Workers at Saturn Vote to OK Strike
The United Auto Workers at General Motors Corp.’s Saturn plant turned up the heat on the auto maker Sunday by authorizing a strike at the Spring Hill, Tenn., plant.
The voting results at the small-car plant, which employs about 7,300 hourly workers, mark the beginning of a big week, including a key arbitration hearing, in the ongoing struggle between the world’s largest auto maker and the union representing most of its work force.
“The pressure is building on both sides,” Burnham Securities analyst David Healy said.
Strikes at two parts plants in Flint, Mich., have idled most of GM’s North American operations and cost the company $1.2 billion, with analysts estimating another $80 million tacked on every day the strikes continue.
A total of 9,200 United Auto Workers are on strike at the two plants. Members of UAW Local 659 struck first at the Flint Metal Center stamping plant June 5. Workers from UAW Local 651 started their walkout June 11 at Delphi East, which makes spark plugs, filters and other components.
Negotiations were held for about two hours at each of the plants Sunday morning. Talks at Delphi East are scheduled to resume today, while those at Flint Metal will resume Tuesday.
About 300 UAW leaders and bargaining chairmen from GM’s U.S. plants began gathering Sunday at a hotel outside Flint, where top-level negotiations between GM and the union have been taking place.
On Tuesday, the UAW and GM will meet in Flint with U.S. District Court Judge Paul Gadola Jr., who ordered the two sides to set a time to meet with an arbitrator concerning GM’s claims that the strikes are illegal. That hearing with Thomas Roberts of Rolling Hills is set to begin Wednesday in Detroit.
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The auto maker hopes the independent umpire declares the strikes illegal and orders the strikers back to work. The company also could seek damages with such a ruling.
“One way or another, the arbitration is going to speed things up,” analyst Healy said.
He added that a loss by GM would probably lead the auto maker to intensify talks with the UAW. “They’ve got to cut their losses at some point,” he said.
GM filed a grievance against the union in June. The company says the strikes violate its contract with the UAW because they are really over product allocations and capital investments--disputes that can be settled only through arbitration.
The contract does permit strikes over health, safety and production standards issues such as line speeds.
A ruling in favor of the UAW, however, would throw the spotlight back on settlement talks, which have progressed slowly if at all.
“The negotiations continue to be very, very slow to say the least,” UAW vice president Richard Shoemaker said Sunday. “I quit trying to figure what [GM’s] strategy was a long time ago.”
Shoemaker said he believed the arbitrator would rule against GM’s request to hold the strikes illegal. Even if the arbitrator rules for GM, Shoemaker said the strikes must be settled at the bargaining table or nothing will be solved.
The strike authorization vote by Saturn workers, represented by UAW Local 1853, only intensified the pressure because that assembly plant is one of only three among GM’s 29 in North America still operating. More than 95% of the more than 5,000 members voting authorized a strike, said Joe Rypkowski, president of the Saturn local.
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“This strike vote is about General Motors’ failing to live up to its commitments,” he said Sunday at a news conference in Tennessee.
Rypkowski said GM has failed to invest in Saturn’s Tennessee operations as promised and has begun turning to foreign suppliers for parts for the next-generation Saturn car and other future vehicles.
He said the auto maker is no longer treating the union as partners. It is the first such vote in the eight-year history of the plant, which since its inception has been lauded as a model of union-management cooperation.
Saturn’s chairman and president, Don Hudler, remained hopeful that the union and management could resolve their differences.
“It is important to note that the vote is an authorization to strike and not an action to strike,” he said in a news release. “Nor does the vote imply that a strike is imminent. Saturn’s operating schedule remains unchanged and we will continue to build cars.
“The Saturn philosophy encourages healthy discussion of issues. We recognize we have critical issues to work through. We will continue to talk through each one of them and resolve issues as we’ve always done in the past--in the spirit of partnership.”
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The other two operating assembly plants, in Oshawa, Ontario, and Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, have problems of their own, analysts and union officials said. The Canadian plant, which makes GM’s highly anticipated all-new full-size pickup, is expected to close today, while the Mexican small-car plant is operating at 20% of its capacity.
Adding to the auto maker’s woes, UAW officials have alluded to strikes at other parts and assembly plants.
Parts plants in Dayton, Ohio, and Indianapolis have authorized strikes, while assembly plants in Flint and Bowling Green, Ky., have been mentioned as potential strike sites.
