Mon, Sep 20, 2010
Resolution To Strike Only Received 49 Percent Of The Vote
A seven-year contract proposal
offered by Cessna Aircraft to the International Association of
Machinists in Wichita was ratified by default when a strike vote
failed on Saturday.
When the votes were counted, 49 percent of the membership of the
machinists union voted to strike against the company. Failure of
the strike vote means that the contract is automatically accepted.
That doesn't mean it's popular. The Wichita Eagle reports
that 58 percent voted to reject the contract, but as union
spokesman Steve Rooney told the paper after the vote was counted,
"a paycheck is a hard thing to give up."
The union leadership had strongly urged its membership to reject
the contract and go out on strike, which Bloomberg News
reports would have been the first strike at Cessna since 1976. The
union negotiators cited changes in the company's health care
benefits, which become the same as the benefits offered to the
company's non-union employees, as well as a four-year wage freeze
and only modest raises for some employees in the final three years
of the contract as reasons to reject it and strike. Union members
also expressed a great deal of concern about job security in
Wichita.
Cessna CEO Jack Pelton said in a statement released to the
Eagle that he felt the contract was fair given the
condition of the economy. “And while we are disappointed they
rejected the offer, we appreciate the membership’s
willingness to continue to put the customer first, knowing that
will lead to success for all,” he said.
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