By Bob Tita Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Striking workers at a Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) plant in suburban Chicago are expected to vote Wednesday on a revised contract proposal from the construction and mining equipment manufacturer. Caterpillar, the world's largest seller of bulldozers, excavators and other earth moving machinery, described the proposal as a "slightly modified" version of the contract offer that the members of the International Association of Machinist and Aerospace Workers rejected earlier. The company declined to provide details about the latest offer. The union's negotiating team did not vote on the offer. Calls to leaders for machinists union Local 851 were not immediately returned. The Peoria, Ill., company presented the revised offer Thursday during a meeting with union representatives and a mediator. The meeting followed a session last week requested by the union. More than 500 members of the machinist union walked off their jobs at Caterpillar's Joliet, Ill., plant after their old contract expired May 1. The plant supplies hydraulic components for Caterpillar's machinery. The striking workers have complained that Caterpillar's six-year contract proposal would freeze hourly wages for many veteran workers, undermine seniority rights and increase workers' costs for health care insurance. Caterpillar has continued to operate the Joliet plant with managers, non-union workers and union machinists who opted not to walk off their jobs. In a May 15 letter to Joliet employees, Caterpillar stressed that it's committed to keeping the plant open, but it said that the company and its work force has to "stay flexible, efficient and focused to compete." Older workers at the Joliet plant are paid about $25 a hour, while workers hired after 2005 earn about $13 an hour. Caterpillar said it would not cut workers' pay. Under the original proposal, newer workers hired under a lower wage and benefit scale would be eligible for pay increases based on local market rates for manufacturing workers. But the company's original proposal also eliminated annual cost-of-living wage increases. Striking workers also said the company wanted expanded authority to move employees to different shifts, regardless of their seniority. Caterpillar's stock was recently trading down 1.07% at $90.44 a share. -By Bob Tita, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4129; robert.tita@dowjones.com
