UAW and GM Still Talking, No Settlement

03/21/96

UAW Local 696's strike against GM is not over yet. The three thousand workers at the striking Delphi Chassis plants are still out on strike, and GM has shut down most of it's North American automobile assembly and parts plants, laying off 166,550 employees across North America. The strike entered it's 15th day on Tuesday, and there is no sign that an agreement or resolution is close to hand. Still, 'round-the-clock negotiations continue under a mutually agreed upon media blackout. One description of the 24 hour negotiating sessions has bargainers breaking down into groups and taking rolling breaks--sleeping, eating, and negotiating in shifts.

Meanwhile Wall Street, which responded to last week's reports of stronger than expected job growth by plumetting 171 points, has "rewarded" the nations richest automaker for laying off increasing numbers of workers and "playing hardball" with the union. GM stock closed up 1 1/4 points on Monday.

Striking members of Local 696 have a firm idea of what is at stake for them as they pick up their strike pay of $30 a day ($150 per week). They have been out on the picket line in inclement weather and echo the thoughts of J.C. Johnson who has worked as a GM machine operator for 27 years. Johnson said, "We're not out here in the rain because of money. We're out here because of outsourcing."

The striking workers at the Delphi Chassis brake plants in Dayton, Ohio, know that outsourcing is not simply about GM buying parts from German part maker Robert Bosch Corp. The brake makers in Dayton know the issue pivots around whether GM will invest in the existing workforce and facilities that have made and continue to make money for the company, or whether the company will slash 325 jobs at the plants and buy more and more parts from outside suppliers. Currently GM buys six percent of their brakes from Robert Bosch and they want to buy seventeen percent of them from the German company next year.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel