HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Workers at General Electric Co. will receive a 16 percent pay increase over four years if unions ratify a contract agreed to on Sunday, GE and the unions announced Wednesday.

The proposed contract between the Fairfield-based industrial conglomerate and the unions – the International Union of Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers-Communications Workers of America and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America – also would improve health care benefits while limiting the increase of health care costs borne by employees.

In addition, the contract improved formulas used to determine pension benefits for current employees. In one formula the top benefit rate will increase from $60 to $70 a month for each year of service and higher pension pay for many other employees.

The two sides also agreed to add Veterans Day as a paid holiday, which a union representative said is no small matter for workers with family and friends serving in the military at a time of war.

A union ratification vote is scheduled for June 28.

Bill Conaty, GE’s senior vice president for human resources, said the contracts “provide significant improvements in pensions, deliver strong increases in wages and maintain and improve our health care and job security benefits.”

The IUE-CWA and its locals represent about 10,030 GE employees and the UE represents about 4,050 workers.

Terms of the new contracts will be extended to nine other unions with local contracts with GE. The contracts cover more than 20,000 employees nationwide.

“This was very difficult because of some very tough issues,” said Al Hart, a spokesman for UE in Pittsburgh.

He said the unions were negotiating to improve contract terms for younger and older workers.

Younger workers will receive an additional week of vacation sooner than in the current contract and won higher pay for night shifts.

Older workers won protections for pensions and health care in retirement. The new contract will provide two early retirement opportunities for employees aged 55 to 59 with 30 years of service. Five hundred employees may take advantage of the option this year and 400 may do so in 2009.

The union had one setback. Employees hired in the future will not have supplemental Medicare health insurance provided by GE after age 65.

Gary Sheffer, a spokesman for the company, said the provision matches policy for nonunion employees.

Improved health care benefits include added coverage for preventive care such as routine physicals, screenings and vaccinations, and expands coverage for clinical trials for serious illnesses.

The proposed contract will require workers to pay more for their health insurance, but the union said GE will not substantially shift costs. The proportion paid by workers now is between 18 percent and 19 percent, which will rise to 201/2 percent in the new contract, said Lauren Asplen, a spokeswoman for the unions’ coordinated bargaining committee.

“When you see what’s going on around you, it’s not unexpected,” she said.

Asplen said the Veterans Day holiday was an issue because many union members are veterans and family and friends are in Iraq.

“It’s something we always fought for. It’s a pretty big thing,” she said. “It’s not just another day off.”

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On the Net: www.ge.com

www.geworkersunited.com

AP-ES-06-20-07 1804EDT