Local 201 represents some 2,500 workers at the Riverworks aircraft engine plant in this town, north of Boston. The plant produces engines for military and commercial aircraft, including the Navy’s F/A-18 fighter jet. General Electric employs 26,000 workers at plants around the world. The Lynn factory is the third largest, behind plants in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Schenectady, New York.

A flyer issued by the union local states, “Our fight for pension protection, job security, and to keep our medical coverage intact has taken on national significance. We are facing many of the same attacks as workers at Verizon, OFS (Lucent), and state and municipal employees.” The union also calls for health care for all.Unionists here plan to rally at the plant at noon on June 7, then to drive through downtown Lynn in a car and bus caravan to a picnic at the nearby waterfront. Unionists and others throughout the area are invited to participate and show their solidarity with the workers at GE.

Workers at this and several other GE plants carried out a four-day strike in November 2002 around the same issues. Some 17,500 GE workers struck for two days in February 2003. During the latter walkout one striker in Louisville, Kentucky, was killed when a police car struck her near the picket line.  
 
 
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