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To: J. D. Main who wrote (152767)	2/1/2000 7:10:00 AM
From: Dorine Essey	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 176387

UAW Wants PCs for DaimlerChrysler, Ford Workers By Ben Klayman DETROIT (Reuters) - The United Auto Workers union said on Monday it is talking with Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F - news) and DaimlerChrysler AG (NYSE:DCX - news)(DCXGn.DE) about putting computers in the homes of their U.S. hourly workers. ``It's a good idea. It's the way of the future,' UAW President Stephen Yokich told reporters at a press conference. Union executives who negotiated new labor contracts last year with the U.S. automakers said they have discussed the idea with Ford and DaimlerChrysler. Officials at Ford declined to comment, while those at DaimlerChrysler said they haven't been contacted about the idea. A section of the new Ford-UAW labor agreement from last year said the two will review offerings to ``bring computers and Internet service to every UAW Ford family, including using a portion of Personal Development Assistance funds to assist UAW members with purchasing family personal computers.' The UAW represents 101,000 hourly workers at Ford, including 23,500 at its Visteon parts unit, and 75,000 at DaimlerChrysler's U.S. division. UAW officials did not say whether they had discussed the idea with General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM - news). The union represents 172,000 hourly workers at the world's largest automaker. GM spokesman Pat Morrissey said the automaker is exploring ways to better communicate with its employees using the Internet, including possibly providing links to GM's intranet. ``We're not sure what the best use of that is, but we're looking at a lot of different things on how we can improve connecting to our employees through the Internet because we know that's a critical trend,' he said. Yokich, who trades online e-mails with his 13-year-old grandson, said having a laptop at home has made communications and other aspects of his job easier. ``It's a good communications instrument to tell their employees what's really going on,' he said of the automakers. UAW Vice President Nate Gooden, who negotiates with DaimlerChrysler for the union, said computers at all the employees' homes would allow for better communications and would be a natural link to the union's national training center. Yokich, who will travel to Stuttgart, Germany, next week for a DaimlerChrysler supervisory board meeting, also said the retirement announcement last week made by the German-U.S. automaker's co-chairman, Robert Eaton, was long expected. Eaton said he will retire at the end of March. Yokich said DaimlerChrysler's management board, of which Eaton is a member, will continue shrinking to a more 'manageable' level, but he declined to speculate on the size to which the 13-member board will be cut. The board is currently made comprised of nine Germans and four Americans after an initial even split. He also wouldn't discuss what the minimum U.S. representation on the board should be, other than to say that the U.S. president should always be a member. Yokich said the Germans won't totally ignore the Chrysler operations as Chrysler generates over half the company's profits. UAW officials further said talks are going well in efforts to organize DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes sport utility vehicle plant in Alabama and Freightliner heavy truck plant in North Carolina, but no certification vote has been scheduled at either site. Yokich declined to say what the UAW's strategy will be for organizing the U.S. plants of other foreign automakers, especially the Japanese. He said the UAW has seen strong interest from workers in those plants. Yokich said he was traveling to Chicago on Monday to meet with Navistar International Corp. (NYSE:NAV - news) executives about replacing the late UAW executive Jack Laskowski on the heavy- and medium-duty truck maker's board. Laskowski, who died last year, will likely be replaced by Gooden or a regional UAW official.