UAW Leader Satisfied With Pace of Auto Talks
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DETROIT — The president of the United Auto Workers union says he is satisfied with the pace of bargaining at Ford Motor Co., and a newspaper reported negotiators may be close to consensus on several issues.
The UAW is seeking new contracts at Ford and General Motors Corp. to replace pacts that expire Sept. 14. Ford has been selected as this year’s strike target by the union.
Ford talks were continuing through the weekend on the committee level. Seven subcommittees met Saturday and three were to meet Sunday.
“I’m satisfied at this point that bargaining is moving about on the pace that I thought it would, and, of course, once we get by Monday, the clock keeps ticking on, the pace will have to pick up and I’m confident it will,” UAW President Owen Bieber said Saturday at an impromptu news conference in Flint. Bieber was in Flint celebrating the 50th anniversary of the UAW’s historic sit-down strike against GM.
“I still have hopes that we can reach an agreement by the deadline. I want to caution everyone that there are a lot of issues yet to be resolved, but I think we’re moving and we’re going to do everything in our power to keep it going that way,” he said.
Bieber said he has not seen any “major glitches” in the talks so far. “Problems are there and tough ones, but there’s no indication yet that this isn’t moving similar to other negotiations,” he said.
The union leader dismissed Wall Street speculation that profitable Ford will negotiate a contract with the UAW that will prove unpalatable to the more strapped GM, leading to a strike there. Normally, the contract negotiated with the strike target serves as a pattern for other firms.
“I’m not going to worry about what somebody might be predicting. . . . They can’t possibly have that good a feel to predict what’s going to happen,” Bieber said.
The Detroit Free Press Sunday quoted a source close to the bargaining as saying Ford and the UAW are close to consensus on health and safety issues, training and benefits.
The unnamed source said many issues in the negotiations with Ford could be resolved by Friday.
“The only difficulties are going to be the final language and the numbers,” the source said.
Still unresolved in the area of benefits, the source said, is the size of any increase in pensions, which currently are about $22 for each year of service.
