Update #2, 6:00 PM:

By now we are sure most of you have read through the company’s first economic proposal. Now it’s real, LM Healthworks is the only Insurance plan offered and the company proposal does not provide a defined benefit pension plan for new hires. The company also stated that its first proposal was very close to what its final proposal was going to look like. If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to let Lockheed Martin know that if the company negotiators don’t get right at the table we are prepared to do whatever it takes to keep our quality Healthcare Plans and we intend to keep a defined benefit pension plan for new hires.

Update #1, 11:30 AM: This morning, Lockheed Martin Negotiators gave us their first Economic Proposal. Here are the four parts of those proposals:

First Proposal, Benefits Portion
First Proposal, Non-Benefits Portion
LM Healthworks Exhibit I, Active Employees
LM Healthworks Exhibit II, Under 65 (retired)

NOTICE: NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE MEETING FOR IAM776 MEMBERSHIP!

TUESDAY, APRIL 17TH. LL776C 7:00 AM, LL776B 2:00 PM, LL776A 4:15 PM

This morning the Fort Worth Star-Telegram printed a guest opinion piece by DBR Paul Black. Here is the link at the paper, and here is the letter from DBR Black. Go to the link and add your comments. We need to stand up and be heard as we seek a fair contract.

Black: Lockheed Martin Can't Afford to Cut Union Benefits

By Paul Black

Special to the Star-Telegram

Getting old is tough enough, but getting old without adequate means of support is a nightmare that is haunting more and more families across North Texas.

Executives at American Airlines are attempting to use the bankruptcy to strip workers' pensions. And at Lockheed Martin, company negotiators are demanding an end to the defined benefit pension plan for future employees represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

The current agreement expires April 22.

Pensions are not a gift from employer to employee. Pensions are part of a worker's overall compensation, negotiated in lieu of wages or other legitimate compensation.

While traditional defined benefit plans are under attack as costly and archaic, companies have no problem funding pensions for company executives, often for years of service never performed.

These selective assaults on employee pensions at American Airlines and Lockheed Martin aren't isolated instances; they are part of a nationwide corporate campaign to eliminate pensions for all workers.

Lockheed Martin says eliminating pensions for new hires "won't affect any current employees," but it's easy to see the long-term plan. Companies that cut off future employees from the pension plan can more easily negotiate to freeze the pension plans and then sell them off to insurance companies, which then provide individual employees with annuities. We have all heard of AIG, a company that went broke after purchasing many such plans, leaving employees with nothing.

I realize that many nonunion workers don't have any retirement plans at their workplace and that they have little sympathy for workers fighting to keep theirs. We believe that in the richest nation on Earth, every worker deserves a decent retirement. We don't believe that workers should be compensated less and less, year after year, while CEO pay goes through the roof. We don't believe for a moment the crocodile tears of corporate titans crying poor. Working families should stand together to protect the middle class, and that's what we stand and fight for -- a living wage, affordable healthcare and good pensions.

At the Fort Worth facility, we are on the cutting edge of the aviation industry, and our jobs require great skill and expertise. A company needs a good pay and benefit package to draw and retain a talented, committed workforce. These good, skilled jobs are the bedrock of the local economy and the tax base, as they provide the money to local businesses and to fund schools, police and firefighters, to make our community a good place to raise a family.

Such attacks on the workers hurt the company in the long run, but company negotiators simply look to cutting costs whenever possible. We believe that their short-sighted plans are detrimental to the health of the industry.

The Machinists union is taking a strong stand at Lockheed Martin to make sure our pension plan remains available for all workers, and for good, affordable healthcare. My teenage son is looking at what he wants to do for a career. He's interested in the aviation industry and thinking about following in my footsteps and building airplanes. I don't want to have to look him in the eye to tell him that my generation gave up the pension benefits that made these some of the best jobs in our nation.

Our membership at Lockheed Martin is serious about keeping good healthcare and a strong pension at Lockheed Martin Fort Worth. Let's hope that Lockheed Martin officials realize that the path they have chosen is wrong for their workforce, wrong for Fort Worth and wrong for America.

Paul Black is president/directing business representative for the Fort Worth-based District Lodge 776, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

IAM Opening Proposal Economics

IAM Opening Proposal Health Care

View past updates:

Negotiations Update 4/12
Negotiations Update 4/11
Negotiations Update 4/10
Negotiations Update 4/5
Negotiations Update 4/2
Negotiations Update 3/29

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