ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, February 21, 1997              TAG: 9702210113
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: B-6  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS

AFL-CIO BACKING UNIONS IN GE TALKS

The AFL-CIO executive council this week pledged the "full resources of the American labor movement" to some 46,000 union members, including those in Salem, who are negotiating a new nationwide contract this year with General Electric Co.

The council, meeting in Los Angeles, accused GE Chairman Jack Welch Jr. of union-busting rhetoric and of preparing GE units to continue operations during a strike.

Fourteen unions bargain together with GE, led by Ed Fire, president of the Electronic Workers union. Their contract expires at the end of June.

Gerald Meadows, outgoing president of the Electronic Workers local at the GE Motors and Industrial Systems Division plant in Salem, said he expects tough bargaining, partly because of the lack of experience of top union negotiators.

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