MARIETTA, Ga. – Union workers at LGE Community CU, the former Lockheed Georgia Government Employees CU, agreed to a new contract with the credit union and returned to work yesterday, ending a rare credit union strike.
“The strike is over and employees have returned back to work,” Andrea Shorr, a spokesman for the $820 million credit union, told the Credit Union Journal this morning.
Officials with the International Association of Machinists Local 709, which represents workers at Lockheed Corp., said the end of their three-week picket of the credit union’s seven locations came as several of the 28 strikers lost their jobs. Credit union officials confirmed that 17 of the striking workers returned to their jobs yesterday and that 11 of the strikers had been replaced during the work stoppage.
Shorr said the credit union is entitled to replace workers but emphasized that the 11 union employees replaced will be put on a priority list for reinstatement when new positions open up.
The union contract will cover about 80 of the credit union’s 191 employees.
The new contract will change the retirement plan for the unionized employees from that of the union’s pension plan to a 401(k) featuring employee and employer contributions and award merit-based raises of 2% to 6%, according to Shorr, who emphasized there was no discontinuation to member services during the strike. “During that time all of our branches remained open and there was no disruption of service,” she stated.
