Statement from the Northrup Grummon workers UE Local 208:
“On Friday Sept. 12th, UE Local 208 ratified its first Union contract. The contract contains a 9% wage increase over three years, an increase in benefits and other protections. The vote to accept the agreement marked the end of the struggle for a first contract over the past few months. UE Local 208 members at USCIS would like to thank the Vermont Workers’ Center for all your support. You have been there for us every step of the way from forming our Union to winning our first contract. We know you will continue to support our struggle for justice at USCIS. We look forward to working with and giving our support to the Vermont Workers’ Center in the future.”
This is a great victory, here’s how one of our members, Damon Hall with the Ironworkers Local 7, put it in a letter published by the St. Albans Messenger this week:
Good that you stood up for your rights
9/22/2008
I would like to congratulate all the workers employed by Northrop-Grumman who did not give up the battle for their rights as workers! It can be a long hard road when you are trying to organize and negotiate a contract, especially when faced with a brutal anti-union campaign that scares workers with lies. You all have stood up and shown others here in VT that it can be achieved if you stick together and work as one. With wages going down and fuel skyrocketing the job world out there can be pretty gruesome. Workers that organize can negotiate their wages & benefits instead of being forced to accept what is fed to them. My hat goes off to all of you and I hope others out there realize that you have to work hard and fight for the things you believe in because it is not going to be handed to you. The benefits in end far out way the battles along the way. E PLURIBUS UNUM (out of many, one.)
Damon Hall
Swanton