GM Signs Tentative Agreement with IUE

12/10/96

Reuters reports that General Motors Corp., closed bargaining on its last outstanding national labor agreement on Friday when it reached a tentative agreement for a new three-year contract with the International Union of Electronic Workers (IUE).

Details of the contract have not been released, but a union spokesman said it includes wage increases for each of its three years and additional job security provisions. IUE's Danny Groff said, "there are a lot of goodies in there."

GM announced the agreement in a joint statement released Friday afternoon. In addition to wage and benefit improvements, they said the contract allows GM flexibility to improve its competitiveness. The statement released by Ron Gilvin, Chairman of the IUE-GM Conference Board and Gerald Knechtel, GM Vice President of Personnel, said, "We believe it is a balanced agreement that addresses the needs of employees, the IUE and GM."

The IUE represents approximately 21,000 hourly GM workers in the U.S., most of whom work at parts plants under GM's Delphi Automotive Systems unit. The workers are scheduled to complete their ratification vote for the new contract by December 15.

IUE contracts with GM generally follow the format laid out in the UAW's contract with the automaker. Last month, after strikes at key GM plants, GM and the UAW signed a pact that gives workers a $2,000 lump sum payment in the first year of the contract and 3 percent raises in years two and three. Knechtel and UAW Vice President Richard Shoemaker are scheduled to sign the national agreement on Monday. Neither GM Chairman Jack Smith or UAW President Stephen Yokich will attend the event, a supposed sign that relations between the automaker and the workers are still strained. GM has reached tentative agreements with only about 25-30 percent of its 110 UAW locals.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel