ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, June 11, 1996 TAG: 9606110032
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DEARBORN, MICH.
SOURCE: Bloomberg Business News
U.S. AUTOMAKERS SAY they must stay flexible in staffing. Union leaders say more hiring is needed to replace extensive overtime, and that profits mean workers should be paid more.
Ford Motor Co. and United Auto Workers officials shook hands across a bargaining table Monday and started the critical process of hammering out a new labor contract.
The ceremony, which will be repeated today at Chrysler Corp. and Wednesday at General Motors Corp., opened three months of preliminary negotiations. The UAW will pick a ``target'' automaker in late August and try to forge an agreement with it that will serve as a pattern for contracts with the other two companies.
The present contracts expire Sept.14.
Both sides have much at stake. Ford and its U.S. rivals say they need to keep costs down and maintain flexible work rules. The UAW wants to protect the jobs of union members and halt a decline in membership. Since 1985, the number of UAW members at the three U.S. automakers has decreased by a third, to 410,565.
``Job security is No.1,'' said Stephen Yokich, president of the UAW. ``Without job security, there is absolutely nothing.''
Ford said its hourly work force has increased about 9 percent between 1992 and 1995, to 104,092.
Industry analysts and executives have speculated that Chrysler will be the target this year. The smallest of the U.S. automakers has the highest profit per vehicle and hasn't been the target since 1973.
Yokich said the union hasn't chosen a company yet. He said the company that positions itself to reach an agreement first with the union will be selected as the target.
UAW and Ford officials said they have a good relationship, but the union on Monday brought along an unsubtle reminder of its willingness to do battle - two Louisville Slugger bats signed by UAW members.
``In case we need an additional bit of muscle, we'll have it,'' said Jim McNeill, president of Local 600 in Dearborn and head of the UAW's Ford bargaining committee.
The union retains considerable power despite its waning numbers. A 17-day strike in March against two GM brake plants almost paralyzed the company's North American factories. Automakers try to keep costs down by maintaining low inventories and are therefore vulnerable to such supply disruptions.
Ford, which was the target three years ago, hasn't had an authorized strike against it in 10 years. It can hardly afford one now. The company's truck plants are running at full speed, which the union said is causing too much overtime for workers. The union wants Ford to hire new workers, rather than make older workers put in more hours.
``It's ridiculous, and we think it's holding young people back from good-paying jobs,'' Yokich said. Overtime also can increase accidents and force workers to be ``a zombie walking around because you're working 18 hours a day.''
But Ford says it needs to have flexibility on staffing. U.S. automakers argue that they need to be more competitive with Japanese automakers that have built nonunion assembly plants in this country.
``We need to be flexible as demand shifts between our products to be able to adjust volumes without major layoffs, and overtime is a way to handle that,'' said Thomas Brown, Ford's executive director of labor affairs.
U.S. automakers pay about the same hourly wages as Japanese automakers, but the U.S. companies say they pay at least $10 more an hour in benefits. Ford pays its workers about $40 an hour in wages and benefits, compared with about $28 a hour for workers at Japanese-owned U.S. car and truck plants. GM pays about $43 an hour.
U.S. companies also pay huge pension bills to support retired workers and have an older work force with more health problems. ``If there is an overriding theme from our part in these negotiations, it is competitiveness,'' said Robert Kramer, vice president of human resources with Ford.
Yokich said boosting hourly wage rates from the current $18 to $22 and maintaining health care benefits are two other top issues for Ford workers. He urged the company to share its wealth. ``In the last three years, they've made $12billion, so I guess that [wage] rate should go up,'' he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 81 linesby CNB