MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) -- Machinists at a suburban Atlanta Lockheed Martin Corp. plant, some with more than an hour left in their shifts, clocked out and left work as scheduled, commencing a strike early Tuesday, a union representative said.þþAt issue between the company and the roughly 2,800 members of the International Association of Machinists Local 709 are pay, health care premiums and retiree insurance benefits.þþ``The picketers left here about 11:45 to go to their gates, and they were instructed not to start picketing till 12:01,'' said union representative Terry Smith, speaking shortly after midnight from the union hall, about a mile from the plant.þþThe workers inside the plant were scheduled to get off at 12:15 or 1:15 a.m. EST, he said.þþSmith said Monday prospects for reconciling the differences between the machinists and management looked bleak.þþThe union, by a 2-1 margin, rejected on Feb. 27 a tentative contract that would have raised hourly pay 10 percent over three years and paid $1,500 signing bonuses. Smith said the union recommended members approve the contract. Lockheed workers typically earn about $25 an hour.þþHe said the members likely chose not to approve the contract because they are worried about the Bethesda, Md.-based company's request for higher health care premiums and the elimination of retiree medical benefits for people hired after the contract is imposed.þþWorkers at the plant in Marietta build F/A-22 Raptor fighters and C-130J transports, and both workers and company officials have become wary about possible cuts in U.S. defense spending.þþGeorgia lawmakers have been lobbying against proposed reductions in Pentagon spending on both aircraft.þþA top Air Force official told senators last month that the Pentagon was reconsidering cuts to the Georgia-made aircraft because of new information about the costs of such a reduction.þþLockheed Martin's Marietta plant employs about 7,800 workers, with 2,300 working on the F/A-22 Raptor program. The C-130J program employs about 2,000 workers.þþ
Source: NY Times
