IUE-CWA voices irritation at delay of GM contract talks
The union seeks rights for members to transfer to other GM plants after Moraine site closes.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
MORAINE — Union officers at General Motors Corp.'s local plant are expressing anger at the pace of contract talks with the automaker.
GM delayed talks that had been scheduled to resume last week, say officers of the International Union of Electronic Workers-Communication Workers of America Local 798, which represents some 2,000 workers at GM's sports utility vehicle assembly plant on Stroop Road. And those officers are not certain when talks will resume again.
"We should actually be meeting with them right now," Gaylen Turner, IUE-CWA 798 president, said Wednesday Aug. 13.
Union leaders note that talks began in October 2007 — nearly a year ago. And they contend that GM has a responsibility to expedite negotiations, especially after announcing in June that production at the Moraine plant will end by 2010 or earlier.
"I think it's time the area realizes what General Motors is doing right now," said John Harlow, shop chairman for IUE-CWA 798. "They're holding this work force hostage."
Tony Sapienza, a GM spokesman, called talks with the IUE-CWA "ongoing," although he couldn't say when they would resume.
"We certainly recognize the importance of these discussions," Sapienza said. "They are ongoing. I would not say there's a delay."
The union officers say they have largely negotiated a tentative agreement with GM, but a potential VEBA — a Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association — remains on the table. In a VEBA, companies make a tax-free contribution to a trust fund, which would be overseen by the IUE-CWA. The union would control investments with an eye to growing the fund enough to cover health care benefits for retirees.
Also, the IUE-CWA seeks "flow rights" for members to transfer to plants GM plans to retain, such as the UAW facility in Lordstown. There, GM is adding a shift and a new product, the Chevrolet Cruze.
Turner and Harlow say the union has negotiated what they feel is a fair agreement thus far. They said that prior to GM's most recent buyout — in which 786 Moraine workers agreed to leave their jobs or retire — the pact would have saved GM $100 million in the first year on a two-shift operation. The contract thus far allows two 10-hour shifts with no worker overtime, Harlow said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.
