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Big Three contracts with UAW expire today
By Kalea Hall
LORDSTOWN
At 11:59 p.m. today, the contract between the United Auto Workers and the Detroit Big 3 automakers expires, with what’s to happen next still unknown.
“Contracts are contracts, and you never know what you have until it is agreed on by both parties,” said Glenn Johnson, president of UAW Local 1112, representing the assembly plant workers at the General Motors Lordstown plant.
Both union workers and companies said the contracts most likely will be extended as long as negotiations continue productively.
The UAW on Sunday announced it has chosen Fiat Chrysler — the smallest of the three companies — as its target in negotiations, meaning it becomes the focus of bargaining and could be hit with a strike if negotiations stall. A deal with FCA also would set a general pattern for contracts at GM and Ford. All three companies officially kicked off bargaining for new four-year contracts in July.
“It’s a wait and see from us,” Johnson said Sunday afternoon.
Although Local 1112 has posted a strike picket schedule on its website, Johnson said a strike against Fiat does not mean a strike for GM and Ford as all contract negotiations are handled individually. But he added that Local 1112 is focusing on the decision reached with Fiat.
“I think they’re going to set the stage with Fiat Chrysler,” said Robert Morales, head of UAW Local 1714, the second union representing Lordstown GM workers. “They’re the least profitable.”
The UAW, which represents about 140,000 workers, including about 4,500 at the Lordstown plant, wants to see hourly pay raises for longtime workers who haven’t had one in a decade and an adjustment made to the entry-level workers’ pay; they make about half of what the veteran workers make per hour.
On the other end, the companies want to cut labor costs to remain competitive with foreign automakers.
“I don’t think it is an insurmountable situation,” said Matt DeLorenzo, managing editor of Kelley Blue Book’s KBB.com. “I think there may be some meeting halfway in between. The sense I am getting right now is, no one wants to take a strike.”
Williams has said in the past he doesn’t want a strike.
“It is a testament to how bad things were,” DeLorenzo said, reflecting on the bankruptcy time. “It was really eye-opening.”
Though it’s protocol for the union to now prepare for a strike, Morales said a strike would be a last resort, but that doesn’t mean the union will give everything away.
“I think everybody knows we can’t afford to go backwards,” he said.
Morales also thinks the two sides eventually will negotiate something “beneficial for everyone.”
Johnson said there always has to be a concern about a strike. Workers who voted from both 1714 and 1112 approved an authorization to strike, if needed. The vote gives the union leaders the ability to strike if talks stall or hit an impasse.
“We are preparing, and if the need is there and they call us to do it, then we would be ready for that,” Johnson said.
Kristin Dziczek, director of the industry and labor group at the Michigan-based Center for Automotive Research, says the choice of Fiat-Chrysler — the smallest and least profitable of the Detroit Three — signals a different attitude at the UAW, which used to go after the most profitable automaker during negotiations.
“This is the recognition that the union has had for a while, that you can’t destroy the companies and still have jobs,” she said.
Dziczek said the UAW might have chosen FCA because its CEO, Sergio Marchionne, has said he wants to eliminate the wage gap.
But automakers also want to cut labor costs to stay competitive, and all want to stick with profit-sharing instead of increasing hourly wages.
During the past four years, workers have gotten annual profit-sharing checks; at FCA and GM, those bonuses totaled $9,000 per worker.
Contributors: Vindicator Staff Writer Brandon Klein and the Associated Press.