Approximately 320 IAM Local 2069 members are on strike against Schneider Electric in Peru, IN. The workers hit the streets at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2014.
IAM members voted to reject the company’s final offer, which would have taken away a long-standing defined benefit pension plan. The rejected proposal had minimal wage increases to both tiers of the company’s wage scale and included only minor adjustments to safety equipment and accident and sickness benefits.
Schneider Electric recorded a profit of over $2.4 billion in 2013.
“Schneider Electric is trying to bully our members into giving up their defined benefit pension plan and a respectable retirement,” said IAM Director of Collective Bargaining Tom O’Heron. “Their approach is like the neighborhood bully, you have something you’ve earned and worked hard to get and they want to take it through threats and intimidation. This company also believes they can offer minimal wage increases to all employees. This is unacceptable to the membership and fails to address a growing concern for the members who are on a two-tier wage schedule. This minimal wage increase drives the gap between the two tiers even further apart.”
Despite Schneider’s claims of continuing to work with the union to get a fair contract, the IAM maintains that the company has not made any attempts to return to negotiations.
“Schneider Electric has made no attempt to contact this union or return to the bargaining table,” said O’Heron. “Instead they’ve taken steps to move the work out of Indiana, which is a direct threat in our opinion.”
