Striking Caterpillar Workers Ratify Contract Offer

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/18/business/striking-caterpillar-workers-ratify-contract-offer.html?hp

Workers who have been striking at a Caterpillar hydraulic parts factory in Joliet, Ill., voted on Friday to ratify a proposed six-year contract that contained almost all the concessions that the company had demanded.

In ratifying the offer, the strikers went against the pleas made by leaders of their union local, who strongly opposed the deal. The contract had been negotiated by union leaders from the district level. The showdown was considered a test case in American labor relations, partly because Caterpillar was driving such a hard bargain when its business was thriving.

The strike by 780 members of the International Association of Machinists began on May 1 as many workers voiced anger that Caterpillar was demanding a six-year wage freeze for two-thirds of the factory’s workers — those hired before May 2005 — at a time when the company was reporting record profits.The deal the workers ratified contained far-reaching concessions, including a pension freeze for the more senior two-thirds of the workers and a steep increase in what the workers pay toward their health care insurance.

The striking workers faced a tough choice: accept a deal that many found less than satisfactory or continue a painful 15-week strike without any guarantees that ether they could get Caterpillar to sweeten its offer. About 105 of the workers had already crossed the picket line and returned to work.

The deal also called for a $3,100 ratification bonus, with union officials saying that the company agreed on Thursday to increase it from $1,000.