GD Mission Systems Union Rejects Contract, Negotiations Continue

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
04:33PM / Wednesday, August 23, 2023Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Union negotiations will continue at General Dynamics Mission Systems after a proposal was rejected by workers earlier this month.

A couple of weeks ago, the IUE-CWA Local 81255 membership voted not to accept a package negotiated between IUE-CWA and General Dynamics representatives.

Business agent James Mole reported that it was due to wages and benefits and that a strong majority of the membership voted "no."

Members are hoping to go back into negotiations later this week, as the union's five-year contract expires on Aug. 27.

There is no strike planned.

"As long as we feel there is going to be communications with the company we can file an extension," Mole explained.

The union has been advocating for a package that members can be proud of and that they feel represents their work and dedication to a company as profitable as General Dynamics.

GD's Mission Systems manufactures defense and space communications hardware.

The union's main priority is to do away with the company's two-tier pay system that results in about a $10 hourly difference depending on when someone was hired. Of the union's roughly 150 members, about 100 are tier-two employees and feel they should earn a more competitive wage for the precision, high-impact work they perform.

The pay system was approved in 2014. A two-tier wage structure is defined as having a group of employees who perform the same type of job receive lower pay.

Union President Andrew Burdick feels that the workers were "duped" in the process.

"We were told that if you we didn't take this contract, 'You've got rocks in your head,'" he said during an informational picket in June.

"The people that were going to get second tier, they had no faces, we didn't know those people yet. Now we know them and a lot of us know each other's families and we're that close but when you've got somebody that's building what we build making that much less, there's some animosity."

Members have been picketing on Merrill Road near the workplace to inform the public of the goals for the upcoming contract. If things don't go well, they will continue to advocate for the union in this way.

Tags: union negotiations,

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Social Service Organizations Highlight Challenges, Successes at Poverty Talk

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
08:04AM / Sunday, April 05, 2026

Dr. Jennifer Michaels of the Brien Center demonstrates how to use Narcan. Easy access to the drug has cut overdose deaths in the county by nearly half.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Recent actions at the federal level are making it harder for people to climb out of poverty.

Brad Gordon, executive director of Upside413, said he felt like he was doing a disservice by not recognizing national challenges and how they draw a direct line from choices being made by the Trump administration and the challenges the United States is facing.

"They more generally impact people's ability to work their way out of poverty, and that's really, that's really the overarching dynamic," he said.

"Poverty is incredibly corrosive, and it impacts all the topics that we'll talk about today."

His comments came during a conversation on poverty hosted by Berkshire Community Action Council. Eight local service agency leaders detailed how they are supporting people during the current housing and affordability crisis, and the Berkshire state delegation spoke to their own efforts.

The event held on March 27 at the Berkshire Athenaeum included a working lunch and encouraged public feedback.

"All of this information that we're going to gather today from both you and the panelists is going to drive our next three-year strategic plan," explained Deborah Leonczyk, BCAC's executive director.

The conversation ranged from health care and housing production to financial literacy and child care. Participating agencies included Upside 413, The Brien Center, The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, MassHire Berkshire Career Center, Berkshire Regional Transit Authority, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Child Care of the Berkshires.

The federal choices Gordon spoke about included allocating $140 billion for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, investing $38 billion to convert warehouses into detention centers, cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid over 10 years, a proposed 50 percent increase in the defense budget, and cutting federal funding for supportive housing programs.

Gordon pointed to past comments about how the region can't build its way out of the housing crisis because of money. He withdrew that statement, explaining, "You know what? That's bullshit, actually."

"I'm going to be honest with you, that is absolute bullshit. I have just observed over the last year or so how we're spending our money and the amount of money that we're spending on the federal side, and I'm no longer saying in good conscience that we can't build our way out of this," he said.

Upside 413 provided a "Housing Demand in Western Massachusetts" report that was done in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Donahue Institute of Economic and Public Policy Research. It states that around 23,400 units are needed to meet current housing demand in Western Mass; 1,900 in Berkshire County in 2025.

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