GM, UAW work on new contract for truck plant

FLINT (WJRT) -- (02/16/09) -- UAW representatives and General Motors management are negotiating a new local contract for workers at the Flint Truck Assembly Plant.

The talks come as GM and Chrysler face a Tuesday deadline to submit restructuring plans to the federal government.

Neither side will say much about the talks inside the plant, but the clock is ticking. Union officials say they have less than 25 days to implement changes.

As the future of the Flint Truck Assembly Plant hangs in the balance, truck plant Communications Manager Kevin Nardrowski says he can't say much about the meetings.  "Although I can't comment on specifics. GM regularly has conversations with all of our plants about becoming more competitive and more efficient. Obviously, these are very challenging times and both parties are working together and are committed to succeed."

Union leadership met with GM management this morning for more than an hour. One official described the meeting as "cordial."

The two sides plan to resume talks tomorrow morning at 7.

Last week, a GM official told union leaders they needed to make changes within 30 days to cut production costs. Those changes could include cuts in overtime pay and layoffs, although it's unclear how many jobs would be lost.

Union leaders say GM wants to start grading some of its plants on a 100-point scale to prove their viability.

A Kettering University auto analysts explains why.  "It's a lot to do in a short time. However, GM is burning cash, and they're burning cash at a rate that effectively they're either going to have more money from the federal government soon, or potentially they'll end up in bankruptcy filing," professor Andrew Borchers said.

"A bankruptcy introduces a new party: a federal judge, a rather dispassionate person. And it may well be the parties' best interest -- the union and the bondholders -- to cut the best deal they can now, because, otherwise, when you go to court, all bets are off."

Today's negotiations began after 1,500 GM workers and their families filed into The Whiting Sunday afternoon.  "We're the middle-class folks. And we gotta fight for our kids," one attendee said.

Union officials at GM's Flint Truck Assembly plant hastily called the meeting late last week after the company dropped an ultimatum -- cut production costs within 30 days or else.

"We are willing to make changes," UAW Local 598 Shop Chairman Mark Hawkins said.

Mark Hawkins led the two-and-a-half hour meeting. He's confident the plant will stay open, but he's not happy with GM management. "The way that they proposed it -- not so much the content of what was proposed -- but the way that they proposed it was an insult."

He says GM wants to start grading some of its plants on a 100-point scale to prove their viability.

"They're putting us against the other plants and they're threatening other plant closures, so there's a lot of politics everybody's going to have to face and a lot of changes," observed GM retiree Ken Lewis.

Those changes could include cuts in overtime pay and local layoffs, although it's unclear how many jobs would be lost. 

Click here to get us on your iPhone..

Click here for more Mid-Michigan and Flint news

Comment on this story below and we may read what you have to say on the air.

Get more Local »

local, gabe gutierrez

• Comment Now
• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•