Caterpillar Inc Signs Tentative Deal With Striking Workers- Reuters

Reuters reported that Caterpillar Inc has signed a tentative, 6-year agreement with workers at a plant in Joliet, Illinois, to end a nearly 4-month-long strike. The deal still needs to be approved by the union's roughly 800 workers, and a vote is scheduled for August 17, 2012. If approved, each union member will receive a $1,000 ratification bonus, according to Marion Modesitt, a union member who has seen the contract. Workers will not return to the plant, which makes hydraulic parts for much of Caterpillar's construction equipment, until the contract is ratified. The strike began on May 1, when the union rejected an initial contract that would have included a $5,000 ratification payment for each union member and participation in the Company's annual bonus plan. Union members rejected the deal because it did not include sufficient pay raises and called for higher health care costs, a union official said at the time. Caterpillar used office workers and temporary labor to staff the plant, and production did not dip during the strike. The Company's proposal to the union earlier this year included 'market-based wage adjustments' for employees hired over the past seven years. Workers hired before May 2, 2005, would have wages frozen as Caterpillar said they were already paid above-market wages.