HONEYWELL PUSHES UNION FOR NEW VOTE ON KCP CONTRACT PROPOSAL

By ExchangeMonitor

Kansas City Plant contractor Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies wants its striking production workers to vote again on the contract proposal it rejected a month ago, but a representative from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said that won’t happen as long as Honeywell refuses to change its offer. As the strike neared the one-month mark, Honeywell made the appeal in a Nov. 8 ad in the Kansas City Star, suggesting that “an increasing number of employees have told us that they want to reconsider” the company’s “last, best and final contract offer … that is very fair and raises the pay of our existing union workers.” Steve Nickel, the Grand Lodge Representative for IAMAW Local 778, told NW&M Monitor that it is the union’s policy only to have its membership vote on contract offers that are different than previous proposals. “It’s already been voted down twice,” Nickel said, noting that the plant’s 860 production workers voted separately to reject the contract and to go on strike Oct. 9. “I think they’re just trying to put pressure on us.”

The contract that the union rejected included a 13.5 percent raise for existing employees over the life of the six-year contract but would cut starting wages for new employees, reduce healthcare benefits and cut back on union representation at the plant. Honeywell hasn’t budged from the proposal during negotiations over the course of the last month. Nickel expressed frustration with that negotiating strategy. The ad is “probably the best alternative for them,” he said. “They don’t want to negotiate. They want to put ads in the paper to scare and intimidate our members into re-voting rather than sitting down and negotiating like they should.”

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