UTC Fuel Cells Workers
Accept New Contract
 

December 7, 2003  East Hartford, CT -- Machinists Union members working at UTC Fuel Cells in South Windsor, CT voted over-whelmingly today to accept a new three-year agreement with management.  With 95% of the hourly workers in attendance at today's contract ratification meeting despite the piles of unplowed snow, IAM members voted to accept by a margin of 127 to 21.

The contract includes wage increases of 3% this year, 3% in 2004 and 2.5% in 2005, while retaining a semi-annual Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA).  Workers will also receive a $500 bonus next week.

Pensions go up $2.00 per month per year of service, effective January 1, 2004, making the maximum $45 per month per year of service.  The company also maintains a Special Retirement Option, an enhanced retirement option offered in areas about to experience a layoff.  Added is a Voluntary Separation Program, to be offered between now and June, 2004 to workers who may opt to leave the company voluntarily in exchange for 1 week pay for each year of service, a $5,000 bonus and 6 months paid insurance.

UTC Fuel Cells workers gained new contract language which allows them to move with their work if it is relocated in Connecticut, including to another UTC operation represented by the IAM. 

Management also agreed to hear presentations from the IAM's High Performance Work Organization (HPWO) Department about that management-labor partnership program, and to discuss the feasibility of such a partnership at Fuel Cells.

The most difficult issue in negotiations, and the big drawback in the company's offer, is in the are of health insurance.  Management insisted on shifting more health care costs onto employees, raising premiums, the cost of medical services and prescription drugs.

Most repugnant is the stripping away of health insurance assistance for future retirees, beginning at the end of this agreement in December, 2006.  Right now management pays up to $7,500 a year towards a retiree's insurance premiums.

In making a recommendation to accept, the elected UTC FC Negotiating Committee had to consider many factors, including the gains made in the contract.  Fuel Cells is in a difficult situation at the moment, thanks to poor management decisions, which have left them without an immediately marketable fuel cell product.  Without work, a strike to turn back the health insurance take-aways would have been a risky gamble.  This is especially true after seeing our UAW sisters & brothers at Hamilton Sundstrand in Illinois endure a 10 week lockout over health care, only to end up with the same package UTC had on the table at UTC Fuel Cells.

IAM chief negotiator Jim Parent said, "We gave the membership all the information they needed to thoroughly evaluate the company's offer and make their own decision.  I believe that given the circumstances, they made a wise choice. "At the same time," Parent continued, "these negotiations show once again why we need a national solution to the issue of health care.  Even well-off employers like UTC say they can't afford to pay escalating costs.  Their answer -- to dump costs onto their employees -- is no solution.  We need national health care, and we need someone in the White House who will work to help make that happen, instead of ignoring the problem."