UAW Picks GM as Focus of Contract Negotiations : Labor: Union plans to use pact with the biggest of Big Three auto makers as the pattern for talks with Ford and Chrysler.

The United Auto Workers today picked General Motors, the biggest of the Big Three auto makers, as its target company in contract negotiations covering 450,000 active hourly auto workers.

UAW President Owen Bieber said GM, which employs 300,000 of the active hourly workers affected by the three national contracts, will be the target company.

Talks at Ford and Chrysler will be put on hold while the UAW tries to work out a three-year agreement with GM that then would be used as a pattern for talks at No. 2 Ford and No. 3 Chrysler.

GM was chosen with only about two weeks to go before national contracts between the union and Big Three expire, raising pressure on negotiators to reach an agreement quickly to avoid laying the groundwork for a possible strike.

The contracts cover issues common to all unionized auto workers, such as wages and benefits. Local contracts, many of which are being negotiated now, cover issues such as local work rules and seniority rights.

Chief negotiators for each company have said they want to be the national bargaining target because it gives the auto maker a chance to negotiate an agreement more tailored to its needs.

GM and Ford negotiated their current agreements with the UAW in 1987, when Ford was chosen as the target. Chrysler’s current contract was negotiated in 1988.

In 1984, GM and Ford were selected as dual targets. In the last week of bargaining, the UAW decided to focus on GM. The union hit GM with a seven-day strike that shut down all of its assembly plants and other factories.

Speculation about which company would be the union’s target this year has been going on since talks began in mid-July. Observers gave little chance of Chrysler’s being chosen as the target because of its relatively weak financial condition.

In fact, one of the biggest questions is whether Chrysler will remain part of the bargaining pattern the UAW fought to re-establish this year. The last time the three contracts had a common expiration date was 11 years ago.

Chrysler broke from the pattern in the early 1980s when union members accepted concessions to help the auto maker survive a near-brush with bankruptcy.

This year, Chrysler’s chief negotiator, Vice President Anthony St. John, contends that since the company’s per-employee labor costs are much higher than GM’s or Ford’s, it may not be able to afford a GM- or Ford-negotiated pact.

St. John said simply continuing the current contract provisions for another three years would add 16% to Chrysler’s labor costs.

UAW officials have brushed aside questions about negotiating separately with the target and Chrysler.