In GM talks, much is unsettled

Talks were to resume today after an official walked out Wednesday.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
LORDSTOWN -- Progress is being made in contract talks critical to saving General Motors' Lordstown complex, but much is yet to be settled, a union official said.
"It's been a struggle, but there's been significant progress," said Brandon Michaels, leader of the skilled trades bargaining team for United Auto Workers Local 1112.
The fragile nature of the talks was seen Wednesday when Michaels walked out of talks on a new deal for skilled trades workers at the assembly plant. Talks had been held for 38 straight days, but Michaels called them off in a dispute over how overtime is assigned.
Tom Mock, plant spokesman, said Wednesday night that management negotiators plan to continue bargaining today.
Ben Strickland, Local 1112 shop chairman, who was out of town Tuesday and Wednesday, said when reached Wednesday night that talks will continue today. He said he didn't consider the talks broken off at any point.
Strickland is in charge of all bargaining for Local 1112. He said he's optimistic that union and management will come to terms.
Dan Flores, a GM spokesman in Detroit, said he wasn't aware of what happened at the bargaining table Wednesday but said both sides "have been working through some tough issues to secure the future of the plant."
How they've gone
The talks have been prickly all along because GM is looking for ways to make small cars profitably at the money-losing plant.
Michaels said GM has brought money-saving measures that were bargained at other plants -- and insisted that Local 1112 accept them.
The union is working with some of the proposals because they make good business sense, he said.
"We're willing to work with them on it, but we're certainly not going to capitulate and agree to everything," he said.
Management and the union have said a new local labor agreement is critical in persuading GM officials to keep the plant open beyond 2009. Production of the Chevrolet Cobalt is scheduled to end then.
Michaels said senior GM and UAW leaders from Detroit were in town last week and were pleased with the progress of local talks at that time.
Sticking points remain, however, because the company is trying to reduce the plant's skilled trades work force, he said.
Michaels wouldn't comment on the bargaining involving the production workers.
With skilled trades, however, GM wants to reduce job classifications and contract out more work, including all of the work done by nonskilled maintenance workers. This work includes janitorial work.
The company has proposed some type of aid for workers who have positions eliminated, he said. The union responded with a proposal for an early-retirement incentive, he said.
The assembly plant has 340 skilled trades workers, down from 460 before buyouts and early retirement incentives were offered last year. The nonskilled maintenance group, also part of the UAW Local, has about 40 union workers.
Separate bargaining is being held by UAW Local 1714 at the complex's fabricating plant.
The overtime issue that has stalled assembly plant talks involves how workers are called out for extra work.
The union's position is that the contract requires using a plantwide list that ranks people by how much overtime they've worked. People with the least overtime should be called out first. Michaels said some departments are calling out workers only from that department. Workers, however, are trained to work throughout the plant, he said.
Management is allowed to call out certain workers if they have experience needed for a particular job. When that happens, however, the contract requires that an additional person be called out as well, Michaels said. As part of its attempt to clear up the issue, the union is proposing to eliminate this requirement, which would save the company money, he said.