For First Time in 10 Years, GE Workers Vote in Union

[marmar]

from In These Times:



For First Time in 10 Years, GE Workers Vote in Union
By Mike Elk


If you scan the resumes of corporate executives on LinkedIn, you can identify who has attended General Electric’s union avoidance courses. GE's Union Avoidance Department, headed by Mark Guthrie, is known to be one of the most effective anti-labor departments in American. Unions almost never win elections at the company.

So it's surprising that a group of workers at GE Transportation in Kansas City, Mo., recently voted 44-41 to join IBEW Local 1464. It was the first time that a union had organized a GE bargaining unit in 10 years; the last was a small service shop in Florida containing a dozen workers. According to the IBEW, it was the first time anyone has organized a large-scale GE facility in 20 years.

The key to this success seems to be workers' perseverance. Despite three previous failed attempts in four years to organize the plant, workers strategically countered the talking points of GE’s anti-union campaign. In 2010, workers at the Kansas City plant attempted to organize a union with IBEW after seeing a worker die on the job in a horrific accident. But in a December 2010 election, pro-union workers lost by a mere 11 votes.

During the anti-union campaign of the 2010 election, GE promised workers that wages would increase significantly if they voted down the union. According to IBEW Local 1464 Lead Organizer Mike Knox, when the wage increase failed to happen as expected, many workers began to feel that the only way to improve wages was to unionize. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/12674/ge_workers_vote_in_union_for_first_time_in_ten_years/

[mikekohr]

1. I'd rec and kick this a bazillion times if I could.

[Starry Messenger]

2. k&r