USW Members at BFGoodrich Ratify New Three- Year Contract

[Omaha Steve]

FULL story: http://www.uswa.org/uswa/program/content/3202.php



USW Members at BFGoodrich Ratify New Three- Year Contract

Pact Guarantees No Plant Closures; Strong Job Security Provisions; Quality Health Care for Active and Retirees

For Immediate Release August 7, 2006

(Pittsburgh, Penna.) -- The United Steelworkers (USW) announced today that a new master agreement covering 4,000 members with BFGoodrich's three plants in Fort Wayne, Ind., Tuscaloosa, Ala. and Opelika, Ala. has been ratified. Sixty-one percent of the membership voted to accept the tentative agreement that was reached on July 25.



"This contract protects wages for our existing employees, preserves Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) payments and maintains excellent health care benefits for both our active and retired members," said USW-BFGoodrich coordinator Larry Jackson. "We also negotiated a Buyout package for more than 400 workers that will provide our older members with additional options, while enhancing job security protections for the younger ones."



The contract guarantees no announced plant closures during the contract, a minimum of $100 million in capital investment expenditures to keep the facilities globally competitive, 100% protection of all technical maintenance jobs and a 90% guarantee for all others. A pension increase is also part of the package, with an improved pension multiplier of $57 per month -- up from $54 -- per year of service for retirements after July 23, 2006.



The USW's preservation of COLA -- a benefit that was gained 30 years ago -- played a large role in the ability of the union to protect retiree benefits. The active employees agreed to divert the first $1.00 of a COLA to a Retiree Trust that, combined with annual multi-million dollar cash infusions from the company, maintained very reasonable retiree premium contributions. The new contract kept in place health care coverage for active members without any monthly premiums.