More than 3,000 Sikorsky employees in Connecticut have a new four-year contract that will provide a 10 percent wage increase and other benefits.
Members of Teamsters Local 1150, which has more than 4,000 members in Connecticut and Florida, voted 2,098 to 66 Sunday in favor of the agreement, the union announced.
Local President Harvey Jackson said this morning that the union and its members had been discussing the contract long before negotiations began in early December, and most members thought the offer that emerged from talks was a good deal.
“Our members are certainly aware of the financial climate out there, shrinking budgets and things like that,” Jackson said. “All of them understood this was a pretty good contract.”
The contract calls for 2.5-percent wage increases in each of the four years.
There will be some health insurance cost increases in 2015, which he said will be offset by a 50 percent company match of ratification bonuses deposited into health savings accounts, Jackson said.
Sikorsky said in a statement that the deal is “fair to our employees while helping Sikorsky to remain competitive.”
“The contract ratification comes two months ahead of the expiration of the previous contract and provides labor stability in the midst of a challenging and uncertain economic time for Sikorsky, its customers, and its suppliers,” the company said.
The vote came just a week after union employees at another United Technologies subsidiary, Pratt & Whitney International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, narrowly approved a contract that calls for outsourcing of some jobs.
