Union President Scott Slawson: “We offered to work under existing terms and conditions and the company said no.”þþMembers of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America — about 1,700 of them — remained on the picket line Wednesday outside the former GE Transportation plant in Lawrence Park Township, owned since Monday by Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp.þþAs the work stoppage continued into its second day, UE 506, which represents all but a handful of the plant’s union workers, was stressing to its members that the work stoppage should be called a lockout.þþ“We are serious about that,” said Scott Slawson, president of UE Local 506. “We offered to work under existing terms and conditions and the company said no. It’s a joint merger between General Electric and Wabtec. We view it as a clear successor.”þþIn short, the UE bases its claim of a lockout on Wabtec’s failure to agree on a 30-day extension of the former contract.þþFor the employees walking the picket lines, there’s an important distinction between striking and being locked out. Striking workers aren’t typically eligible for unemployment benefits. However, workers who are locked out by their employers are often eligible for benefits.þþA bulletin on the UE 506 website instructs employees: “Please file for unemployment today. This is a lockout.”þþAsked about the likelihood that benefits would be paid, Slawson said that he could make no promises.þþ“I am not a UC (unemployment compensation) expert,” he said. “It’s going to be an issue of what the state determines, how they view it and what their criteria are.”þþWabtec, which acquired a controlling interest in GE Transportation as part of an $11 billion deal, is just as insistent that no one has been locked out.þþ“The statements made by the UE that they have been locked out of the plant are simply untrue,” a Wabtec spokesman said in a statement. “We welcome the UE members back to work and back to the bargaining table as quickly as possible.”þþThe spokesman went on to say that production work continues at the Erie facility.þþ“Wabtec operations within the Erie plant continue as we fulfill our customer commitments,” the spokesman said. “Contingency plans have been implemented, and additional staff, as well as full-time employees, are hard at work to keep operations moving.”þþIt is the nature of the strike, however, that no interaction is simple. For the most part, each car of salaried employees arriving at the plant is greeted by striking workers.þþCars move slowly into the plant, and only after striking workers let them pass.þþThe Erie Bureau of Police has stationed officers at the Franklin Avenue entrance to the Wabtec plant to allow traffic in and out of the property, Erie police Captain Rick Lorah said.þþThe bureau had four officers working 4 hours of overtime, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., on Wednesday to relieve the first-shift officers who had been at the plant on Tuesday.þþThe Erie County Sheriff’s Office also has some deputies working on overtime to assist Erie police on Tuesday and Wednesday, Sheriff John Loomis said.þþ“Anything we can send to help out Lawrence Park and Erie police,” Loomis said.þþThe Lawrence Park Township Police Department is using officers working their regular shifts as well as officers working overtime, including two officers who were working overtime shifts on Wednesday morning, Police Chief John Morell said.þþThe township’s officers are doing patrols and are also stationed at the plant gate on Water Street, Morell said.þþSlawson said UE members are picketing the plant 24 hours a day.þþ“We are trying to be as respectful as we can,” he said. “We are trying to conduct a peaceful protest. So far, the company has not asked us to limit the scope of our protest.”þþLike the company, the union has strike-related contingencies of its own, Slawson said. He declined, however, to share details of any payments that would be made to striking workers.þþJames Grunke, CEO of the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership, used a prepared statement Wednesday to welcome Welcome Wabtec to the community.þþ“They’ll find this is a tremendous place to do business with hardworking people committed to seeing the community thrive,” he said.þþBut Grunke also offered words of caution that Erie might not be getting off on the right foot.þþ“I’m concerned that through the actions of the local union to strike, we’re not making a very good first impression, either to Wabtec or to other businesses interested in setting up roots here,” Grunke said in his statement.þþHe concluded: “I’m hopeful union members return to work quickly and urge the two parties to continue discussions to resolve this matter — our community is watching.”þþSlawson, however, said nothing to indicate the union would give ground on its key bargaining positions.þþWhile Slawson has said the union is unhappy with many of the conditions being imposed by Wabtec, a company official said the contract hinges on the company’s ability to be able to pay a lower wage to new employees and to schedule mandatory overtime when needed.þþSlawson has said that the union is open to discussions, but is determined to protect benefits bargained for over more than 80 years.þþ“There is a lot of resolve with the membership,” he said. “We are not just fighting for ourselves. We are fighting for future generations. It’s time that people take a stand to say enough is enough. They go to school, they go to college and the best they can find is a $15-, $16- or $17-an-hour job. We are going to be a nation of broke people. Just because I live in a certain region should not determine my wage rate. If it was a struggling company we would be having an entirely different conversation.”
Source: www.goerie.com
