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Settlements at Lockheed - strike settlements at Lockheed Fort Worth Co

Lockheed Fort Worth Co. and its two major unions signed separate agreements for workers at the company's plant in Ft. Worth, TX. Lockheed had purchased the plant from General Dynamics in March 1993 and produces the F-16 fighter at the facility.

The company and the Office and Professional Employees Union signed a 3-year agreement for about 1,200 clerical and technical workers at the Ft. Worth plant.

The pact freezes wages, but it includes annual lump-sum payments: a $1,600 ratification bonus and an advance cost-of-living payment of $1,500 in the first year, a $1,100 cost-of-living payment in the second year, and lump-sum payments in the second and third years equal to 3 percent of an employee's gross earnings in the preceding 12 months.

The contract also grants unlimited sick leave accumulation, boosts the monthly pension rate from $29 to $34 per year of credited service, and adds $5,000 optional life insurance coverage. In addition, it increases recall rights for laid-off workers from 48 months to 60 months, and further restricts nonbargaining unit employees from performing bargaining unit work.

Two weeks later, negotiators for the company and District Lodge No. 776 of the Machinists reached agreement on a 39-month contract covering some 5,400 production and maintenance workers.

This settlement also calls for a wage freeze and various lump-sum payments: a $1,600 ratification bonus, a first year advance cost-of-living payment of $1,650, cash bonuses of $1,210 payable by Christmas 1994 and $1,220 payable by Christmas 1995, and a second-year cost-of-living payment of $950. In addition, the contract revises the cost-of-living adjustment formula, which, according to the parties, will generate quarterly payments equal to about one-third of those earned under the prior formula. At the expiration of the old contract, the average hourly rate was $17.44.

The settlement introduces several changes in pension and health coverage. It increases the monthly pension rate from $29 to $34 per year of credited service. The contract also enhances health care benefits by boosting maximum lifetime benefits to $1 million, adding coverage for routine physical examinations, and improving dental benefits. It also increases employee payments for family coverage from $312 to $1,040 in 1994 and up to $1,560 in 1995 under the fee-for-service plan, and from $312 to up to $832 in 1995 and up to $1,040 in 1996 under the health maintenance organization plan.

The contract enhances job security and retraining benefits. It allows laid-off workers to be retrained in job classifications different from their own. The contract institutes a voluntary layoff program that allows more senior employees to volunteer for layoffs set for less senior workers. It also extends laid-off employees' recall rights from 48 months to 60 months.