GM negotiations
VEBA remains on talks' agenda
IUE-CWA shop chairman says union must determine how it can shoulder future health care costs for workers and retirees.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
MORAINE — Union negotiators working to assure a future for General Motors' Stroop Road SUV assembly plant say they have a "framework" for a new contract.
"We have made considerable progress in negotiations," said John Harlow, shop chairman for the IUE-CWA Local 798. "There are still obviously some hold-ups."
Extras
Among the questions still on the negotiating table: A VEBA, or voluntary employees beneficiary association. In a VEBA, GM would contribute to a trust fund, which the International Union of Electronic Workers-Communication Workers of America would manage to cover future health care costs for current or future retirees.
Harlow said his union must determine how it can shoulder the costs of a VEBA. Last year, the United Auto Workers — a much bigger union — agreed with GM on a similar trust fund.
"That's the one thing the corporation is saying they want us to follow," Harlow said. GM's Moraine plant is the automaker's only production facility represented by the IUE-CWA.
David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., said an attrition package announced this week may be a sign that GM and the union are nearing agreement on a labor contract, which both sides have negotiated since October. Cole also thinks GM wanted the package — encouraging workers to leave or retire by July 1 — before directing new products to the Moraine plant.
But representatives of GM have told union negotiators that there are no new products at the moment for the local plant.
"We fully understand the mounting frustrations of a lack of an immediate future and a newly negotiated agreement," the union said in a statement to members on its Web site this week.
Harlow said it's the union's goal is to position the plant for new vehicles if GM presents them.
"That's what we're hoping for," he said.
American Axle to resume talks
Bargainers for the United Auto Workers and a key parts supplier for General Motors Corp. were to resume negotiations today, March 6, the first talks since workers went on strike last week.
About 3,600 UAW workers at five American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. plants in Michigan and New York walked off their jobs Feb. 26 after contract talks broke down over wages. The resulting parts shortage has forced GM and other parts suppliers to shut down plants in the U.S. and Canada.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.
