Striking GE worker killed on picket line

Woman hit by police car in what authorities call accident

Striking workers picket Tuesday ouside of a General Elecric plant in Schenectady, New York.

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RELATED • CNN/Money: GE: No cost to strike   GE STRIKE ISSUES • Insurance co-payment increased $200 per employee for 2003, GE says. • Health plan changes will cost workers $300-$400 per year, union officials say. • GE says insurance costs have jumped by $2,350 per employee since 1999.

SCHENECTADY, New York (CNN) -- Thousands of General Electric workers started a two-day work stoppage Tuesday at plants around the country to protest the increase of health care co-payments, but the walkout was marred by a fatal accident on a Kentucky picket line.

A police car struck and killed a woman on the picket line at General Electric's Appliance Park in Louisville, Kentucky. Jefferson County police called it an accident.

The victim was identified by GE as Michelle Rodgers. A company statement said she had worked for GE since 1994.

Police said she was hit by a Hollow Creek police car while walking from one plant gate to another at 5 a.m. Hollow Creek is a small town near Louisville.

About 17,500 employees from the International Union of Electronic Workers/Communications Workers of America and United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America were participating in the strike, which started at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. GE said the striking unions make up less than 10 percent of its work force.

"We are deeply saddened by this tragic accident and loss of our colleague," Jim Campbell, president and CEO for GE Consumer Products, said in a statement. "We will be working with the family to provide assistance during this difficult time."

"It's very devastating," said IUE/CWA Local 761 President Randy Payton. "She was killed doing what she was believed in -- supporting her union and standing up for what she believed was right."

Rodgers worked on a dishwasher assembly line. Payton said GE Appliance Park produces washing machines, dishwashers and refrigerators, and components for them.

The walkout is the first national one at GE since 1969, when workers were off the job for about 14 weeks.

The workers are upset about the company's decision to raise co-payments for the GE Health Care Preferred plan in 2003. In a statement, GE said the increase would be about $200 per employee.

Union officials said the co-pay increases will cost the average worker an additional $300 to $400 annually, and that GE is posting record profits and doesn't need additional payments from workers.

Andy Gnoinski Jr., a GE employee in Schenectady who earns $46,000 a year, said the increase will cost him more than $1,000 a year. He said he did not understand why workers had to pay more when GE top executives were getting large bonuses and pensions.

The average health care cost per employee is expected to be $2,350 higher in 2003 than in 1999, the company said. Since 1999, GE's total health care costs have risen 45 percent, from $965 million to $1.4 billion in 2002, GE said.

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