UAW pact talks head into home stretch

Staff and wire report

DETROIT

With only six days remaining in contentious talks before the United Auto Workers’ contract expires, Detroit’s Big Three automakers are gearing up to see which is chosen as a strike target.

UAW President Dennis Williams said he’ll pick between Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler before the contracts expire Monday.

A target company becomes the focus of bargaining and could be hit with a strike if negotiations stall. A deal with one company also sets a general pattern for the others, although there currently are substantial differences between the three automakers.

Speaking after Detroit’s annual Labor Day parade, Williams didn’t address whether the contract would be extended and gave no details about how the talks that cover about 140,000 workers – including about 4,500 at the Lordstown GM complex – are progressing.

This year’s talks are becoming the most contentious in years because all three companies are healthy and making money. The union wants a piece of the profits in the form of hourly pay raises for longtime workers who haven’t had one in a decade. It also wants to close the gap between entry-level workers who make about half the $29 hourly wage of veteran employees.

But companies want to cut labor costs to stay competitive with foreign automakers. All but Chrysler have higher costs than foreign companies with U.S. factories.

Companies want to stick with profit-sharing instead of increasing hourly labor costs. During the past four years, workers at all three companies have gotten healthy annual checks.

Glenn Johnson, president of UAW Local 1112 for assembly workers at the GM plant in Lordstown, said he thinks a deal will get done on time, barring what he termed any “unforeseen” circumstances.

“I think everything is in order to get it done in a timely fashion,” Johnson said.

More than 90 percent of members of UAW Local 1112 and Local 1714, representing workers in GM Lordstown’s fabricating plant, voted in favor of strike authorization last month. Robert Morales, Local 1714 president, could not be reached to comment Monday.

Williams has said he doesn’t want a strike, but unlike four years ago, the union can stop work at any of the three companies. In 2011, strikes were prohibited at GM and Chrysler under the terms of their government-funded bankruptcies.

To fund some of the union demands, Williams has proposed a giant health care pool to save money for the union and the three companies. Currently a union-run trust pays most health insurance costs for about 600,000 and the companies fund health care for about 551,000 hourly and salaried workers.

and their families.