Catherwood LibraryILR School

On September 18th, GE announced that it would be closing its manufacturing plant in Fort Edward, New York that employed about 200 United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers union members. Since then, GE and the union have bargained through the 60-day window, but eventually the union?s final concessions were rejected. The union was willing to accept a 10% workforce reduction and work with the company toward $22 million in government financing. A GE spokesperson stated that the union and the company bargained in good faith for the full 60-day period, but were unable to reach an agreement which would achieve the same levels of cost savings that will be generated by moving the work to a non-union plant in Clearwater, Florida. The local union president, Scott Gates, said that the cost savings would mean his membership having their wages cut by over 50%, the company denied the union?s estimates but would not provide exact figures of their own.