Jim Clark Opening Statement

Opening Statement for 2011 GE National Negotiations
Jim Clark, IUE-CWA President, CBC Chairman

Good afternoon.

I welcome everyone to the opening of negotiations on the IUE-CWA national collective bargaining agreement with General Electric.

I want to particularly welcome our brothers and sisters from fellow CBC unions, and most prominently Greg Junemann, President of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers. I am also proud to have our CWA International President, Larry Cohen, joining us.

Collectively, all of our negotiators and members are stronger because of the collaboration, cooperation and partnership the CBC has built over four decades of coordinated bargaining.

We will need that strength more than ever in this set of negotiations. Much has changed since we last faced each other across the table in 2007. Our economy had its greatest setback since the 1930s, and even now the sputtering recovery is failing to produce the jobs America’s workers need. We still have great challenges in health care after those who profit most from the current system undercut key elements needed in federal reform efforts.

Indeed, there is much that goes on outside this room that impacts us – both positively and negatively. But at the end of the day, my years of negotiating experience at both local and national tables has taught me one thing: all we can control and thus all we can put on paper is what we as a union and you as a company can do ourselves.

It is true that the country is recovering from dire economic times. And it is true that GE –along with most companies large and small – suffered setbacks. But you are – by your own admission – well poised for strong growth as business continues to pick back up. You can’t boast to investors that your portfolio of companies and earnings outlook is the best it’s been in the last decade and then come to this table and cry poor.
The numbers tell the story: GE stock outperformed the S&P 500 last year and so far this year.

Much of that growth is in the industrial sectors where our members work. Jeff Immelt has refocused the company on manufacturing because though it may be cyclical it does not have the huge potential downside GE experienced in its financial and real estate businesses. So as our members drive your success, they expect to earn the wages and benefits they deserve for their efforts.

The fact is that over the last several years, union members are delivering more than just their hard work. Through the union’s high performance manufacturing program we have shown that union members have the skill and knowledge to lower costs not by cutting wage and benefit packages but by making a more efficient worksite and improved product.

In Appliance Park for example, hourly workers are standing side-by-side with engineers to redesign the new hybrid hot water heater. The input from our members has cut production time, made the product easier to repair, reduced use of costly materials and more. On the dishwasher line hourly workers cut the length of the line by more than 2/3rds to speed production and reduce equipment maintenance. They also developed innovative component delivery mechanisms to lower ergonomic stressors – reducing their own aches and pains, but also your health care costs.

At the Warren Lamp Plant, we cut one product’s changeover time in half, and improved the machine uptime and rejection rate on another bulb by 20 to 30 percent. Together, we are expanding these programs to other businesses, including energy and aircraft engines. The sky is the limit in the improvements we can realize together as the true value of union workers is appreciated.

Our members have good ideas. They have the practical knowledge that comes from the experience of working on the production floor. But they aren’t just making improvements to your business to impress anyone: they expect that productivity improvements will bring both job security and a sharing in the savings through wage and benefit improvements.

Jeff Immelt has already declared that the time to start reaping the benefits is upon us: he took his bonus after what was termed “a very strong year.” It is time for our members to get their reward as well. I say again, don’t cry poor to us.

But as you will hear, when we say rewards it is more than monetary. We don’t want just to retain jobs, we want to grow them. We all applaud Jeff’s positive statements on rebuilding the U.S. manufacturing base. And we all welcome the investments that we hope will eventually deliver the jobs that were announced so publicly in Louisville, Bucyrus and Schenectady. But we have one simple message: we need to see more.

We want new products. We want high-tech jobs. We want a future as the workers of a revitalized U.S. manufacturing base.

Our goal is not just to get our current members across the proverbial finish line to retirement. We want their kids and their grandkids to have the opportunity for a good life as well. President Obama tapped Jeff to head his Jobs Council because he believed Jeff has the leadership and vision to help rebuild America’s industrial sector. Well that should start at home – which means within GE. Deliver for us, and you will be delivering for America.

Speaking of future generations, we are not interested in selling them short by short-changing them on retirement security. We recognize competitive needs and have taken reasonable steps to ensure the viability of our plants. But this is a step too far … please take notice.

We also are not interested in impoverishing our members through your Health Catastrophe plan. I know Chairman Santamoor will delve deeply into this, but I would be remiss if I did not ensure that you knew there is complete unity on this subject.

Your new health care plan shifts costs. Big costs. Pure and simple. It does nothing – nothing – to improve the health of members or systemically reduce costs out of the system. The U.S. health care system is a mess. Providers have no incentives to improve health care outcomes. We as a society pay more than any other country and get less in return. It is a disgrace and an outrage.

But asking our members to shop around won’t change anything. It merely places on them a burden they do not have the ability to handle. They don’t have the access to information or the knowledge to decide on the best care. That is what doctors are for.

They don’t have the leverage to get lower prices. That is what big companies like GE can do.

The only thing they can do is shift more of their wages from paying for a home and food ….to paying for health care. They can do it – but they can’t afford to do it. Because they aren’t the ones who saw their incomes double, like Jeff Immelt’s did. They haven’t seen their stock price increase. They haven’t seen their revenues and profits go up. GE has.

We are more than willing to work with you in partnership to build a better health care system. But you weren’t trying to do that during the recent debate in Congress. Most of your focus appeared to be in how reform impacted GE’s bottom line … not in providing benefits but in reaping profits from your medical systems business.

Still, we have no problem in trying to create a health plan that delivers on the lofty goals you have laid out. It may surprise you to discover that we believe in those goals as well. But your current Health Catastrophe plan doesn’t meet them.

In closing, we have four weeks until the contract expiration. It seems like a long time, but we all know how quickly it will go by. We have big issues on the table. We have serious concerns over what the future holds.

We want a contract that is fair and just. We want to build on the promises of new technology and new jobs. We want to continue to improve productivity and products.

I know that our negotiating committee members are eager to roll up their sleeves and tackle those challenges. Today is ceremonial. Tomorrow the hard work begins.

Let’s get to it. Thank you all for your kind attention.