Tuesday, June 23, 1998

UAW leader says strikes could last into August, more walkouts possible

By BRIAN S. AKRE

AP Auto Writer

LAS VEGAS (AP) - The autoworkers strikes against General Motors Corp. in Michigan could last into August and may expand to other key GM parts plants where union-management disputes continue to fester, a top union leader said Monday.

"I would hope we could find a way to settle these this week," said Richard Shoemaker, the United Autoworkers Union vice president who directs relations with GM. "If we don't find the framework to put these behind us this week, I would not be surprised if it doesn't continue into the second or third week of August."

Negotiations continued Monday at the two strike-idled parts plants in Flint, Mich., but there has been "very little progress on the key issues," Shoemaker said in an interview shortly before the start of the union's triennial convention at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

GM spokeswoman Mary Irby said the company was "not interested" in responding to Shoemaker's comments.

The strikes by 9,200 workers began June 5 at the Flint Metal Center stamping plant and June 11 at Delphi Flint East, which makes engine parts and dashboard instruments. The resulting lack of parts has affected 24 assembly lines and nearly 100 parts plants, virtually halting GM's North American production.

The plant closures and slowdowns had resulted in layoffs of about 121,500 workers by Monday.

UAW President Stephen P. Yokich rejected GM's position that the Flint dispute is about GM's need to become leaner and more competitive. He vowed the union would "last one day longer" than GM and win the crippling strikes against the biggest automaker.

"This strike is about not living up to the agreements that they made with the locals across the bargaining table," Yokich said in a speech to the 2,000 delegates at the UAW's 32nd constitutional convention. "We are not going to stand for that."

Labor Secretary Alexis Herman also spoke to the convention, but was careful not to take sides in the GM dispute. She said she was confident the collective bargaining process would prevail in the Flint dispute, and that GM employees would return to work soon.

Shoemaker said the union has told the company that issues at both plants and outstanding grievances and issues at the Buick City assembly plant in Flint must be resolved before the walkouts will end.

Local 599, which represents Buick City, has filed grievances over health and safety, subcontracting and production issues. The UAW also wants to persuade the automaker to not move work out of the complex, which includes an engine plant, assembly plant and transmission parts plant.

GM announced last year that it plans to close the assembly plant late next year. Union leaders do not expect those plans to be reversed.

The UAW may also threaten to strike a brake plant in Dayton, Ohio, and another stamping plant in Indianapolis, Shoemaker said. As soon as the Michigan strikes end, high-level talks will start at those plants. The disputes there also involve local contract issues.

Shoemaker, disputing GM's assertion that the strike is about the company's ability to be more competitive, said that the UAW doesn't have the same kind of labor problems with Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Corp.

"The other two companies, once they enter into an agreement with us, they keep it," Shoemaker said. "Each one of the companies is constantly striving to improve its competitiveness, and we understand that. But that doesn't give them the right to break their agreements with us.

"GM does that as a way of life on a daily basis with the international union, with the local unions, with suppliers, with the people who have bought the plants they've divested themselves from."

The strikes are costing GM about $75 million a day in lost production. If the walkouts last into mid-August, the after-tax penalty on second and third-quarter profits could total more than $2 billion, said analyst David Healy of Burnham Securities Inc.