District 751 volunteers manned an informational picket outside Cadence-Giddens’ Everett plants this week.
Managers at Cadence Aerospace-Giddens in Everett are illegally retaliating against their workers who voted earlier this year to form a union, IAM District 751 charges.
Among other things, the union alleges, Cadence-Giddens has illegally withheld 401(k) matches that were due to the workers, in retaliation for their vote to form the union. In addition, the union says, managers have refused to do employee evaluations that were necessary for the workers to receive raises, also in retaliation.
District 751 filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board alleging these and three other violations of U.S. labor law by Cadence-Giddens managers.
“Workers at Cadence-Giddens have a right under federal law to form a union, free from interference, coercion and restraint,” said Richard Jackson, the union’s lead negotiator. “All employers – including Cadence Aerospace management – need to accept this truth and know that these laws apply to them.”
The union represents about 225 hourly workers at two Cadence-Giddens plants in Everett. Talks on a new collective bargaining agreement began in July.
From the start, Cadence-Giddens management has engaged in activity that violates the workers’ rights, the union charged in its complaint to the NLRB.
The union alleges that:
“The millionaires who run Cadence Aerospace do not seem to realize they have a workforce that takes pride in their work and wants nothing more than to see the company succeed,” Jackson said. “Our members work hard at Giddens and are doing the work that makes the company profitable. It’s serious for them. It’s their livelihoods, and their families.”
The Cadence-Giddens workers produce precision-machined aerospace components, sub-assemblies and kits, and do sheet-metal forming. The Boeing Co. is a major customer for Cadence-Giddens, but parent company Cadence Aerospace also sells parts to Airbus, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Gruman and Fokker, along with providing parts to other aerospace suppliers.
The Everett plants have the reputation for being the most-profitable and productive parts of the entire Cadence operation, which has eight subsidiaries across the United States and Mexico, said IAM 751 President Jon Holden.
“Our members deserve a contract that recognizes and rewards them for all they do to make Cadence a profitable corporation,” Holden said. “We have 33,000 members at Boeing and other employers who are ready to help them achieve that.”
“These workers give their best, day in and day out, to make this company profitable,” said IAM Western Territory General Vice President Gary Allen. “They deserve a fair contract for their effort, and we will stop at nothing to make sure that happens.”
