Eastern Railroad Discussion > GE Erie Union-Company pending agreement

Erie, PA media is reporting that union leadership and company
​reps have reached an agreement aimed toward saving 20 - 50
​non-production jobs (maintenance, stockroom, etc) out of about
​180 pending cutbacks. 

​Agreement includes elimination of a 10 minute paid break, going from
an 8 hour workday with 1/2 hour paid lunch to a 8 1/2 day with
​1/2 hour unpaid lunch, and giving union members more say in
​future productivity and shop floor changes (whatever that means.)

Union leadership is seeing this as an opportunity to save some
jobs, and an improved working relationship going forward. 

The approx 1600 union menbers will vote on this on Thursday.
It'll be interesting to see the results.

Giving up a paid lunch doesn't sound like a big deal . . . but then I've never has a Union job.

CPR_4000 Wrote:
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> Giving up a paid lunch doesn't sound like a big
> deal . . . but then I've never has a Union job.

32 years in the workforce, nobody ever paid me to eat.

Offering the membership a stronger voice in plant operations sounds like a good idea.

Posted from Android

junctiontower Wrote:
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> CPR_4000 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Giving up a paid lunch doesn't sound like a big
> > deal . . . but then I've never has a Union job.
>
> 32 years in the workforce, nobody ever paid me to
> eat.

Me neither, and my last 23 years have been under a union contract.

The "improved working relationship" may turn out to be important, as well.  One oft-mentioned criticism of the Erie work force is the frequent use of wildcat walk outs to protest unexpected or unwelcome changes in work rules.  The United Electrical Workers  are a powerful union committed to the contract.

In its own description, the UE mentions walkouts to protest unfair treatment of workers, failure of management to honor the spirit and letter of the contract,etc. The term walkout repeats several times in the union's webpage.  (I like the idea of the spirit of the contract.  It's something the nitpicking railroads would do well to consider. Here's the result we want, here's what we expect you to do, and we appreciate your agreement. Now let's do it.)


Erie GE, young worker militancy in the 1970s

The union vote was to agree to the concessions.  The vote
numbers were not released.  Immediate effect, in addition to
​the contract changes (loss of paid break & lunch time now unpaid),
will be the saving of 22 jobs.  That number saved could go as high
as 50 in 2017.