in January to protest higher health care co-payments that took effect Jan. 1.
Unions' concerns
The unions, working through a coordinated bargaining committee, are worried the company will try to shift more health care costs onto employees in the new contract.
"I anticipate very difficult, contentious negotiations," said Edward Fire, head of the bargaining committee and president of the International Union of Electronic Workers/Communications Workers of America, one of the unions involved. "We're not going into these negotiations looking for a fight. It depends on whether the company is prepared to provoke another strike as they did in January."
GE officials would not comment on the likelihood of a strike, but said the company always plans for any contingency. The job action in January was the first national strike at GE since 1969, when workers were off the job for about 14 weeks.
"We're hopeful that we can reach a contract that continues to provide good wages and excellent benefits while protecting the ability of our businesses to compete in the markets," said Gary Sheffer, a GE spokesman. "At each negotiation as we approach them the rhetoric gets a little hot."
The talks, to be held in New York and around the country, are expected to be closely watched by other companies and employees experiencing rising health care costs. GE, based in Fairfield, is the nation's largest company by market capitalization and has 315,000 employees.
"The outcome of these discussions may very well prove to be a bellwether for all working Americans and their families," Fire said.
What will be included
Sheffer would not discuss what the company will propose, but said the contract talks will include extensive discussions about rising health care costs. GE pays more than 80 percent of employee health care costs, while the typical company in the United States pays about 70 percent, he said.
The average GE union worker makes about $23 per hour, GE and union officials said. Sheffer said the wages are about 40 percent more than the typical manufacturing employee in the United States.
"We will make a reasonable and fair wage offer that is reflective of the times and economic conditions," Sheffer said.
Employees also are worried about pensions and job security, saying many jobs have been shifted to countries where workers are paid much lower wages. The union is seeking improvements in the pension plan and a moratorium on plant closings during the contract.
Union officials point to GE's profits of $15.1 billion last year and the salaries paid to executives in arguing that the company can afford to improve the pension plan and not shift more health care costs onto employees. GE Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt made $15.4 million last year, or 314 times the annual salary of a union member, the union said.
"This is a company that is not hanging on by its fingernails," Fire said. "They take exceedingly good care of themselves."
GE is seeking a four-year contract, while the union wants a three-year deal.