The 640 United Auto Workers members who staff General Electric Aerospace Plants in the Cincinnati area are on strike, said UAW President Shawn Fain.
“This strike is on the company,” Fain said on a late-night social media live stream at 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 27. Fain stood front and center, speaking into a microphone while flanked by 13 members of UAW Local 647, located in Evendale, Ohio, north of Cincinnati.
The strike announcement came 30 minutes before the workers’ contract was set to expire at midnight. The improvements sought by the UAW included more affordable health care, clearer job security and more time off.
Chief among union concerns has been the cost of health care. According to the UAW, GE offered the union a contract that would lead to a 36% increase in health care costs for employees.
Local 647 president Brian Strunk said in an Aug. 22 news release that boosting the cost of health insurance for his members “isn’t sustainable.”
The UAW charged that GE Aerospace — an imprint of the massive General Electric company that manufactures and distributes marine and industrial engines for commercial and national defense agencies, like the U.S. Navy — has more than enough cash to take care of its employees.
“(GE Aerospace) could cover all of your health care premiums for around $4 million,” Fain said at a rally this week, noting that the company charted $17 billion in net profits from 2022 to 2024, and boosted the pay of CEO Larry Culp Jr. by 985%, up to $89 million in 2024.
“Think about this: GE’s CEO, Larry Culp, makes more money than the Big Three CEOs combined,” Fain said, referencing the CEOs of Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Stellantis.
Communications representatives at GE promptly issued a statement following Fain’s live stream, saying they are disappointed in the conclusion of the bargaining period.
“We are proud of our last offer we tabled for our 640 UAW-represented employees and are disappointed the Detroit-based UAW leaders have decided to strike before our employees have an opportunity to vote,” the statement read. The UAW announced the strike 30 minutes before the contract was set to expire.
GE said in the statement that it has a “detailed contingency plan” for the strike, in which the company will be “deploying experienced and qualified GE Aerospace employees to ensure continued operations with the highest levels of safety and quality.”
Approximately 640 workers will be taking to the picket line at GE among the 9,000 people employed by the company in the Cincinnati and northern Kentucky region.
According to GE representatives, the last offer on the table during negotiations on Wednesday offered a 12% wage increase over three years (5%, 4% and 3% each year), job security guarantees for 620 members, over 80 new jobs at the two plants represented by Local 647, three cash payments totaling $2,500, increased sick pay for younger employees and three additional days of paid vacation for employees with less than 30 years of service.
According to GE, the offer would have added, on average, $29,000 in additional compensation for workers during the proposed three-year contract period.
GE said UAW leaders did not even have the members vote on this offer, instead choosing to strike.
While discussing the large profits brought in by the company, Fain said his members deserve better.
“If GE thinks that’s going to fly, they’re in for a wake-up call of bullhorns and picket lines,” he said.
Liam Rappleye covers Stellantis and the UAW for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him: LRappleye@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: UAW on strike: More than 640 GE Aerospace workers in Cincinnati take to picket line
Reporting by Liam Rappleye, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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