Plant level union leaders say automaker pushing through more second-tier jobs than contract allows.
Sharon Terlep The Detroit News Monday, March 17, 2008
Some of General Motors Corp.'s local unions are pushing back against the automaker's plan to implement lower-wage jobs at its factories, a key part of GM's new labor deal with the United Auto Workers union.
At least three UAW local leaders have sent out notices to their members in recent weeks accusing GM of trying to push through more second-tier jobs than the company and union agreed to under the national contract, and several say those talks have been a point of contention in local contract talks.
GM's labor deal with the UAW, signed more than five months ago, allows the automaker to usher out senior workers with retirement incentives and replace many of those veterans with new hires who will be paid the lower wage.
GM will begin officially rolling out retirement offers today and expects workers to be gone by July 1.
But before the shift can happen, GM and UAW locals that represent dozens of plants across the country must agree on which factory jobs will command an hourly rate about half the current wage of $28 an hour. Under the national contract, lower wages will go to workers not directly involved in building an automobile.
The agreement laid out general job descriptions for the lower-tier workers and rough numbers -- negotiating the specifics is up to each factory.
"It's bound to be a contentious issue because there are large financial stakes for the company and the workers involved," said labor expert Harley Shaiken of the University of California-Berkeley. "There are conflicts and suspicions at the local level. It's not a permanent roadblock, it just requires negotiation."
GM and the UAW almost certainly will manage to hammer out deals on two-tier wages, union leaders and industry watchers say.
But, for now, the snags are preventing the automaker and its union locals from putting in place virtually any local contracts, most of which expired in September.
The lack of agreement on wages likely wouldn't cause major problems until later this summer, when GM will need to bring in new employees to fill spots vacated by workers who took retirement incentives or buyout offers.
GM went into the 2007 contract talks determined to get its labor costs more in line with leaner foreign-based rivals such as Toyota Motor Corp.
Most of the savings generated from the deal won't begin until 2010 when a union-run, company-funded trust will take over responsibility for GM's massive retiree health care tab. The second-tier jobs are a more immediate cost-cutting measure for the automaker. The UAW also stands to benefit because the new hires will mean additional members for the union's waning ranks.
Under the labor deal, GM and the union agreed to reclassify about 16,000 jobs as "noncore" automotive work that would command the lower wage. The union and company agreed that those noncore jobs will include work such as moving material, managing chemicals and working in the paint shop.
Setting an exact number Through much of February, teams of representatives from the company and union visited each of GM's factories to better understand the nature of each job.
Now the hard work remains of setting a number of core and noncore jobs at each plant.
In one online posting to members, Dwayne Humphries, a UAW Local 276 shop chairman who represents workers in Arlington, Texas, said the local contract called for 296 jobs at the factories to be designated as noncore. The company, he said, is looking to designate more than 400 jobs as noncore.
"We have taken exceptions to some of the assessments and number of jobs that they recommend to be marked as 'Non-Core,' " Humphries wrote in his message late last month. "The shop committee is working diligently to convince Management and the International UAW that some of the jobs that they are recommending be 'Non-Core' be removed from that list."
Local 5960 shop chairman Mike Dunn, representing workers at GM's Orion plant, wrote in a posting to members that GM would like to have about 580 noncore jobs at the plant, while local leaders think something like 300 is a more fair number.
"There was a set number for each location," as part of the national contract, said Pat Sweeney, president of the Orion local. "And, for every one of them, the number got raised. That's what's being talked about now."
Some say figure is fair
Not all locals are upset by the two-tier issue. Several local presidents have said GM presented them with a fair figure for the lower-wage jobs.
"We're actually going to have less than we thought," said George McGregor, president of UAW Local 22 in Hamtramck.
GM spokesman Dan Flores declined to comment on details of the local talks.
"GM and the UAW continue to work together to implement the national contract," he said.
Ford Motor Co. took a different approach to implementing two-tier wages, which also were a part of its labor deal with the UAW.
Ford and the union agreed 20 percent of workers eventually will be assigned lower wages, rather than creating two different job categories.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080317/AUTO01/803170375/ 1148
This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm