GM Strike Continues
22 June 1998
GM Strike Continues
General Motors and the United Auto Workers union continued their stalemate
Sunday, failing to resolve differences with workers at two striking plants.
There was no progress reported during the talks at either the Flint Metal
Center or the Delphi East complex as the crippling strike at the No. 1
automaker entered its third week. Talks at both plants lasted throughout the
morning and broke up in the early afternoon.
Meanwhile, United Auto Workers leaders gathered for a convention in Las
Vegas are wagering a bet of their own: that strikes now crippling GM will curb
the steady erosion in dues-paying jobs. Ongoing walkouts at two GM parts
plant in Flint, Mich., have affected 115,000 GM workers and likely will
dominate dialogue during the UAW's convention, beginning its weeklong run
today. About 15% of the union's members are idled by the walkouts. Most have
been without work for a week or less.
The following individuals can provide editors and reporters with
commentary and background on this story. They are leading experts with
varying perspectives included in ProfNet's Experts Database. You'll find
complete entries at http://www.profnet.com/ped. [NOTE: Not having contacted these
individuals, we know neither their perspective on recent developments nor
their immediate availability.]
Christopher Cameron, Southwestern University School of Law, Los Angeles,
Professor of Law
David Larson, Creighton University, Omaha, Neb., Professor of Law
Alan L. Draper, St. Lawrence University, Canton, N.Y., Professor of
Government
Melvin Dubofsky, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Distinguished Professor of History and Sociology
Gary Chaison, Clark University, Worcester, Mass., Professor of Industrial
Relations
Trevor Bain, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Ala., Professor of
Management and Director, Human Resources Institute
Nelson Lichtenstein, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.,
Professor of History
Thomas Dublin, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Professor of History
J. Ferron, Coopers & Lybrand Consulting, Lead Partner, Automotive Practice
During his years in private practice, Christoper Cameron worked with labor
organizations and employee benefit funds representing union creditors in
employer bankruptcies. Following the Orange County (CA) bankruptcy, served as
of counsel to a firm that represented 10 labor unions with 18,000 county
employees. Member of the Executive Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar
Association Section on Labor and Employment Law. Member of the Board of
Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. His
articles include "The High Court's Labor Docket" (1995), "How 'Necessary'
Became the Mother of Rejection: An Empirical Look at the Fate of Collective
Bargaining Agreements on the Tenth Anniversary of Bankruptcy Code Section
1113" (1994), "Why Labor Unions Are Failing" (1992), and, with J.M.
Echevarria, "The Ploys of Summer: Antitrust, Industrial Distrust and the
Case Against a Salary Cap for Major League Baseball" (1995). In 1992,
addressed the 3rd Annual Entertainment Industry Labor and Employee Law
Conference on "Bankruptcy Issues in the Entertainment Industry Restrictions
on the Rejection of Participation Agreements in Chapter 11 Reorganizations."
CONTACT: Cynthia Peters, Public Information Office, 213-738-6766
David Larson's expertise centers on employment law. He is frequently
consulted on the Americans with Disabilities Act and employment
discrimination actions. A veteran of the EEOC staff, he is well-versed in
the policies, procedures and precedents of discrimination complaints. He
also has served as a consultant to several Eastern European nations on
labor law. Other expertise includes Affirmative Action; sexual harassment
lawsuits; comparable worth; labor relations; labor unions; the future of
organized labor; international employment law in the European Union,
Eastern Europe and Scandinavia; and Labor Law in developing countries and
emerging democracies.
CONTACT: Cindy Workman, Creighton Media Relations, 402-280-2969
An expert on labor unions and politics, Alan Draper is the author of the
books "A Rope of Sand: The AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education, 1955-
1967" and "Conflict of Interest: Organized Labor and the Civil Rights Movement
in the South, 1954-68." Current interest and research includes the study of
European labor unions as trend-setters, usurping the role once held by
American labor unions. Has done research funded by the American
Philosophical Society and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
CONTACT: Macreena Doyle, University Communications Office, 315-379-5587
Noted for his work in American labor history, Melvin Dubofsky's most
recent book, "The State and Labor in Modern America," was well received and
selected for inclusion on the Princeton University list of noteworthy books in
industrial relations and labor economics. He received a National Endowment
for the Humanities (NEH) grant in 1995 for a seminar he designed to explore
and discuss the scholarly debates concerning the incorporation of
ethnicity, race and gender into working class history. Member of the American
Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, and past
president of the New York State Labor History Association.
CONTACT: Katie Ellis, Office of University Relations, 607-777-2174
Gary Chaison is an expert in collective bargaining, labor movements and
union organizing. He is one of the most widely recognized scholars on unions
worldwide. Writing "Union Mergers in Hard Times a View from Five Countries,"
which discusses how unions have merged in order to overcome the problems of
declining membership and influence. Published "When Unions Merge" in 1986.
Appeared before U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Labor and Human Resources on the
widening gap in union membership rates between the U.S. and Canada in 1992.
Appeared on Cable News Network, CBS Radio News and NBC Radio News. Articles
on him have appeared in The Boston Globe (July 28, 1995), The Wall Street
Journal (July 28, 1995), The Los Angeles Times (Dec. 2, 1993) and The New
York Times (Sept. 22, 1992).
CONTACT: Timothy Michael Boulay, Communications Office, 508-793-7635
Trevor Bain is frequently utilized as a source on the steel, auto and
paper industries, Bain specializes in unions, labor economics, industrial
relations, arbitration and international business. His most recent area of
focus has been on the Detroit auto industry scene. A past or current member
on the editorial boards of Academy of Management Review, Employee Rights and
Responsibilities Journal, and Journal of Individual Employment Rights, his
publications total more than 75 in prestigious professional journals. He has
served as vice president of the Society of Professionals in Dispute
Resolution, and currently serves on several labor arbitration panels. He has
received research grants from the Ford Foundation, the Department of Labor and
the National Science Foundation and in 1989 was named a Rockefeller Foundation
Scholar.
CONTACT: Kristi Lamont or Cathy Andreen, UA News Service, 205-348-8318 or
205-348-5320
Nelson Lichtenstein is an expert on industrial and labor issues. Author of
biography of Walter Reuther, "The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit: Walter
Reuther and the Fate of American Labor", the longtime president of the United
Automobile Workers (1946-1970). A main point of the book is to use Reuther's
life story to get a better handle on many of the key issues that define mid-
20th century social and political history; the rise and decline of the unions,
the meaning of industrial democracy, the fate of laborite radicalism, the
emergence and stagnation of the welfare state, the political-economy of
mid-century industrial capitalism and the rise of civil rights as a national
political issue.
CONTACT: Robert Brickhouse, U.Va. News Services, 804-924-6856
Thomas Dublin's most recent book, "Transforming Women's Work: New England
Lives in the Industrial Revolution," was chosen as one of only 30 "Notable
Books of the Year" in history by the New York Times Book Review because it
"provides much-needed detail on women and work, and the independence work
brought women, in 19th century industrial America." His research interests
include women's, social, and labor history, with special focus on the textile
and coal industries, and he is currently gathering oral histories and
compiling stories of Pennsylvanians who lived through both the heyday and
waning years of the coal mining industry.
CONTACT: Katie Ellis, Office of University Relations, 607-777-2174
J. Ferron, Coopers & Lybrand Consulting, Lead Partner, Automotive
Practice. J. Ferron has been directly involved with auto industry issues
affecting manufacturers, suppliers, retailers and consumers for more than 20
years. Ferron, the former senior partner at J.D. Power & Associates, has
provided counsel that spans the entire distribution chain - from manufacturing
to retailing and customer satisfaction - on a global scale.
CONTACT: Victor Pytko, Hill & Knowlton, 313-393-3300.
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