UAW Picks Ford as Lead Company for Bargaining

09/05/96

Reuters has reported that the United Auto Workers union has selected Ford as its lead or target company for current negotiations over the UAW's three year contract with the Big Three Detroit carmakers. The selection means that the UAW will concentrate on settling a contract with Ford, and will later take that agreement to GM and Chrysler as a pattern agreement for bargaining with those companies.

UAW vice president Ernest Lofton said the union notified Ford executives that their company had been chosen to lead bargaining on Tuesday. Lofton emphasized that the UAW is not thinking of Ford as a strike target in the talks, as has traditionally been the case with the lead company. Nevertheless, the possibility of a national strike against Ford will arise if the company fails to settle an agreement with the union before the current contract expires on September 14. It has been 20 years since the last time the UAW called a national strike (1976).

Ford spokesman Jon Harmon issued the following statement Tuesday: "We're hard at work negotiating with the UAW at the subcommittee level as well as at the main table, and we are encouraged by the tone of the negotiations."

Referring to Ford's bid to have the UAW select them as the lead company for bargaining, Harmon said, "our team is working under the assumption that we will be closely involved in whatever transpires over the next two weeks. And that's been our preference all along."

The union's decision to negotiate with Ford marks the second consecutive time the auto workers have decided to negotiate with that company first. In 1993 Ford lead contract negotiations for the agreement under which employees are currently working. Ford employs about 104,000 UAW members, and is widely thought to have the best union relations among the Big Three automakers.

The UAW's top priorities for this round of bargaining include improved job security and restrictions on automakers' ability to shift work to lower-cost outside suppliers. Analysts cite Ford's willingness to cooperate with the union on both issues.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel