UAW: "...we['ll] shut the whole goddamn country down."
"GM strikes seen dragging on, but UAW vows victory"
By David Lawder
(Updates throughout)
LAS VEGAS, June 22 (Reuters) - The United Auto Workers
union "will last one day longer" than General Motors Corp.
in two crippling parts plant strikes, UAW President
Stephen Yokich vowed Monday as bargainers said the dispute
could stretch into August or September.
And once the walkouts in Flint, Mich., are settled, the UAW
may unleash other local strikes against GM, repeating the cascade
of plant closures and layoffs now gripping the automaker.
Yokich, addressing thousands of UAW local leaders gathered
here for an elections convention, said the union would not stand
for GM's threats to move work out of the Flint plants if workers
fail to grant concessions.
"We're going to continue this fight till we beat them. We
will last one day longer," Yokich shouted to thunderous applause.
The strikes at GM's metal stamping plant and another parts
factory in Flint have brought most of GM's North American
production to a halt, idling about 131,600 workers, including the
9,200 strikers.
Duane Zuckschwerdt, president of the striking UAW Local 659
at the Flint Metal Center, said he is preparing his 3,400 members
for the worst.
"We've told them it could go into August or September,"
Zuckschwerdt said, adding that negotiators again made no
progress Monday.
The Flint Metal Center workers went on strike June 5, while
5,800 workers at the Delphi East parts plant, which makes spark
plugs, instrument clusters and other parts, walked off the job
June 11.
On Monday, GM sent home 1,253 people from its Ste. Therese,
Quebec, assembly plant, halting production of Chevrolet Camaro
and Pontiac Firebird sport coupes. GM now has shut down 24 of its
29 light vehicle assembly plants in the United States, Canada and
Mexico due to shortages of parts from the two plants.
Wall Street analysts estimate that a total shutdown will cost
GM some $75 million a day, and cumulative losses could exceed $1
billion by the Fourth of July weekend.
UAW officers and bargainers alike say the strikes were
mainly caused by GM not living up to its contractual
commitments at the plants. At the Flint Metal Center, they say GM
has reneged on promises to invest $300 million in new equipment,
while at Delphi East, they say GM wants to contract out work that
would mean the loss of 2,500 jobs.
"This local strike is about whipsawing plant against
plant," Yokich said. "This local strike is about not living up to
the agreements that they made with the local memberships across
the bargaining table."
He added that the union is sending GM a strong message
"when we shut the whole goddamn country down."
Richard Shoemaker, vice president of the UAW's General
Motors department, said he is not optimistic that the strikes
will be settled before the end of July, because GM' two-week
summer shutdown starts the weekend of June 27.
He said the Flint walkouts could be followed by strikes at a
GM stamping plant in Indianapolis, and two brake plants in
Dayton, Ohio, where similar disputes are brewing. Workers at the
Dayton plants struck for 17 days in March 1996, shutting down 26
GM assembly plants and costing the auto giant $900 million.
But Shoemaker said the UAW would not strike at those plants
before the Flint walkouts are settled because "it wouldn't put
any additional pressure on them."
GM officials have blamed the Metal Center walkout on UAW
Local 659's refusal to change inefficient work rules that result
in annual losses of $50 million at the plant.
Last week, GM vice president Donald Hackworth, who oversees
North American car operations, said the automaker may have to
reassess some investment plans if it cannot become competitive at
those facilities.
U.S. Labor Secretary Alexis Herman, also speaking to the
UAW's Constitutional Convention here, said she is concerned for
workers families and communities affected by the strikes, but
added that the dispute must be worked out through the collective
bargaining process.
"As long as the collective bargaining process is working, I
am confident that workers at GM will soon be working too," Herman
said.
More than 2,500 delegates from UAW locals around the nation
are gathered in Las Vegas this week to elect the union's national
leadership, including Yokich. |
