
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 22, 1993                   TAG: 9306220064
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LANSING, MICH.                                LENGTH: Medium

GM-UAW RELATIONS IMPROVING

Less than a year ago, General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers appeared on a collision course in this summer's contract negotiations. On Monday, they announced the unprecedented step of moving some work from Mexico to the United States.

The announcement of 800 to 1,000 new jobs at the Lansing plant is one of several job-saving efforts made possible by GM's improving relationship with the UAW.

Months of discussions between the union and company turned up production efficiencies that make it financially sound to produce the cars in Lansing, union and company officials said.

UAW Vice President Stephen Yokich said it is the first auto work he knows of to return to the United States from Mexico, where labor is cheaper and environmental rules more lax.

Although the announcement comes two days before GM and the UAW open talks on a new national contract, officials on both sides called the timing a coincidence.

"It's not a public relations ploy," GM Chief Executive Officer Jack Smith said.

The Lansing Assembly Plant will add 70,000 to 100,000 units of Chevrolet Cavalier production in the 1995 model year. Most of the cars are destined for sale in Canada, and GM said making them in Michigan will save on transportation costs.

In addition, the Lansing plant is more automated than the one in Mexico. Production will be easier because the Cavalier underbody is similar to other models made in Lansing, GM said.

The deal to bring the jobs to Michigan would have been unlikely even a year ago when tensions were at the breaking point between GM and the UAW over the company's transfer of work to outside suppliers. The union claimed that violated its national contract.

There were two local strikes at GM plants last summer, including one at Lansing, which historically had good union-management relations.

GM's downsizing plans - 23 plant closings and 74,000 job cuts by 1995 - added strain to already bad relations.

Improving U.S. auto sales have postponed some of those cuts and bought GM and the union time to work on creative ways to save jobs.

Smith, named GM president in April 1992, in February became the first GM chief executive ever to address the union's local presidents and bargaining chairmen.

The two union locals in Lansing will vote on the plan later this summer, and ratification is expected. The GM plant in Mexico is expected to get a new car to build in place of the production it is losing.

In a separate announcement Monday, GM raised its prediction for industrywide U.S. car and truck sales this year to 14 million from 13.7 million.

by CNB