Cambion Workers May Vote to Ratify New Contract Offer

Members of the electrical workers union local who returned to work without a contract November 8 after an unsuccessful seven-month strike against Cambridge Thermionics Corporation (Cambion) will probably vote to ratify a new contract with the company next Thursday, a union leader said yesterday.

Sandi Polaski, president of Local 262 of the United Electrical, Radio and Machinery Workers, said yesterday the workers will decide whether to vote on the agreement in their regular union meeting next Wednesday. If they decide to take up the contract issue, the workers will vote on ratification on Thursday, she said.

The union leadership is endorsing the management's offer in order to win reinstatement of five union leaders who were fired by Cambion on November 12, Polaski said.

Cambion negotiators agreed Monday to rehire the five without retroactive pay if the union ratifies the new contract. The fired workers include Polaski, a shop vice chairman, a bargaining committee member, and two assistant shop stewards.

The company accused the five of "serious strike misconduct" and "flagrant assault on property."

"The real reason is that the five of us were active in the union," Polaski said.

Lowell Wilkes, a vice president of Cambion who participated in the negotiating, said yesterday the company agreed to rehire the five to "wipe all the slates clean."

The contract that company and union negotiators agreed to last Monday would provide a 20-cent-per-hour raise for unskilled workers, and 25-, 30- and 40-cent-per-hour increases for different categories of skilled workers.

The proposed contract falls far short of the union's original goal of a 70-cent-per-hour raise for all workers, Polaski said.

The contract also gives the workers a paid holiday Columbus Day and increased sickness benefits.

The agreement requires the union to drop the grievances it has lodged against Cambion with the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB has already denied one of the grievances and the new contract would effectively nullify the remaining ones, Polaski said.