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

DATE: SATURDAY, September 25, 1993                   TAG: 9309270285
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN BUSINESS

DETROIT - Amid difficult labor negotiations, General Motors Corp. is seeking to slash its hourly work force by as many as 50,000 more jobs in the next three years, sources said Friday.

The cuts would be in addition to 54,000 blue-collar jobs the company previously announced it would trim by the mid-1990s. About 39,000 of those jobs already have been eliminated.

The downsizing is part of a process that began in 1991, when the company said it would lay off 74,000 blue- and white-collar workers and close nearly two dozen plants. The effort has intensified in the past year under Chief Executive John F. Smith.

GM spokesman Jack Harned said reports of the new job cuts were "speculation." - Los Angeles Times

Judge says coal contract `imminent'

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - A federal judge assigned to hear cases stemming from a 5 1/2-month coal strike said Friday he believes a contract settlement is "rather imminent."

Spokesmen for the United Mine Workers and the Bituminous Coal Operators Association played down the remarks of U.S. District Judge Dennis Knapp.

Thomas F. Hoffman, vice president for public relations for CONSOL, Inc., and spokesman for the coal operators' negotiating committee, said the two sides "have been meeting all week."

"I'd be surprised if they don't meet through the weekend," Hoffman said Friday. "But I think it's premature to speculate on whether a settlement is imminent."

"It would be both premature and inappropriate to speculate or comment on the discussions taking place in Washington, other than to say that both sides have been meeting and will continue to meet," UMW spokesman Jim Grossfeld said.

- Associated Press