UAW Boss Cites 'Obstacles' to Labor Pact

DETROIT September 13, 2003:Michael Ellis writing for Reuters is reporting that the United Auto Workers union said on Saturday it faced many obstacles to reaching a new contract with Detroit's automakers, apparently dashing hopes for an early deal with all three companies before the midnight Sunday deadline.

"There's a lot of work to be done with all of the companies," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger told reporters at a Detroit labor festival. "Believe me, we wish that we were closer than where we are, but we have a lot of obstacles to overcome."

He said he still hoped to have an agreement with "at least one" of the companies by the deadline. But his comments appeared to signal that the negotiations had hit more than one snag since Friday, when a union official said an early agreement with all three automakers seemed possible.

An industry source who has monitored the negotiations closely told Reuters late on Saturday that the biggest problem was a demand from General Motors Corp. that the UAW agree to a hefty increase in union workers' co-payments for prescription drugs, in the generous health care benefits provided under existing labor contracts.

"GM wants a $10 or $15 dollar co-pay on brand name drugs," said the source, referring to what he said were calls from GM for a doubling or more of current co-pays by UAW hourly workers.

Gettelfinger, who has vowed to make no concessions on health care, told reporters the union was fighting to retain or even improve its medical benefits.

GM spokesmen have repeatedly declined to make any substantive comment on the labor talks.

Gettelfinger, who took over the union last year, denied widespread reports that the union wanted to achieve a historic first -- a simultaneous deal with all three automakers before the strike deadline.

But company and union officials have said for days that the union was pressing to reach such a deal and wrap up talks before the deadline.

The UAW's current four-year contracts with GM, Ford Motor Co. and the Chrysler arm of DaimlerChrysler AG, affect roughly 760,000 current and retired autoworkers.

ADVERSARIAL RELATIONS?

The contract talks also cover auto parts suppliers Delphi Corp. and Visteon Corp., former units of General Motors and Ford before they were spun off several years ago.

Gettelfinger also said Saturday that for the first time that he had selected a "lead company" in the talks, but he declined to identify the firm.

The union's traditional practice is to pick just one company for intensified negotiations ahead of the deadline. A deal with the "target company" would then be used as a pattern for further negotiations with the other car companies.

Company officials and labor experts have said such an agreement would enable Gettelfinger to cast the traditionally militant UAW in a new light, as a union seeking to ensure labor peace and prosperity for Detroit's Big Three automakers, and not just benefits for its own rank and file.

The industry source, who has inside knowledge of the UAW's negotiating stance, said this had been overblown in the media, however.

"It really isn't a new era of non-adversarial relations. We're just too weak to take a strike," said the source, referring to weakness on both sides of the bargaining table and a compelling need to stake out common ground.

The Big Three's U.S. market share hit an all-time low in August of 57.9 percent, when Toyota passed Chrysler in sales for the first time, down from about 74 percent 10 years ago.