The workers, representing eight unions, gathered in the hall of International Union of Electrical Workers (IUE) Local 761, which represents more than 5,000 workers at the company's sprawling Appliance Park complex here. This was the first rally leading up to the June 25 expiration of the contract between GE and 14 unions that make up the Coordinated Bargaining Committee (CBC).

Workers at the rally explained that key issues in the negotiations are GE's continuing drive to downsize, and the paltry pensions retirees receive. While the bosses earned $10.7 billion in 1999, making it the first company in history to admit profits exceeding $10 billion in one year, there is no indication the company will reverse its massive job cuts of the last two decades.

In 1980, 285,000 people worked for the company in the United States. By 1998 that number had been almost halved, to 144,000. In 1982 the CBC represented about 140,000 workers, today that number has been slashed to barely 40,000. The Appliance City complex has seen 13,000 union jobs disappear.

While the pension fund produces massive profits for the employers, contributing $1 billion to the bosses' bottom line last year, workers retire at poverty levels. After working 30 to 40 years, the average pension for a union member is only $8,400 a year.

Patte Dillen, a member of UE Local 506, which filled two buses for the trip from Erie, Pennsylvania, explained that the demand for early retirement has to be combined with the hiring and training of new workers. "The person with the lowest service in our plant is 10 years," she said. Workers at the Erie complex have seen 6,000 jobs disappear.

Five more rallies are scheduled. The IUE is holding events in Salem, Virginia, April 29, and in Ravenna, Ohio, May 7. International Association of Machinists Local 912 is hosting a rally in Cincinnati May 20 and the UE is organizing a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, June 3. The CBC is planning a Contract 2000 Rally June 10 in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.

John Sarge is a member of United Auto Workers Local 900.  
 
 
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