Union Rejects GM Offer, Says Sides Far Apart

A United Auto Workers union negotiator rejected General Motors Corp.’s latest contract offer Friday without revealing much of its contents and stressed that the two sides were far from settling by a Sept. 14 deadline.

“I don’t think it is in any fashion the framework from which an agreement can be put together,” UAW Vice President Donald F. Ephlin told a news conference after hearing GM’s proposal.

The official rejection of the offer must come from an elected 300-member council that will meet Monday in Dearborn, Mich.

The Ford council will consider the only proposal Ford has made so far, in which the No. 2 auto maker would freeze wages except for an unspecified performance bonus while retaining the right to move work outside the company.

Ephlin said he was certain GM council members would not be pleased by the auto maker’s offer to increase wages and all benefits, including pension contributions and layoff protection, by a total of 6%, which would add about $1.50 an hour per worker to GM’s total labor costs.

By comparison, the 1984 settlement increased the package by about 8.4%, adding about $2 an hour per worker to total labor costs, said Richard O’Brien, GM director of labor relations.

While the union wants raises for its members, its main concern for the 1987 contract is protection of jobs threatened by overseas competition and the industry’s overcapacity caused by construction of mostly non-union Japanese plants in North America.

GM’s offer Friday was its second since talks began July 27. It reportedly was little different from the first proposal, which was made only two weeks into bargaining and immediately rejected.