GE Aerospace and its United Auto Workers union employees at two plants in the Cincinnati region, at Evendale, Ohio, and Erlanger, Ken., have reached a new five-year labor agreement to end a three-week strike. The new contract is backdated several days to September 15, and runs through September 15, 2030.
As described by the UAW the agreement includes 3-5% wage increases through 2029 and nearly $3,500 per employee in cash payments, to offset rising healthcare costs.
It also provides “minimum workforce” guarantees, as a hedge against job cuts, and additional personal time allowances and vacation time, the UAW reported.
"With these contracts in place, we look forward to our UAW-represented employees returning to work and resuming normal operations, continuing to deliver for our customers, and driving our shared success," according to Christian Meisner, GE Aerospace’s chief human resources officer, in a company statement.
The strike by more than 600 workers began on August 28, after nearly a month of negotiating failed to produce an agreement.
“Core demands are around job security, health care costs, and time-off,” the UAW stated at the start of the walkout. “Throughout these negotiations, management has responded with either insulting counter-offers that would increase health care costs for workers by 40% over four years or by not offering any counters at all to good-faith proposals on the table.”
The strike began just two days after approximately 550 workers at the Evendale, Ohio, plant ratified a new five-year agreement negotiated by their union, the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
GE Aerospace operates more than 40 locations in the U.S., and more than 80 worldwide. The company manufactures turbofan, turbojet, turboprop, and turbofan engines installed in commercial, military, and business aircraft; industrial gas engines, and marine engines. It also produces a wide variety of component parts for those engines.
The Evendale plant manufactures commercial, military, and business jet engine components, including ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) for high-temperature engine components.
The other plant hit by the UAW is in Erlanger, Ken. It also manufactures aircraft engine parts and is a distribution center for GE Aerospace commercial hardware.
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Robert Brooks
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Robert Brooks has been a business-to-business reporter, writer, editor, and columnist for more than 20 years, specializing in the primary metal and basic manufacturing industries.