July 9, 2016 – Members of District Lodge 776 voted today by a 75 percent margin to ratify a new agreement with Lockheed Martin. The contract covers about 2900 workers in Fort Worth, TX, Edwards AFB, CA and PAX River AFB, MD. The five-year, eight-month agreement delivered a $4,000 ratification bonus, $4,800 in COLA supplements and a 16 percent wage increase over the life of the deal.
“The improvements achieved in this agreement would simply not be possible in the absence of a determined membership, a mature collective bargaining agreement and strong local leadership,” said IAM International President Bob Martinez. “I applaud the work of District 776 President Paul Black and the district’s Bargaining Committee, as well as the guidance provided by Aerospace Coordinator Terry Smith and Southern Territory GVP Mark Blondin.”
“Our membership surveys told us that their most important issues were wages, health care choices and cost containment and retirement security,” said Aerospace Coordinator Terry Smith. “Our Committee believes we delivered on those issues.”
Current workers keep three choices of health care, with the same cot share as the previous contract. In retirement, the workers covered by the pension plan will see an increase of 11 percent from $90 to $100 per month per year of service. The contract also improves the 401(k) plan benefits for those workers not covered by the defined benefit plan.
“Being able to have a comfortable retirement is a huge issue in America, and a major objective for the IAM. We want to keep and improve our defined-benefit pensions where we can, and improve the 401(k) plans where we don’t,” said Southern Territory General Vice President Mark Blondin. “This contract was a big step forward on both fronts.”