Union employees at Eaton-Cobham's Davenport plant strike

About 365 union employees of Eaton-Cobham Mission Systems in Davenport went on strike at 12:01 a.m. Friday after those workers voted not to ratify the company's contract offer.

John Herrig, directing business representative for District 6 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said more than 98 percent of about 350 union members voting Thursday cast their ballots against the three-year contract offer.

Employees represented by IAMAW Local 388 met Thursday afternoon in Davenport for the vote.

The five-year contract the union had signed with Cobham expired at midnight.

In addition to wage and insurance issues, Herrig said there were a number of items that led employees to turn down the proposed three-year contract.

“The membership feels there were a substantial amount of takeaways and not enough gains to make up the difference,” Herrig said. “Nobody’s in business to do worse.”

Herrig added that while the last contract was negotiated with Cobham, this contract is being negotiated with Eaton.

Eaton, a multinational power management company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, announced June 1, 2021, that it had completed its purchase of Cobham Mission Systems, described as a leading manufacturer of air-to-air refueling systems, environmental systems and actuation, primarily for defense markets.

Eaton purchased Cobham for $2.83 billion, including $130 in tax benefits.

Cobham has a workforce of approximately 2,000 people and manufacturing facilities in the United States and United Kingdom.

Eaton’s net sales for 2020 totaled $17.858 billion, while net sales for 2021 reached $19.628 billion.

This is the second major strike of a company in the Quad-Cities in three months. Deere and Co. workers represented by the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America were on strike from Oct. 14 until Nov. 17 when a new contract was ratified.

That strike affected 10,100 Deere employees in Iowa, Illinois and Kansas.