1,000 Machinists Expected to Strike at Solar Turbines
About 1,000 machinists are expected to strike at midnight today at Solar Turbines Inc.
John Webber, a spokesman for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Lodge 685, said that union leaders will ask the membership to reject a final offer from Solar when they vote on the contract today at 9:30 a.m. at the Al Bahr Shrine Temple.
The vote on the Solar contract is only one of a series of ballots that will be cast by machinists this weekend and later in the week on contracts offered by various employers.
On Saturday, machinists voted to strike at the Langley Corp., but another group of machinists is expected to approve a contract offer from Sundstrand Turbomach when they meet at 10:30 a.m. today.
IAM Lodge 389 voted to strike at Langley after rejecting the first contract negotiated for machinists there. As with the proposal submitted by negotiators for Solar, IAM officials urged the Langley workers to reject the company’s offer. About 180 machinists would be affected there.
However, union officials have urged another group of machinists from Lodge 685 to accept a proposal submitted by Sundstrand Turbomach when they meet at 10:30 a.m. today. Sundstrand employs about 165 machinists.
On Saturday, about 4,000 machinists at General Dynamics’ Convair Division will vote on a contract that is still being negotiated. The Convair machinists belong to Lodge 1125.
Pay, Security at Issue
The negotiations with Solar have stalled on pay differences, but union leaders say that the biggest disagreement with the company is over job security. A union official who requested anonymity said the union rejected “Solar’s attempts to gut seniority.” Solar proposed laying off workers according to job classification rather than the traditional method of seniority, he said.
The union has also rejected Solar’s proposal to pay workers a 4% lump sum bonus each year over a three-year period rather than giving general wage increases. The current three-year contract includes an annual 4% lump sum bonus.
Machinists at Solar complained that they have not had a raise since 1983 because of the bonus plan. Machinists earn an average of $12 an hour.
