Beech Aircraft accord - Developments in industrial relations

Monthly Labor Review, Nov, 1990 by Michael H. Cimini

Beech Aircraft accord Reflecting the improved financial condition of the company, Machinists District Lodge No. 70 and the Beech Aircraft Corp. signed a 3-year collective bargaining agreement providing for a 13.6-percent wage increase over the term of the contract. The pact covers 5,090 workers in plants in Wichita and Salina, KS. Wages and health insurance premiums were the major sticking points in the negotiations.

The accord calls for a 5-percent general wage increase in the first year, 4-percent raises in the second and third years, and a lump-sum payment in the first year equal to 4 percent of an employee's gross earnings in the preceding 12 months. (The average hourly wage rate was $12.50 under the prior contract.) The employees' monthly contributions for health care were maintained, set at $4 for single coverage and $12 for family coverage. (The company had proposed that employees pay 10 percent of the premiums.)

Other terms include a 22-percent increase in the company's pension contributions; increased pension benefits for employees retiring after August 5, 1990; and 100-percent (previously, 50 percent) payment for unused sick leave that accrued in the year.

The Beech contract was the first signed in the current round of bargaining between the Machinists and the three general aircraft manufacturing companies in the Wichita area. The union's contract with Cessna Aircraft Co., covering about 2,500 workers, expired October 7; and the contract with Learjet, covering some 1,000 workers, expired November 6.

"Developments in Industrial Relations" is prepared by Michael H. Cimini of the Division of Developments in Labor-Management Relations, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and is largely based on information from secondary sources.