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

DATE: MONDAY, October 25, 1993                   TAG: 9310250020
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DETROIT                                LENGTH: Medium

GM, UAW REACH PACT TALKS PEACEFUL, DESPITE JOB CUTS

General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers tentatively agreed to a new contract Sunday without ever setting a strike deadline, strong evidence of improved labor relations at the world's largest automaker.

The three-year pact follows a pattern on wages and benefits set between the union and Ford Motor Co. last month. Some Wall Street analysts had said they believed the agreement was too expensive for financially ailing GM.

GM has lost $17 billion making and selling vehicles in North America in the last three years. It is in the process of cutting 74,000 jobs and closing at least 21 plants - a fifth of its factory space - by 1995.

Despite that backdrop, the labor talks proved peaceful. Most telling was the lack of a strike deadline during negotiations, which began in June and intensified two weeks ago. Labor observers had expected a deadline to be set quickly.

After a 24-hour bargaining session last week, UAW president Owen Bieber asked 400 plant-level union leaders for more time, not a deadline.

"I think it reflects the improvement in the relationship," said John Casesa, an analyst with Wertheim Schroder & Co. "I don't think the sides love each other, but they finally respect each other."

Irving Bluestone, a former UAW vice president and now a professor of labor studies at Wayne State University, said he couldn't think of a time since World War II the UAW had reached a contract without a strike date.

GM won some financial flexibility under the proposed contract in relocating laid-off workers to plants with vacancies. Under the 1990 pact, most laid-off workers could reject a job outside a 50-mile radius and continue receiving full pay and benefits.

While more job cuts at GM are likely, the company and union expect early retirements to account for the bulk of them. The last such program at GM - again allowed under the new contract - coaxed 16,500 workers to leave early.

UAW local leaders are expected to meet later this week in Detroit to review the contract agreement. After that, it will be voted on in GM's 150 local bargaining units.

by CNB