March 17, 2014

KANSAS CITY PLANT WORKERS VOTE TO END STRIKE

By ExchangeMonitor

Production workers at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Kansas City Plant voted last night to end a six-week strike and ratify a contract proposal from plant contractor Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies. Close to 70 percent of voting members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 778 approved the proposal, which bore little difference from the contract union members rejected six weeks ago. With dozens of workers having already crossed the picket line and union leaders facing waning support for the strike, the ratified contract included an 11 percent wage increase over the six-year life of the contract—a 2.5 percent decrease from Honeywell’s initial proposal—as well as a two-tiered pay scale and elimination of retiree health benefits starting in 2017, two of the main issues that union officials had fought to keep out of the contract. Honeywell and union officials agreed to the contract Thursday after a session with a federal mediator, and begrudgingly recommended to union membership last night to ratify the deal. “A lot of people, they didn’t like it, but they thought it was time to go back to work,” Steve Nickel, the union’s Grand Lodge Representative, told NW&M Monitor after the vote last night.

The contract includes several small negotiating victories for the union, including a $7.50 increase to pension contributions from Honeywell, a 50 cent boost from the company’s initial proposal, and an increase in representation over the company’s offer; the deal provides for two union representatives on a grievance committee, up from one in the initial contract proposal. To compensate for the pension increase, the deal also includes a lump sum payment of $2,000 to workers in 2013 in lieu of a pay increase that year and an eight-hour reduction in absence time. Workers will otherwise receive a 1 percent pay increase in 2012 and 2.5 percent pay increases from 2014 to 2017. According to union officials, 488 workers voted to ratify the contract and 189 voted to reject it. The workers had been on strike since Oct. 9.

Workers will return to the plant in phases over the next three days for half-day orientation sessions and won’t begin work until Nov. 28. In a statement, Honeywell FM&T spokeswoman Linda Cook called the deal a “fair an equitable agreement that addresses the operating needs of our customer, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.” She added: “Honeywell FM&T welcomes its employees back to work and looks forward to working with the IAMAW Local 778 leadership to continue on its path toward a strong and successful future.”

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