Talks Resume as GE Lamp Plant Workers Rally
WARREN, Ohio – Representatives of labor and management at General Electric’s Ohio Lamp Plant spent much of Tuesday in contract talks as workers staged an afternoon rally rally in support of keeping the plant open.
The discussions at the plant followed Monday night’s rejection by members IUE-CWA Local 722 of an agreement, backed by management and the union, intended to preserve operations at the plant by bringing in a new product line.
“We met this morning with the decision bargaining team in terms of identifying next possible steps, and that has still not been identified at this point,” said George Lopuchovsky, plant manager at the Ohio Lamp Plant. “They are still caucusing in one of our conference rooms and we’re still working through where we go from here. Until that point, there’s no final decision on the outcome of this. But that’s where we stand," he said Tuesday afternoon.
GE announced in January that it would close the Warren plant next year. Since then, the union and management negotiated the tentative agreement that was voted on Monday night, Lopuchovsky said.
Under the agreement, some of the existing product lines would be shifted to other plants and production of energy-efficient halogen bulbs would be added at the plant. Certain long-term employees would be offered early-retirement packages.
Lopuchovsky acknowledged the outcome of the vote was narrow. “There are people in different situations in our facility. I am fully aware of those different situations and not everybody got what they thought was beneficial for them,” he said.
While Lopuchovsky expected a close vote, “I will also tell you I’m obviously disappointed,” he added. The union bargaining team “worked very hard to put a package on the table and the company thought it was a good and fair package.”
Outside the plant, as workers filed out at the 3 p.m. shift change, union members and supporters cheered and carried signs in support of retaining the plant. Several workers interviewed supported the agreement that was rejected.
“There was not one dime of concessions asked of our retirees on pensions or anything else,” said Greg Gotti of Champion, a maintenance mechanic who has worked at Ohio lamp for 18 years. “Everyone that worked here all their life is guaranteed to get every dime they were ever promised here.” While some members had what he considered “justified” questions regarding the agreement, others’ responses were an “overreaction,” he said.
The agreement “had a lot of potential to take us into the future and that’s what we really needed. We need a product to survive and the new EEH bulb that they promised us could be a big seller into the future and take us into the 21st century,” remarked Barb Allen of Champion, secretary-treasurer and political representative of Local 722.
“Everybody has their own reasons,” she commented, with regard to why members voted down the proposal. “A lot of people wanted the early retirement package that came with the plant closing. A lot of us want to keep working and take care of our families.”
In a plant-closing scenario, under the special early retirement option employees age 55 through 59 with 25 or more years of pension qualification service would have the opportunity to take early retirement with full benefits instead of severance, according to documents provided by GE. Those benefits include full pension earned as of the plant closing date, an additional $20 per month for every year of pension benefit service, plus $400 per month paid to the age when an employee is eligible to begin receiving 80% of his or her Social Security benefit. Benefits for those retiring under this option are the same as those available to long-service employees who retire at age 60.
Additionally, employees not eligible for the early retirement option who are between 55 and 59 with 10 or more years of service, 60 or older with 10 to 24 years of service, and those under 50 who will have 30 years of service the year employment ends can elect this benefit, which provides an unreduced lifetime pension. Pension benefits under this option are the same as those available to long-service employees who retire at age 60 or under the special option.
The plant-closing package also contains medical/dental benefits, continued life insurance and other benefits including preferential placement and education/retraining assistance.
“The agreement was a good agreement, especially when it was to keep the doors open,” said Cheryl DeFoor of Warren, a 15-year employee at the plant. “Not everybody’s going to benefit from it but it wasn’t a bad thing, either.” She hoped that workers get another chance to vote on an agreement.
“I would like to see the company and the union come to an agreement that would convince the people that voted to close to trust us and give another chance and let us stay open,” Allen said.
Now that the union is outside of a 60-day window to present a new proposal, “we have to negotiate only on the proposal we’ve already submitted,” Gotti said. “We have to find a way to settle the issues. The main issue is allowing the people that want to retire to retire so that the younger people can remain here, bring jobs to the area. We could be poised to hire in this area that needs jobs so badly.”
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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