Erie Times-News (Pennsylvania), June 17, 2007, Sunday

Copyright 2007 Erie Times-News

Erie Times-News (Pennsylvania)

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News

June 17, 2007 Sunday

SECTION: STATE AND REGIONAL NEWS

HEADLINE: As GE walkout looms, local management upbeat

BYLINE: Jim Martin, Erie Times-News, Pa.

BODY:

Jun. 17--The clock is ticking to the final hours of a four-year labor agreement between General Electric Co. and thousands of its employees.

But even with that contract set to expire at midnight, management of Erie-based GE Transportation was hopeful Friday that a tentative contract will be reached by the deadline.

"We are optimistic that they will reach a tentative agreement," Patrick Jarvis, spokesman for the company's transportation division, said Friday.

Provided an agreement is reached, Jarvis said, past practices suggest that the proposed agreement would be brought to a vote at individual union locals around the country sometime during the next couple weeks.

If no contract is reached, a stoppage would be among the options available to the union.

Management, which expressed frustration when workers walked off the job for four hours on May 30, is clearly hoping that doesn't happen again.

"We are always prepared for whatever scenario occurs," Jarvis said. "But we always remain optimistic that the people involved in the negotiations can come to a tentative agreement."

Members of UE Local 506, the main union at the Lawrence Park plant, aren't the only workers who will be watching contract negotiations carefully. As it has in the past, the company is negotiating collectively with 11 unions representing more than 20,000 employees nationwide.

Working together has worked well for the unions in the past, according to a report by Reuters news service.

"They are multi-union negotiations with a diversity of unions that people would think would be unlikely to work together," said Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University. "They have run comprehensive campaigns for the last several contracts and done a good job of mobilizing members and working together," Bronfenbrenner said in the Reuters report.

Frank Fusco, president of UE Local 506, couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

Some of the issues of concern to the union were clear, however, at a June 2 rally at Tullio Arena attended by an estimated 2,500 people. Signs and some of the conversation that day focused on the issue of health care and medical co-payments.

Despite concerns from both sides, the negotiation process, under way for several weeks now in New York City, has produced little news.

"There is usually a certain amount of respect (for) the process," Jarvis said. "You don't typically hear much out of negotiations."

Locally, union and management have been clear in their agreement on one issue. Times at GE Transportation are good and they're anxious for that to continue.

Jarvis said the company is on track for another record year.

To see more of the Erie Times-News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.GoErie.com. Copyright (c) 2007, Erie Times-News, Pa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.