‘Slow’ Progress Reported at GM-UAW Strike Talks

Negotiators on Monday tried to work out disputes blocking a settlement of two parts plant strikes against General Motors Corp. as both sides faced pressures to reach an agreement.

The focus was on high-level talks involving top GM and United Auto Workers negotiators at a suburban Holiday Inn. GM and union sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a deal could come soon.

“Progress is being made, but it’s slow,” said Jim Beardsley, an aide to the UAW’s top negotiator.

GM shares rose $2.06 to close at $73.13 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Flint strikes have brought GM’s North American operations to a virtual standstill and have cost the No. 1 auto maker an estimated $2.2 billion. About 189,700 GM employees in North America remained idled by the strikes, in addition to the 9,200 strikers.

GM still was insisting Monday that any deal to settle the Flint strikes also include resolution of festering disputes at parts plants in Indianapolis and Dayton, Ohio. The UAW also wants pending grievances settled at the Buick City complex in Flint.

“Our intent is to not have the remaining plants at risk when the Flint situation is resolved,” GM spokeswoman Charlotte Grim said.

The union has argued that it makes no sense to delay a settlement at Flint to reach deals elsewhere.

But as the strikes drag on, both sides are feeling increased pressure to settle. Dealers are running low on inventory and in some cases out of the most popular and profitable pickups, sport-utility vehicles and minivans. Some workers, without a paycheck for more than seven weeks, are under financial strain.

If the strike lasts beyond this week, GM estimates it will lose sales of 21,000 vehicles a day and a large chunk of its market share, which had just recently shown signs of recovery above the 30% level.

GM, meanwhile, reopened two assembly plants that had been idled last month due to a lack of parts from the Flint plants: the Chevrolet Corvette plant in Bowling Green, Ky., and a nonunion factory that makes full-size sport-utility vehicles in Silao, Mexico.

The UAW has threatened to strike the Corvette plant, which is GM’s only U.S. assembly plant still without a local contract 21 months after the auto maker and union signed a three-year national agreement. The UAW appeared to be holding back on any action there pending a possible deal in Flint.