Chrysler and UAW Local 7 Reach Tentative Agreement, Strike Avoided

03/15/96

Reuters reported that UAW Local 7 and Chrysler have worked together to reach a tentative agreement that kept assembly lines that produce Chrysler's most profitable product, the Jeep Grand Cherokee, running. The union and the carmaker negotiated a five year local contract, reaching agreement just before the midnight strike deadline set by the union.

Typically local contracts cover such things as staffing levels, work rules, and health and safety issues. Wages, benefits, pensions, and other economic issues are covered by the triennial contract that UAW negotiates on a national level with the nation's big three automakers.

Local 7's tentative agreement still must be ratified by the 4,200 workers that make up the rank and file of the local. The ratification vote will occur later this week.

Bargaining of UAW's national contract with the big three begins this summer. The chief issue on the table, as evidenced by UAW local 696's continuing strike against GM in Dayton, Ohio, looks like it will be "outsourcing," the automakers' practice of shifting work away from union plants to outside suppliers.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel