BOSTON (Reuters) - More than 17,000 union workers at General Electric Co., angry over higher health care costs, ended their two-day national strike just before midnight on Wednesday, setting the stage for a possible showdown this spring.þþ``The membership showed it was unified and willing to fight for affordable health care,'' said Lauren Asplen, a spokeswoman for the International Union of Electronic Workers-Communications Workers of America (IUE-CWA).þþThe IUE-CWA, GE's largest union, has not ruled out another national strike, but conceded such a move would be hampered if the United States waged war with Iraq, officials said on Wednesday.þþUnion leaders and members sounded pessimistic about averting another strike when contract negotiations begin in May.þþ``You never know how it's going to go, but certainly this is not a good start to the year,'' Asplen said on Wednesday. The union's contract expires on June 15.þþThe United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America this week joined the IUE-CWA in GE's first national strike since 1969.þþWhile the IUE-CWA would strive to reach a compromise on increased health care costs and other issues, Asplen said, another strike is not out of the question. But if such a strike happened amid a U.S. war with Iraq, the union would leave workers inside factories that make defense-related products such as fighter jet engines.þþ``We would never do anything to harm national security,'' Asplen said. ``We would certainly do what needs to be done.''þþOver the past three years, defense-related sales accounted for 2 percent to 3 percent of GE's annual revenue. GE has forecast total revenue of about $131 billion for 2002. þþGE COULD PUSH FOR TAFT-HARTLEYþþGE also could lobby the U.S. government to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act, which has the power to obtain an injunction against an actual or threatened strike believed to imperil national health or safety.þþPassed in 1947, the Taft-Hartley Act was presented as a way to balance power between labor and management after lobbyists for U.S. companies such as GE won support for reining in what they termed ``big labor.''þþAbout 17,500 GE union workers, or about 5 percent of the company's global work force, went on strike on Tuesday to protest increased co-payments that went into effect on Jan. 1.þþThe strike spread to 48 GE plants in 23 states that make everything from jet engines to kitchen appliances. GE's jet engines can be found in U.S. fighters and helicopters.þþGE says the strike will not affect customer commitments or hurt first-quarter earnings. But the job action put a national spotlight on the growing tensions between labor and management over who will pay escalating health care costs.þþAsplen called the strike ``an overwhelming'' public relations success not just for the union, but for other workers struggling with increased health-care costs.þþThe strike was marred, however, by the death of Michelle Rodgers, a single mother raising three daughters.þþRodgers was killed on Tuesday in the early hours of the strike when a police car hit her outside a GE appliance plant in Louisville, Kentucky. Police said she was wearing dark clothing in a dimly lit area near the picket line.þþGE spokesman Gary Sheffer said an average union employee pays $8.71 per week for family health care insurance coverage. GE pays about 80 percent of its workers' total health care costs.þþGE, based in Fairfield, Connecticut, said its average annual health care costs are expected to rise by $2,350 per worker this year, compared with 1999 levels. Its total health care costs surged to $1.4 billion last year, 45 percent more than in 1999. þþMany other U.S. companies want their employees to shoulder more of the financial burden of health care insurance, driven higher by increased demand for prescription drugs and high-tech medical equipment.þþPhil Kindler, a union worker who walked the picket line outside GE's jet engine plant in Lynn, Massachusetts, said he expects the company to take a hard-line stance when contract negotiations begin this spring.þþ``I believe we'll be striking in June because of those negotiations,'' said Kindler, a 24-year veteran of GE.þþHarry Katz, a labor relations professor at Cornell University, said there may be many discussions about what's right and what's fair for workers.þþ``In the end what matters is who has the power,'' Katz said. þþþ
Source: NY Times
