About 600 members of IAM Local 470 in Lake Charles, LA ratified a new three-year deal with Axiall Corp., a chemical products company.
The new contract removed most of the two-tier wage system implemented in the 2009 contract.
“The contract includes a 3 percent general wage increase every year, and the employee health care costs are frozen at current rates for the first and second years of the deal,” said IAM District 161 Directing Business Representative Craig Martin. “We also improved both the defined benefit pension plan and the defined contribution 401(k) plan.”
One of the important aspects of the contract was a new “career path” clause, said Martin. “We removed some of the barriers so our members could move into higher paying jobs for a better quality of life,” he said.
“I’m proud of DBR Martin and his Local 470 Negotiating Team,” said IAM Southern Territory General Vice President Mark Blondin. “We always strive to find new and innovative ways to improve our industry-leading IAM contracts, and this is just another example.”
Meet some members of IAM District 161 in “The American Dream,” a video from the Machinists News Network.
