Both sides report progress as talks between GM and UAW continue today

After a weekend of marathon talks, workers awaited word on whether they’ll strike.

DETROIT (AP) — Contract talks between the United Auto Workers and General Motors Corp. recessed Monday night, slowed so much by the complexity of retiree health care and other issues that a deal could be days away.

Talks were to resume today, GM spokeswoman Katie McBride said.

Both sides reported progress, but a person who was briefed on the talks said it’s taking a lot of time to reach agreement on details and large dollar amounts. The person requested anonymity because the talks are private.

“It’s billions of dollars and the security of somebody who’s put 30 years into the company on an assembly line, so both sides want to get it right,” said Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley who specializes in labor issues. “So that’s going to slow things down a bit.”

McBride said talks recessed at 9 p.m. Monday after bargainers began meeting about 11 a.m.

The UAW represents around 73,000 GM autoworkers, including about 2,400 workers at GM’s assembly plant in Lordstown, which makes small cars for Chevrolet and Pontiac. The union also represents about 1,200 at a neighboring fabricating plant and about 500 in various nearby feeder plants.

Stocks rise

GM shares, which rose 15 percent last week, continued to rise throughout Monday, bucking a downward trend in the markets ahead of the Federal Reserve’s decision today on interest rates. GM shares gained $1.01, or nearly 3 percent, to close at $35.23.

Ford Motor Co. shares, which rose at a more modest pace last week, also were up after Bear Stearns upgraded Ford and said a deal on health-care costs could be even better news for the No. 2 automaker than for rival GM. Ford shares rose 25 cents, or 3.1 percent, to close at $8.28.

Chrysler shares no longer trade on the NYSE since the company was taken over by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP last month.

Pete Hastings, an auto industry corporate bonds analyst with Morgan Keegan & Co., said investors should be confident because the two sides appear to be moving closer to a settlement that would avoid a strike. The UAW is negotiating an agreement with GM first and will try to persuade Ford and Chrysler LLC to accept the same terms.

But the mood in GM’s plants was subdued as workers awaited word on the talks. After a weekend of marathon bargaining, GM workers were on the job Monday at the automaker’s 82 U.S. facilities, including assembly and parts plants and warehouses.

Chris “Tiny” Sherwood, the president of Local 652 in Lansing, said workers were calling him to see if they should report for work or picket duty.

Emmett Faulkner, 49, a 30-year veteran of GM, said he wasn’t worried about his job because he believes his plant, a transmission facility in Warren, is critical to GM. But he’s concerned about GM’s plan to turn over retiree health care to the UAW.

“This is our livelihood here, you know,” he said.

A younger co-worker, 24-year-old Adam Decker, said he quit a management job at an outdoors store in May because the pay was better at the Warren plant. He said the marathon bargaining and talk of strikes is nerve-racking.

“It’s a scary situation, but stuff’s got to be done the way it’s got to be done,” he said. “I’m just trying to come into work every day and do my job.”

UAW spokesman Roger Kerson declined to comment on the talks.