IAM Members Vote to End Strike Against Lockheed Martin

Machinists Vote to End Strike at Lockheed

Members of District 776, voted by a 80% margin to accept the improved contract proposal from Lockheed Martin, ending the strike that started on April 23.

Key economic features of the four-year accord include an 11 percent increase in wages and a lump-sum bonus of $2,000, plus an up-front Cost-of-Living payment of $1,600. The new contract preserves and improves the existing defined benefit pension plan for current employees and improves on the 401(k) savings plan for future employees, adding an employer-paid benefit through the IAM National 401(k) Plan.

The new contract includes an Aetna Point-of-Service plan that was not offered in the previous proposal. Current and future IAM members at Lockheed can now choose a comprehensive health care plan with out-of network options, which are important for employees with family members going to school or living in other parts of the nation. The premiums have reasonable caps, also not in the previous offer.

“We improved on the previous offer,” said District 776 Directing Business Representative Paul Black. “Our members stood strong and sacrificed for a better future for the workers at Lockheed, and they are to be commended. We will continue to oppose companies that seek to cut health care and retirement benefits on the installment plan.”

District 776 represents more than 3,600 IAM members at Lockheed’s facilities in Pax River NAS, MD, Ft. Worth, TX and Edwards AFB, CA, and is among the largest industrial trade unions in North America, with nearly 700,000 active and retired members in the railroad, airline, aerospace, woodworking, shipbuilding and manufacturing sectors. For more information about the Machinists Union, visit www.goiam.org.