Negotiations Resume in GM Strike That Has Idled 124,700
Talks to resolve the 11-day strike that has paralyzed General Motors Corp.’s North American car and truck operations resumed in earnest Friday after a week of few discussions and many plant shutdowns, GM officials said.
“Our priority is to reach an equitable agreement as soon as possible so we can resume supply to our customers,” said James Hagedon, a spokesman at GM’s strikebound Delco Chassis Division brake plants in Dayton, Ohio.
A source close to the talks said the discussions were more serious than those that had occurred over the last week and were expected to continue through the weekend.
About 3,000 members of United Auto Workers Local 696 walked off the job in Dayton on March 5 in a dispute over job security and GM’s decision to buy an antilock braking system from an outside company, Germany’s Robert Bosch.
As of late Friday, the strike had forced GM to send more than 124,700 workers home without pay because shortages of braking system parts made by the Dayton plants prevented it from building most of its cars and trucks. The company has closed 24 of its 29 North American assembly plants.
UAW officials declined to comment on the status of the talks. But in a statement Friday, UAW Vice President Richard Shoemaker urged idled workers to continue to file for unemployment benefits despite GM’s attempts to block such payments.
The auto maker, saying it did not want to finance a strike against itself, moved to contest unemployment claims which ultimately would be paid by the company--in the more than 30 states where it has facilities.
Shoemaker denounced “GM’s illegitimate attempts to deny [workers] benefits to which they are legally entitled.”
At least one state unemployment agency agreed with the UAW. The Kansas Department of Human Resources said Friday that it will honor claims filed by workers idled at GM’s Fairfax, Kan., plant.
“As far as the law is concerned, this is due to a lack of work,” said Kathy Ketchum, a spokeswoman for the department.
The Michigan Employment Security Commission plans to decide on the issue next week.
GM said no additional plants were idled by the strike Friday, but it sent home another 13,200 workers from parts plants, bringing the total to 124,700 idled workers in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
