“Don’t Split Us Up”: IUE-CWA Members Hold Valentine’s Day Actions Urging General Electric to Invest in America

IUE-CWA members, other General Electric (GE) union members, and allies spent their Valentine’s Day participating in actions as part of a nationwide protest against the company’s ongoing offshoring and outsourcing and its plan to split into three separate companies focused on aviation, health care, and energy.

“General Electric received $4 billion in public taxpayer funds last year, but instead of reinvesting in the critical energy and manufacturing infrastructure America needs, they’re letting the fox into the henhouse by catering to the interests of predatory corporate raiders in this split,” said Chris Depoalo, Business Agent of IUE-CWA Local 81301. “A minority of GE board members have direct ties to private equity hedge funds that are set to reap a windfall if the company is split apart – we are urging the board members who still have independence from Trian Partners and other hedge funds to refuse to rush this decision through.”

Workers demonstrating at GE’s headquarters in Boston delivered a set of four national demands to the company.

• Invest at least $5 billion over the next 5 years and add 35,000 jobs to existing and recently shuttered U.S. facilities.
• Reshore all U.S. military aviation production and 70% of GE industrial work offshored over the past 5 years.
• Let shareholders vote on the proposed breakup of GE and add elected worker representatives to the GE Board of Directors.
• Convert historic GE facilities into multi-modal brilliant factories with supplier parks to minimize supply chain disruptions, building an American offshore wind supply chain on our shores.

IUE-CWA members and allies protest GE’s offshoring, outsourcing, and lack of investment during a Valentine's Day event. Check out more great photos from the actions here.