Union Reaches Tentative Agreement for Market-Based Wage Agreement Update – Vote at April 25th Membership Meeting

201 Bargaining Committee and GE reach TA

 on MBW Agreement Updates

April 4th, 2023

On February 1st, 2023, the Local and the Company entered into MBW negotiations again. The Union once again opened up the negotiations requesting years off the progression, commitments on work, labor hours, and headcount, as well as front loads in the progression schedule for every classification so that we could get most of the money up front. The Union provided over 20 different proposals to the Company during negotiations, and this is where we ended up. The Committee went into these negotiations not really expecting much movement from the Company and for the Company to just run out the 60-day bargaining period as we just negotiated MBW back in September. However, this was not the case. As we’ve said before the MBW language states that the agreement cannot be modified unless mutually agreed upon by both the Company and the Union. This again means that again we didn't get everything that we wanted but neither did the Company. The Bargaining committee however is confident that this is the best agreement that could be reached with the Company at this time, and we will continue to chip away at MBW in future negotiations. 

The Bargaining Committee recommends a “Yes” vote to ratify this agreement.

Summary of Tentative Agreement

Wages:

Not more than 60 days after ratification the progression chart shall be changed as follows:

RPMO Consolidation of Auto Lathe and VTL:

Not more than 60 days after ratification RPMO VTL and Auto Lathe operators shall be combined and run Auto Lathes, VTL, and VTM for turning only. They will continue to be R/M19 on paper for upgrade and layoff and transfer but shall be paid at a special rate of R/M21. The Company wanted to combine these classifications plant wide because of the introduction of the new VTM machines plantwide that are capable of doing both milling and turning. We mitigated it down to this in RPMO only as this is where the current Company bottleneck is and also down to turning only. If or when the Company decides to introduce the milling capabilities on the VTMs, we will go back to the table to bargain again.

MBW Lead Hands on Progression:

Not more than 60 days after ratification MBW Lead Hands will be paid at $2.00/hour above their rate. The Company used to pay this out at $1.75/hour but was never truly negotiated and agreed upon and upon review we felt like the $2.00/hour was more in line with the R rate chart. 

Job Upgrade Cancellations Protection:

The Bargaining Committee and the Company agreed that in the case where the Company cancels a job after it is posted and a member accepts the position, the member shall be eligible for a failure to release payment starting at liability date.  This is different from the past. In the past if the Company canceled the job on the member after they had been held for a long period of time the employee would not only lose their upgrade but also lose their failure to release payment that would have been due to them. This fixes that so that now the member at least receives their liability payment for time held. 

New Classification Development Machinist R/M23:

The Company will create a new classification that will do development work. Operators upgrading into this position will maintain their position they are upgrading from and will maintain R/M23 pay. When there is no development work operators will remain in their home cell and when there is development work, they will be assigned as such. This will help cut down on IME and stop the impact on the production floor of having to choose between production and development.

Upgrading Eligibility Change:

Effective after ratification all employees shall not be permitted to upgrade until they have been in their current position for 6 months. This is a sunsetting agreement that ends unless mutually agreed upon after 4 years. The Bargaining Committee and Company agreed that due to the high turnover and constant moving of employees this window would give the Company a chance to correct itself and the problem they created with MBW. Currently people are upgrading every 90 days and by the time they are done training they are off to the next job only to have to train again never really getting the proper training and experience needed to perform the current job or skills needed for future higher rated jobs. This should also help with people being held for extremely long periods and help reduce the daisy chain back log in upgrade release dates. 

R/M23 Machinist Special Programs Minimum Qualifications Change: 

Effective after ratification employees upgrading to Machinist Special Programs will have to have experience running 2 machine types (external or internal). Again, this is a sunsetting agreement that ends in 2025 unless mutually agreed upon by the Company and the union.  This is again a chance for the Company to correct itself due to the high turnover and loss of experienced machinists. The Company again wanted more. They wanted 3 machine types and for the employee to have to pass a technical assessment test. We felt where we ended up was fair and gave the Company the ability to fix the problem it created with MBW.

Tool and Die Rate Change R27: 

Effective not more than 60 days after ratification Tool and Die operators rate shall be changed to R27. We took this opportunity to fix what we left out of the last MBW negotiations when we agreed to combine both the Tool and Die classifications with no rate increase. 

Vote This April 25th at the Monthly Membership Meeting:

Voting will be April 25th at the Monthly Membership Meeting at 12:30 and 3:30 PM. Members can also vote on Zoom. Scan the QR code below to register for the Zoom meeting.                                    

The 201 Bargaining Committee and Policy Board endorses this Tentative Agreement and recommends you 

Vote “Yes” to ratify these changes

↓ CLICK BELOW TO VIEW THE AGREEMENT ↓