LYNN — A strike is not off the table if Lynn General Electric (GE) Aviation union workers are not able to reach an agreement to temporarily suspend wage caps for unionized employees, the union’s chief negotiator said.
Chief negotiator for the GE Lynn workers’ union Justin Richards said the union is negotiating with GE for a temporary suspension of wage caps to ensure that all Lynn GE workers could benefit from expected wage increases in the national union’s Spring 2023 contract.
GE uses top of market wage caps for its Lynn workers by using global wage data for comparable jobs and applying local Consumer Price Index (CPI) increases. Richards said that GE’s top of market rate cap could shortchange Lynn workers, offering a one-time lump sum payout that’s up to $10,000 less than what the workers would make over time through periodic wage increases.
In an interview Tuesday, Dec. 13, Richards said that GE factory workers in Lynn are navigating the same high-inflation economy that GE workers face across the country, and should qualify for the same pay increases that they do.
“The membership has been very loud about suspending the wage ceiling in order to obtain these wage increases,” Richards said. “Given the state of the economy, given the prices of everything, inflation, everybody has been losing wages. It’s not just us, it’s across the country.”
Union leaders met for negotiations with GE management Wednesday, Dec. 14. The day before their meeting, Richards said that the union did not, at that time, plan to strike or take any form of industrial action.
On Tuesday, Dec. 20, The Item asked Richards if the union had changed their previous position on whether or not to strike or take action — “Yes, that has changed,” he responded.
“The message coming from that meeting is that local management at GE does not feel that union members in Lynn are deserving of wage increases that are negotiated nationally,” Richards said.
Richards said that GE management, in negotiations, would not compromise on temporarily suspending the wage cap.
“It’s disheartening that local management does not support local production work as far as obtaining negotiated wage increases. Given that local production workers during the pandemic did not have the ability to work from home, we were required to show up in order to keep the doors open and keep this company profitable. We were deemed essential and required to show up to work every day while local managers were able to work remotely and safely from their homes, so this is disheartening,” Richards said.
GE Aviation did not respond to written requests for comment. Lynn’s GE Aviation factory could not be reached for comment.
