In Solidarity with the workers of General Electric

The NTUI welcomes the coordinated effort of United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) and the International Union of Electronic Workers / Communications Workers of America (IUE-CWA) to win a new national contract that will respect and recognise your rights as workers. The NTUI recognises the efforts of UE to unite all workers in GE. The unity of workers is paramount for the success of our struggles.

The right to social security, including health care and pensions, were won by the trade union movement through historic struggles. Today as these are under attack, you are again to stand firm to protect your rights. It is the duty of a company to provide social security to all its workers, including to the newly employed. The NTUI condemns GE’s continuous shift of health care costs onto its workers, despite growing profits, and condemns GE’s treachery in adding hundreds of millions of dollars unduly taken from the pockets of its workers to its global profits, which reached $14.2 billion in 2010. Health care and pensions cannot be deductibles.

The NTUI congratulates the membership of the UE at its rally in Erie, Pennsylvania on 4 June 2011. We salute the workers who have consistently raised their voices for their rights and remember the 20,000 workers strong national picket-strike protest against health care co-payments in January 2003. The NTUI recognises that the UE has consistently championed equity of rights, pay and benefits are the workplace, which is an inalienable right in a civilised society.

The NTUI stands in solidarity with the UE and wishes every success in its negotiation with GE.