TALKS FAIL TO GAIN GROUND.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer PALMDALE - Representatives of Lockheed Martin For the former company, see . Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a leading multinational aerospace manufacturer and advanced technology company formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. and a union representing about 1,000 Palmdale workers held talks with a federal mediator mediator n. a person who conducts mediation. A mediator is usually a lawyer, or retired judge, but can be a non-attorney specialist in the subject matter (like child custody) who tries to bring people and their disputes to early resolution through a conference. Thursday, but neither side reported progress. It was the second day of meetings with a federal mediator by Lockheed Martin and the International Machinists and Aerospace Workers, who are trying to reach agreement on a new contract and avert a strike scheduled to begin Monday. ``There's nothing to report,'' said company spokeswoman Dianne Knippel. ``It's too premature. We're going through the mediation mediation, in law, type of intervention in which the disputing parties accept the offer of a third party to recommend a solution for their controversy. Mediation has long been a part of international law, frequently involving the use of an international commission, process and hopefully we will avoid a strike on Monday.'' Union members voted overwhelmingly last weekend to reject Lockheed Martin's three-year contract proposal and to authorize To empower another with the legal right to perform an action. The Constitution authorizes Congress to regulate interstate commerce. authorize v. to officially empower someone to act. (See: authority) a strike. Union officials said Thursday that there was no movement on any of their concerns. Federal officials ordered the two sides to meet with a mediator, citing the potential for ``substantial interruption INTERRUPTION. The effect of some act or circumstance which stops the course of a prescription or act of limitation's. 2. Interruption of the use of a thing is natural or civil. of commerce'' if the union strikes. The mediation was ordered under the federal Labor-Management Relations Act Federal legislation (29 U.S.C.A. § 141 et seq. [1947]), popularly known as the Taft-Hartley Act, which governs the conduct of designated union activities, such as by proscribing strikes and boycotts, and establishes the framework for the resolution of labor disputes in times of . The company's last proposal included 3 percent raises in each of the three years covered by the contract, plus a one-time $500 bonus for each worker. The proposal also included cost-of-living payments of $600 in each year. Union officials said the raise proposal was below the aerospace industry average and that changes in the amount of money coming out of employees' pockets for health insurance would wipe out the raises. Union officials said they also want the company to address job security. Jobs are being lost from the company subcontracting out work and shipping work off to other countries, they say. |
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