Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 16, 1994 TAG: 9409160078
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
TOLEDO, Ohio - Workers have authorized a strike at a General Motors Corp. factory that builds transmissions for 11 U.S. assembly plants and five foreign plants, union officials said Thursday.
The vote was 2,596 to 106 to authorize union leaders at the Toledo Powertrain Plant to order a strike at a later date.
GM spokeswoman Charlotte Grim said negotiations were continuing. She would not discuss the dispute.
Oscar Bunch, president of United Auto Workers Local 14, said Thursday the union was concerned about safety issues, including production speedups and heavy overtime. He would not elaborate.
The union represents 4,139 hourly workers at the Toledo plant.
- Associated Press
Lumber producers sue over imports
WASHINGTON - American lumber producers, who want to reinstate a U.S. tariff on Canadian softwood imports, have filed a lawsuit in federal appeals court challenging the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement.
The Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports said in the challenge filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that the pact's dispute-resolution process violates the U.S. Constitution by overriding the country's right to control its own trade.
The U.S. government imposed a 6.5 percent duty on softwood lumber imports from Canada in 1992 after the American industry argued that the Canadians unfairly subsidize their lumber producers, enabling them to undercut U.S. prices.
But after a series of appeals and reviews, the Extraordinary Challenge Committee set up under the free trade agreement ruled in August that the import tariff should end.
In siding with Canada, 2-1, the panel made up of two Canadians and one American ruled that Canada does not unfairly subsidize its timber industry.
About $450 million in U.S. tariffs collected during the year the duty was in place remain in a trust account.
- Associated Press
by CNB