Right-to-Work Group to Fight Saturn Pact
General Motors and the United Auto Workers have denied future workers in the auto maker’s new Saturn plant a chance to choose a bargaining representative, a “right-to-work” organization claimed in a legal challenge Wednesday.
The National Right to Work Committee, through its legal foundation, asked the National Labor Relations Board to order the UAW not to act as the collective bargaining representative for Saturn Corp. workers until a majority selects the organization.
The UAW Executive Board in July approved a letter of intent for a Saturn contract that would depart markedly from traditional labor agreements in the automotive industry. After the agreement was reached with the UAW, GM announced that it would place the much-sought-after project in Spring Hill, Tenn.
Charges Discrimination
“By entering into this collective bargaining relationship . . . and until a majority of the employees select the UAW as their collective bargaining representative, the UAW restrains and coerces employees in their right to express a free choice . . . concerning a bargaining representative,” said the committee’s complaint, filed here.
In the complaint against GM, the committee said a pre-employment agreement between the auto maker and the UAW “discriminates with respect to employment opportunities for individuals who are not members of the UAW. Furthermore, such agreement tends to encourage union membership.”
Henry Chiles, acting NLRB regional director in Detroit, said he would assign an investigator to the case, who would report back within 30 days to 45 days.
“If there’s a violation, we’ll try to settle it, and if it can’t be done, it will go to a hearing,” Chiles said.
The National Right to Work Committee, based in Springfield, Va., is a nonprofit group that opposes compulsory unionism.
GM’s Saturn plant in Spring Hill will eventually employ 6,000 workers. The plant is expected to produce its first Saturn car in 1989 or 1990, according to GM estimates.
“While we have not had an opportunity to study the charge by the so-called right-to-work group, it is not unexpected, and we believe it is totally without merit,” UAW President Owen Bieber and Vice President Donald F. Ephlin said in a joint statement.
They said the Saturn project would give “thousands of laid-off GM workers the opportunity to return to a job.”
Under the preliminary agreement, present and former GM workers would get first crack at the Saturn jobs.
Edmond J. Dilworth Jr., GM assistant general counsel said: “In our view, we have done nothing illegal and intend to defend our position in front of the NLRB.”
The innovative work rules and wage structure outlined in the UAW-GM letter of intent constitute a key element in the $5-billion Saturn project, which is GM’s attempt to build small cars at prices competitive with Japanese auto makers.
Under the agreement, Saturn workers would receive salaries instead of wages, quarterly performance and attendance bonuses and an equal voice with management in business decisions. Eighty percent of them would have permanent job security.
Tennessee, which won the Saturn plant in a fierce competition with 35 other states, is a right-to-work state where it is illegal to require workers to join a union to get or keep a job. Additionally, employers have the right to dismiss a worker without giving a reason for a dismissal unless required to by a worker contract.
The Right to Work Committee challenged the Saturn agreement based on federal law, but it believes that the agreement is illegal under Tennessee law as well, committee spokesman Clayton Roberts said.
William H. Long, Tennessee’s economic development commissioner, said: “Saturn and the UAW obviously spent a lot of time on the contract. They know our laws, and we’re confident that they can work within them.”
