GD Mission Systems Union Rejects Contract, Negotiations Continue
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Union negotiations will continue at General Dynamics Mission Systems after a proposal was rejected by workers earlier this month.
A couple of weeks ago, the IUE-CWA Local 81255 membership voted not to accept a package negotiated between IUE-CWA and General Dynamics representatives.
Business agent James Mole reported that it was due to wages and benefits and that a strong majority of the membership voted "no."
Members are hoping to go back into negotiations later this week, as the union's five-year contract expires on Aug. 27.
There is no strike planned.
"As long as we feel there is going to be communications with the company we can file an extension," Mole explained.
The union has been advocating for a package that members can be proud of and that they feel represents their work and dedication to a company as profitable as General Dynamics.
GD's Mission Systems manufactures defense and space communications hardware.
The union's main priority is to do away with the company's two-tier pay system that results in about a $10 hourly difference depending on when someone was hired. Of the union's roughly 150 members, about 100 are tier-two employees and feel they should earn a more competitive wage for the precision, high-impact work they perform.
The pay system was approved in 2014. A two-tier wage structure is defined as having a group of employees who perform the same type of job receive lower pay.
Union President Andrew Burdick feels that the workers were "duped" in the process.
"We were told that if you we didn't take this contract, 'You've got rocks in your head,'" he said during an informational picket in June.
"The people that were going to get second tier, they had no faces, we didn't know those people yet. Now we know them and a lot of us know each other's families and we're that close but when you've got somebody that's building what we build making that much less, there's some animosity."
Members have been picketing on Merrill Road near the workplace to inform the public of the goals for the upcoming contract. If things don't go well, they will continue to advocate for the union in this way.
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