The starting wage at the plant is $9.79; it takes five years to reach top pay, which is currently $12.39. Under the proposed contract wages would increase by 13 percent. The contract, however, also proposes a 35 percent increase in employee contributions toward family health-care coverage the first year and no cap on any cost increase for medical coverage for the remainder of the contract.

Workers on the picket line are concerned that by the end of the contract their medical costs will be higher than the pay increases. They think medical costs are being driven up because of repetitive motion injuries and the company policy that requires a doctor's note every time an employee is absent from work because of sickness.  
 
Speedup leads to injuries
Strikers explained that there are many workers on light duty who have been injured because of speed up. They say that productivity has doubled in the plant since 1986. Many workers are unhappy that the company is not sharing record profits made possible by the increase in productivity.

In 1986 workers accepted a three-year wage freeze and gave up four holidays, including Christmas and New Years Day, according to Jim Kiser, business agent for IAM District 165. The company still refuses to give the holidays back.

The picket line around the plant is staffed 24 hours a day with 40 picketers a shift. The workforce includes a large layer of immigrant workers from Laos, Vietnam, and Mexico.

The plant is part of Electrolux Home Products North America, a 15-factory group within Electrolux AB of Stockholm, Sweden. The St. Cloud plant makes freezers for Sears and General Electric.  
 
 
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