GE Reaches Labor Deal With Union Leaders
June 25 2019 - 10:21AM
Dow Jones News
By Thomas Gryta
General Electric Co. reached a tentative four-year agreement
with a group of unions late Monday after a few weeks of
negotiations, keeping a labor peace as the conglomerate
restructures its operations.
The agreement covers about 6,600 workers in 11 unions who work
in various GE industrial divisions, including a power turbine
factory in Schenectady, N.Y., and an aviation facility in Lynn,
Mass.
Union negotiators reached a handshake agreement with the company
a day after the previous contract expired. They will now seek the
approval of other union leaders and, in the coming weeks, hold a
ratification vote by union members.
In a notice to members, the unions said the agreement includes
"several general wage increases spread over four years and controls
employee health care costs." Additional details weren't immediately
available.
The labor deal comes as the sprawling conglomerate is selling
off pieces of itself. Four years ago, the same union talks covered
about 16,500 workers, but the company has since sold its
transportation division and its appliance division. It is in the
process of separating its oil and gas business and a major portion
of its health-care division. The once-reliable quarterly GE stock
dividend is now a penny per share and GE has a new CEO in Larry
Culp, the first outsider in the role.
The company incorporated the recent challenges into its
negotiations with the union by pushing to cut health-care costs and
adjust benefits. The union, which was authorized by members to call
a strike, contended that workers had already made sacrifices for
the company and weren't responsible for its decline.
Write to Thomas Gryta at thomas.gryta@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 25, 2019 10:06 ET (14:06 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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