UAW and GM Still Talking

03/20/96

Talks aimed at resolving the situation that caused UAW's Local 696 to strike at two GM plants in Dayton, Ohio continued today after an 11 hour break. Workers who assemble brakes at the two Delphi Chassis plants in Dayton have been on strike for over two weeks now. Talks to end the strike began Sunday at 9:30 and lasted around the clock for 40 hours before negotiators took a break. Talks have resumed again, but neither side is speaking about progress, as they have agreed to a media blackout with regard to the negotiations.

As of today GM, the nation's richest carmaker, had laid off 150,050 workers and most of their plants had been idled. By Monday GM had shut down their plant in Janesville, Wisconsin where the company's most popular sports utility vehicles are put together. The only plant left producing sports utility vehicles (the Suburban, the Chevrolet Tahoe, and the GMC Yukon) was a plant in Silao, Mexico. GM has only a 30-35 day supply of those vehicles on dealer lots; the industry considers a 60 day supply to be ideal. Ward's Automotive Reports, an automobile trade journal, said that the strike is costing GM about $45 million in lost production each day. They reported that by the end of last week production had been cut into by about 93,000 vehicles. The strike is the biggest disruption of automobile production since a 67 day general strike against the industry in 1970.

The UAW says the strike is aimed at getting the automaker to live up to promises it made in 1994 when workers at the two Dayton plants struck GM because of the company's plans to ship work out of the plants to foreign brake makers. In order to end that strike the automaker promised to invest in their existing workforce and facilities and to drop plans to outsource brake components. The company has reneged on those promises and has plans to boost the brakes they currently buy from German parts maker Robert Bosch Corporation from 6% of all brakes the company uses to 17%. The union says 325 jobs hang in the balance.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel