GM seeks 10-hour shifts, more nonunion workers

GM wants Lordstown to return to 10-hour shifts but without extra pay.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
LORDSTOWN -- General Motors wants to return to 10-hour shifts and use more nonunion workers at its Lordstown complex, a news report said.
Automotive News reported this week on some contract proposals that had not previously been disclosed.
One of them is installing 10-hour work days with no overtime.
The report doesn't go into any details, but 10-hour shifts were eliminated at Lordstown in 1998. At that time, workers were on the job four days a week.
The move to a five-day, eight-hour schedule saved money because the union contract required workers to receive premium pay for the longer shifts. Workers were paid for 44 hours if they worked during the week and 48 hours if they worked partly on weekends.
Now, workers are on the job Monday through Friday. To boost production, however, some extra shifts have been scheduled Saturday with overtime.
Also, the plant recently went to nine-hour shifts each weekday, which includes one hour of overtime.
Other proposals
GM also wants to cut costs with increased use of nonunion workers. United Auto Workers Local 1112 has said previously that GM wants to move nonskilled maintenance work, such as janitorial services, out of the union.
Automotive News said this would cut the hourly pay for janitors from 28 to about 12. If done throughout the company, this move alone would save GM between 300 million and 500 million a year, it said.
GM also has proposed allowing nonunion workers to replenish parts bins and to let nonunion truckers deliver and unload parts shipments, the trade publication said.
It said GM views Lordstown as a test case as it tries to push other plants to such cost-saving measures. The local plant is under pressure because GM hasn't been making profits on the small cars produced there and has no production scheduled there after June 2009.
UAW leaders in Lordstown declined to comment.
Dan Flores, a GM spokesman, said he wouldn't comment on specifics but said the two side are continuing to bargain.
Two sets of negotiations are going on within GM. A new national labor contract covering wages and benefits is being negotiated with the UAW officials in Detroit, while local labor contracts that cover work rules are being bargained at each plant.
The local and national contracts expire in September.
shilling@vindy.com