GE union considering Lynn strike

LYNN – An ongoing dispute between General Electric’s aviation plant and its union workers about outsourcing has culminated in the union considering issuing a strike notice against GE, the first strike notice in at least five years, according to union officials.”[Union representatives] voted to unanimously recommend to the GE grievance board ? that we issue a strike notice to the company over grievances,” said Ric Casilli, the business agent of the International Union of Electrical Workers Local 201, which represents the Lynn’s GE plant.GE union workers have clashed with their managers repeatedly for the past year about what Casilli said is “excessive farming out of work.”Casilli said the outsourcing accelerated in 2012 after about 215 GE workers retired and the company replaced less than half of those positions with new hires.”If they don’t replace them, the managers in the building have to get the work done, so they increase the amount they send out of the plant,” he said.The clashes reached a head last week when a union leader was suspended without pay for two days after a Dec. 14 argument with his managers over farming out a job.Purportedly in protest to the suspension, about 250-400 union workers called in sick for their shift en masse Wednesday, Casilli said, citing reports from the union’s board members.”I got reports there were a lot of people going into work, punching out and then going home telling their supervisors they didn’t feel well,” he said.GE Spokesman Richard Gorham confirmed that many workers called in sick at once, saying Thursday “we are experiencing a higher than usual attendance issue over the past day.”The next day, Casilli held an emergency meeting with union representatives, who unanimously voted to threaten to go on strike if negotiations with GE fail over the farming out of work.Among their demands, according to Casilli, are more timely notifications of when work will be outsourced and more willingness from GE to talk about keeping work inside the plant.”We feel they need to do more hiring here,” Casili said. “We’re still down 100 people and the workload hasn’t changed.”Gorham, who declined to comment on the recent events because no official strike notice has been issued to GE, said, “GE continually evaluates all operations and make decisions that are best interest of our customers and our business.”The union board will take up the discussion Tuesday of whether to issue a strike notice. If the board passes it, then GE has 24 hours to respond and begin negotiations with the union. If those fail, the union could go on strike, Casilli said.Even though the possibility of a strike is slim, Casilli said the notice will send GE officials a message.”It shows this is a serious problem,” he said.Until then, Casilli said he is asking GE union members to continue working as normal.”We’re asking people to contain their emotions at this time,” he said.Amber Parcher can be reached at [email protected].