UAW delegates overwhelmingly approves bargaining strategy

June 11, 2002 LAS VEGAS The AP reported that health care and on-the-job safety were among several key issues the United Auto Workers agreed on Monday to collectively bargain for in future contract talks.

"Bargaining for our members, bargaining for our families, bargaining for our communities and bargaining for future generations," was the message newly elected UAW president Ron Gettelfinger sent some 1,200 delegates away with from the union's three-day bargaining convention at the MGM Grand hotel-casino.

Though contract talks with U.S. automakers are a year away, the delegates voted overwhelmingly to accept the 127-page 2002 collective bargaining program that sets the goals for contracts in all the UAW's units, not just the automotive sector.

The nation's biggest and most influential industrial labor union represents some 700,000 workers in a variety of industries including household appliances, brewing, toys, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and food processing.

Among other key issues outlined by the union were job security, wages and salaries, and work time reductions.

Pete Miller, a delegate representing St. Vincent's Hospital in Toledo, Ohio, expressed his concerns about the increasing workload being placed on nurses aides and registered nurses.

"They've also cut back on housekeeping duties and we have seen an increase in diseases in our patients," he said.

Jerry Blade, a machine operator for TRW in Cleveland, said it is the union's responsibility to hold politicians' "feet to the fire" when it comes to occupational safety.

"There's been a lot of emphasis on ergonomics on the job and that's very important to me," the 47-year-old said as the resolutions were being read to the convention. "All the issues that we've gone over so far are very worker friendly. I've been very impressed."

The UAW's contracts with GM, Ford and the Chrysler Group of DaimlerChrysler AG expire in September 2003.

Bargaining with all three typically begins three months earlier, but as the deadline draws near, the union generally chooses a "target" company with which to bargain exclusively.

The deal struck with the target company is then used to set the pattern for negotiations with the other two.

Gettelfinger was elected last week during the union's 33rd Annual Constitutional Convention in Las Vegas to succeed Stephen Yokich as president of the UAW.