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Report by John Crowdis 3-3-08

And again, your Union is proud to announce that our members employed at Lockheed Martin sites recently completing negotiations for the site locations of Palmdale, Sunnyvale, Santa Cruz, Vandenberg AFB California, along with those at Marietta Georgia, Cape Canaveral Florida, Meridian Mississippi and Clarksburg West Virginia that our members have ratified their new agreements. This marks the first time in almost two decades that there has been a ratification of the three major agreements on the first vote. Congratulations to all site negotiating committees and all of the support staff on a job well done!

The ratification totals are as follows:

Marietta GA (incl. Clarksburg WV & Meridian MS) ----------------------–--------> 88.0%
Sunnyvale CA (incl. Santa Cruz & VAFB CA and Cape Canaveral FL) ----> 68.4%
Palmdale CA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> 78.3%

The majority has spoken at each site and chose to ratify the new agreements. Now is the time for ALL members at our sites to work together at making this new collective bargaining agreement OUR contract! While a few may have some personal misgivings of their new agreement, these agreements have achieved some new milestones never reached before. This is the largest raise in retirement we have ever achieved in our negotiations with Lockheed Martin. Not many other employers have agreed to almost DOUBLE their employees’ retirement plans in the last nine years ($40 to $77 multiplier). Most other employers have or are attempting to do away with the employees defined benefits plans! And let’s see how many other employers have conceded through negotiations to TWELVE consecutive years of guaranteed general wage increases totaling 39% in that time period. And while we are looking, let’s see how many employers have continued to even maintain healthcare plans much well keep the monthly premium cost for the employees at 13% of their chosen plan! Then there are the other bells and whistles; continuing increases to the Basic Benefits Plan, the 401K plans, COLA Supplements, job upgrades and so many other monetary gains. We should always look to make improvements in our Collective Bargaining Agreements, but we haven’t done too badly in our recent years! And finally keep in mind these new agreements represent over $115,000, 000.00 in new cost to the companies to cover the improvements won by your negotiating committees for a group of IAM members numbering less than 6000. That’s a pretty significant cost considering there are over 140,000 employees currently working for Lockheed Martin that all want a share of all those “profits” Lockheed Martin keeps ringing up. Let’s see if the other 134, 000 do as well! read more...

Negotiations Update Area Director John Fox 3-3-08

New 3-year Contract Ratified

On Sunday, March 2, 2008, International of Association of Machinists members of Sunnyvale, Santa Cruz, Palmdale, CA; and Marietta, Georgia local lodges representing over 5,000 Lockheed Martin employees voted to accept the Company’s Last, Best and Final Offer at all three locations. Here are the results:

Combined Total for Sunnyvale, Santa Cruz, Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Collective Bargaining Agreement 68% voted to accept

Sunnyvale, Local 2228 & Santa Cruz Local 2230 58.8% voted to accept

Cape Canaveral, FL – Local 1323 100% voted to accept

Vandenberg, CA – Local 2786 91% voted to accept

Marietta, GA – Local 709 88% voted to accept

Clarksburg, WV – Local 1027 90.1% voted to accept

Meridian, MS – Local 2368 93.6% voted to accept

Palmdale, CA – District 725 78.3% voted to accept

Ratification Bonus

A $2000 ratification bonus will be paid within twenty-one (21) days of ratification to each bargaining unit employee on the active payroll as of March 2, 2008, or on an approved leave of absence of less than one year, or on military leave. The entire payment may be deferred to the Hourly Savings Plan Plus (401K) upon completion of the appropriate form.

General Wage Increase

Within 15 working days of the ratification date, the base rate of each employee on the active payroll or approved leave of absence on such date shall be increased by four percent (4%).

Medical Plans

Any medical plan design changes as listed on the Company’s Last, Best and Final Proposal will take effect on January 1, 2009.

On behalf of your negotiating committee, we wish to thank everyone who voted.

Negotiations Update 2-28-08

Sunnyvale, Palmdale and Marietta Union Negotiating Committees Unanimously Recommend Ratification of Tentative Agreement.
The Union has negotiated a new three-year agreement that delivers the best wage pack-age and best pension ever in the history of our negotiations with Lockheed Martin, as well as substantial benefit improvements throughout the agreement. We also refused to give in to company attempts to end the pension for new employees and charge extra for employed spouses in our medical plans. The result of our efforts is an agreement that we unanimously recommend for membership ratification. The agreement will cover the period between March 2, 2008 and March 6, 2011.

The Last-Best-Final offer Summary.

The company last-best-final proposal.

new benefit , HMO plan, PPO plan

HMO active & under 65 retirees

PPO under 65 retirees

MERMO retiree medical plan

Dental plan

Vision 12 , EBS insurance plan

your local Negotiating Committee Oct 4, 2007

(l-r) John Fox, Dave Davis, Dennis Johnson (Vandenberg), Randy Nichols (Vandenberg), Dimas Resendez, Kim Hamilton-Alarcon, Mike Zercher (Santa Cruz), GLR Don Whitaker, David Chen