A New Strike in St Louis

The strike wont begin immediately, but it will be interesting to see how this affects the St Louis community, particularly Boeing, with whom GKN does a great deal of subcontracting work for and who recently laid off 4,500 employees in the Washington State area.

A strike in a recession is certainly a gamble, but just because times are bad doesn’t mean that workers should forfeit their right to collectively seek out better contracts.

Stay tuned. This could get interesting.

Machinists reject GKN contract
St. Louis Business Journal
1/12/2009

Machinists employed at GKN Aerospace in Hazelwood voted Sunday to reject the company’s latest contract offer and authorize a strike.

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On Monday, Thomas Pinski, a spokesman for International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 837, said, “The district told GKN of the decision of the membership this morning and is waiting to hear from the company.” The union district represents 936 local workers.

The union workers said they are fighting against a change in overtime formulas, for an increase in existing retirement benefits and for retiree medical plans for Machinists hired after January 2001, Pinski said.

GKN, which builds parts for Boeing, Lockheed Martin and other aerospace manufacturers, could renegotiate the contract, conduct a lock-out to keep workers out of the plant, or take no action, which would prompt the Machinists to strike.

The union rejected the latest contract offer by 608-243, according to the union’s Web site. Members authorized a strike with a vote of 630-207.

A request for comment from GKN was not immediately returned.
GKN Aerospace Aerostructures, the largest site of England-based GKN plc’s global Aerospace division, is based in Hazelwood in St. Louis County and was acquired from Boeing for $61 million in 2001.