GM, UAW Agree to Meet With Arbitrator Roberts Wednesday

Attorneys for General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers union on Friday agreed to start arbitration hearings Wednesday on the legality of two bitter labor showdowns that are putting a dent in the nation’s economy.

UAW Vice President Richard Shoemaker said union and company officials will meet with independent arbitrator Thomas Roberts in Detroit for two days, then move to Flint if more time is needed.

The hearings are over a grievance GM filed last month, alleging the strikes at two Flint, Mich., parts factories violate the GM-UAW National Agreement. The walkouts by 9,200 workers have put another 186,000 GM workers temporarily out of work, shutting down 26 of GM’s 29 North American assembly plants.

The Friday discussion came after U.S. District Judge Paul Gadola directed the company and union to set a date for meeting with Roberts, a lawyer from Rolling Hills, Calif., who is the designated “umpire” for settling grievances.

GM filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Detroit, asking that the union be forced into immediate arbitration on its grievance.

Meanwhile, talks at the local plants moved slowly Friday in Flint as both sides appeared to get ready for a union gathering Monday and next week’s hearings. GM and the UAW are also scheduled to appear before Gadola on Tuesday and report on their progress toward setting an arbitration meeting.

Also Friday, the White House said Labor Secretary Alexis Herman had offered to make a federal mediator available to help resolve the strikes.