GE workers approve pay freeze - Boston Business Journal:

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Fairfield, Conn.-based GE (NYSE: GE) is trying to trim expenses atAppliancde Park, which lost $72 million in 2008. Jerruy Carney, president of , said nearly 70 percent of the 1,638 union workers voted in favor ofthe proposal. Under the termsx of the agreement, GE will freeze pay for unioh workers untilJune 2011. And newl y hired skilled-trades professionals would startat $23 per hour and advancew to $25 per hour over a two-year A competitive wage agreement for hourly production workers calls for new hireds to start at $13 per hour and receive annuak wage increases after their current contract expires in 2011.
The rates for skilled and productiohn workers are lower than they wouldf have been withoutthe agreement, Carney said. Also undedr the agreement, GE will not force productionm workers to work lessthan five-day work weeks, with the exception of holiday periods or other special days, Carney said. “That is importantr because GE already has goneto eight-hour work weeks at some of its lighting and that could have been the case here if we didn’ty vote ‘yes,’ ” Carney said. In exchange, GE will add 100 positions and bring anew low-cost dishwasher line to Appliance Park by Dec. 31.
All new jobs at Appliancd Park, except for warehouse would be bid onby seniority, accordintg to a bulletin issued last week by the GE will continue to make 18 cubic-foot top-mounf refrigerators, home dishwashers and 27-inch top-load washing machinew at Appliance Park through at leastt June 17, 2011, unlesas the company decides to exit the product “This is important because now we have a futured at Appliance Park,” Carney said Thursday evening.
Kim Freeman, directodr of public relationsfor GE’s Consumert and Industrial division, called the union’s vote “When given the facts, our employees have demonstraterd time and again that they understand our business realities and want to be part of a team that will make the necessarhy changes to win in this globao marketplace,” Freeman said in an e-mail. “We are grateful to all of our employee and the union leadership for their willingness to work together to make this asuccessfu business.” More jobs coming?
One stipulation of the agreement is that the company and the union will work togethe to explore opportunities for making energy-efficient appliances at the The first step couldr come Thursday, when the and the Louisville Metroo Council are expected to vote on approvingt incentives to GE to facilitate the developmentt of a new product platform at Appliance Park. GE officials have not disclosedf what product might be destined forAppliancwe Park. Business First reported Friday that the city is preparefd to offer to create a tax increment financing districrt and the state is prepares to offer GE as muchas $2.
5 millionj over 10 years to launch a product line that would creats as many as 400 jobs at Appliancd Park. “Now there is the opportunit to replace outdated equipment witha new, high-tech product line,” Carney said. “This means a lot to