Workers agree to new contract, end strike, at Des Plaines company
Union workers at Juno Lighting Group in Des Plaines are back on the job after a strike that lasted four days.
Some 380 people of the 400-person workforce hit the picket lines Sept. 3 after rejecting terms of a tentative contract that called for wage increases of 30 cents, 36 cents and 35 cents in each year of the contract, respectively.
The new deal ratified by workers awards them increases of 45 cents, 45 cents and 50 cents, according to Carlos Ginard, a spokesman for the Chicago & Midwest Regional Joint Board of Workers United, the employees' union.
There would also be no increase in the cost for family medical coverage, he added.
The company couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday. The company had said pay ranged from $9 to $20 an hour, while the union said it ranged from the minimum wage of $8.25 to $14 an hour.
The union's ratification vote, taken on Saturday, was 212-15.
Ginard said there were strikes at Juno in 2002 and 2006. Those lasted no more than three days.
Juno, an affiliate of Schneider Electric, has manufactured lighting fixtures from its Des Plaines plant at 1300 S. Wolf Road since 1976.