Saturday, June 20, 1998

President urges quick end to GM strikes

By KEVIN GALVIN / Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government will not intervene immediately in the United Auto Workers strike against General Motors Corp., but President Clinton urged both sides Friday to settle their differences.

"I would like to encourage the parties to work it out," Clinton said in brief remarks to reporters before a White House meeting with advisers on a range of economic matters. "We've got a collective bargaining system, which I support, and I think they can work it out, and I hope they'll do it in a timely fashion."

Clinton and Labor Secretary Alexis Herman have not been shy about getting involved in past labor disputes: The president ended a strike by American Airlines pilots as soon as it began in 1996 and Herman helped mediate the Teamsters standoff with United Parcel Service in 1997.

But the donnybrook between UAW locals and two GM parts plants that has idled some 70,000 workers and 90 percent of the company's production is a different situation.

The union and the company have a long history of working through tough disputes without help from outsiders, the legal standard for direct government intervention is very high, and the strike's impact isn't readily visible to consumers.

Herman is scheduled to speak before the UAW's convention in Las Vegas on Monday. She had a long-standing commitment to attend and while she may address the strikes, it's unlikely she'll make any firm recommendations.

Clinton made a videotaped statement to the convention which thanked the union for its support but did not refer to the dispute.

When Clinton halted the pilots' strike, he was operating under the National Railway Labor Act, which gives presidents greater latitude to intervene.

The GM standoff is still viewed largely as a local battle, and the UAW workers' contracts fall under the Taft-Hartley Act. For the government to step in, the work stoppage must represent a national emergency.

Even then, the president cannot act alone. If he believes a strike threatens the nation's safety or health, he must appoint a board of inquiry. If the board agrees, the attorney general can seek an 80-day court injunction.

Clinton refused to intervene in 1997's two-week UPS strike, saying it failed to meet the Taft-Hartley standard even though UPS' trucks and planes carry about 5 percent of the gross domestic product on a normal business day.