Long Beach : Union Negotiations Resume

McDonnell Douglas Corp. and its two largest unions have resumed contract negotiations, breaking an impasse of several weeks but resolving no outstanding issues, union and company spokesmen said.

Company officials met earlier this week with negotiators for the United Auto Workers, which represents 9,500 workers in the Long Beach aircraft plant, and the International Assn. of Machinists, which represents 5,000 workers in Torrance and Huntington Beach, spokesmen said.

McDonnell Douglas had last met with the UAW in early December and the IAM in mid-December. Their contracts expired in October and both unions have rejected new three-year pacts.

The UAW and the company are tentatively scheduled to meet again Friday and will meet Monday, said Douglas’ Dave Eastman. Management also will meet with the machinists union representatives at least one more time this week, he said.

In the meantime, UAW and machinists union leaders are scheduled to meet today, said Bob Berghoff, president of UAW Local 148. Berghoff said that in meetings last Friday and Monday, just two contract provisions were discussed. The provisions allow management to temporarily place workers on jobs not in their regular classifications and to have work crews choose their leaders instead of determining them by seniority.

“There was no progress. They think the (worker) attitude in the plant will improve when we’re talking. And it does improve production,” Berghoff said.

Eastman said the company is negotiating in good faith and “trying to get to a win-win type of situation.”