Steelworkers Union Approves 4-Year Contract at Briggs and Stratton

MILWAUKEE -- October 30 -- United Steelworkers Local 2-232, which represents about 395 employees at Briggs and Stratton Corp. plants in the Milwaukee area, voted Wednesday to accept a four-year labor contract that includes 2% pay raises in three of the four years.

The contract was approved by a vote of 268 in favor to 82 against, Briggs spokeswoman Laura Timm said.

Briggs is the world's largest manufacturer of gasoline engines used in outdoor power equipment. The company also makes generators, lawn-and-garden equipment and other products.

The new contract, effective Jan. 1, covers employees at the company's engine components plant in Wauwatosa and a distribution center in Menomonee Falls.

Employees will receive 2% raises in the second, third and fourth years of the contract. They also will receive the same health care benefits as salaried employees, Timm said.

"Everybody will be under one benefits plan," she said.

Also under the contract, permanent employees will not be replaced by temporary employees. Instead, temporary employees will only be brought in for seasonal work.

In another change, employees won't have to take an initial pay cut when they transfer to another job. That was important to the membership, said Local 2-232 President Jesse Edwards.

After meeting with a negotiations mediator on Oct. 23, the union bargaining committee recommended that members vote to accept the contract.

"Overall, I feel like it was the best we could do at this time," Edwards said.

This was the third contract vote at the Briggs plants in three months. The first two times the proposal was rejected, but the voter turnout was low.

To encourage a higher turnout Wednesday, the company shut down its plants here and gave employees their regular full pay for the day if they attended the union meeting that preceded the vote and explained the terms of the proposed contract.

Union members said they were told this was Briggs' best and final offer. If the contract had been rejected again, work could have been moved out of the area or the contract terms could have been implemented by the company, union officials said.

"I don't think the members wanted to go on strike, so they accepted the proposal," Edwards said.

Under the previous three-year contract, employees' increased health insurance costs more than offset pay raises and a one-time $500 signing bonus.

Union leaders made no recommendation on that pact, which was approved in October 2010 by a vote of 211 to 77.

Rick Barrett           www.jsonline.com