IAM Urges GE to Bargain Fairly Over Closures

IAM members at two General Electric plants in Chicago, IL and Houston, TX are calling on the manufacturing monolith to reconsider the public and personal impact of proposals they make at the conclusion of a 60-day “decision bargaining” period that follows GE’s January 26 announcement that the two Apparatus Service Centers will close.

“General Electric has the means and the ability to provide a softer landing for these workers and their families who would be hard hit by the closures,” said IAM District 8 DBR Steve Jones. “The company that likes to be known for ‘bringing good things to life’ should not become known as the company that turns lives upside down.”

IAM representatives in both locations have identified costs savings designed to keep the facilities open, however, General Electric has instead decided to close the facilities.

“We’re open to reasonable proposals and we hope that GE will reconsider the loyalty and support they have received from these workers and these communities for decades,” said District 37 DBR Byron Williams. “Plant closings have a devastating effect on a community and it would be a sign of good corporate citizenship as well as good business for GE to approach this process with a degree of empathy.”

More than 200 workers will be displaced by the plant closings, with the work being shifted to other GE facilities.

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