The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.13           March 31, 1997 
 
 
Workers Strike GM In Indiana  

BY FRANK FORRESTAL
FORT WAYNE, Indiana - In another display of resistance to GM's profit drive, 2,700 members of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2209 walked off their jobs after failing to reach a local agreement by the March 14 strike deadline. This is the first time in the local's 10-year history that it has gone on strike.

The Fort Wayne Assembly Plant produces full-size pickup trucks, which are among GM's best-selling vehicles. The truck plant is one of the most modern and "efficient" in the GM system.

The strike has led to the layoff of 150 auto parts workers at Johnson Controls, where the plant's seats are outsourced. The Fort Wayne strike is the fifth work stoppage against the world's largest automaker in the past year.

The main demand of the union is to hire more workers to give some relief from heavy overtime schedules. One of GM's plans is to cut 300 jobs at the truck plant. Strikers on the picket lines report that a shortage of workers has prevented UAW members from taking vacations or getting days off.

This has led to a backlog of grievances against the company. Other unresolved issues are health and safety, particularly repetitive stress injuries, as well as more than 900 unsettled grievances. Strikers report that the average age of the workforce is around 45 years old.

Since the plant was opened in 1986, GM has hired hardly any workers. Most of the workforce is transferred workers from plants GM has shut down over the past decade. On the picket lines there were auto workers from the Detroit area; Andersonville, Indiana; Janesville, Wisconsin; and from California.

The picket lines are being honored by Teamster drivers who work for Ryder Commercial Carriers and by construction workers who are building a new body shop for a new GM model truck.

The automaker is planning to launch the new truck in 1999. The company claims that the new model will require 30 percent less labor hours to build. Whether this claim will materialize will depend, in part, on the outcome of the current battle over jobs and working conditions.

The strike comes on the heels of a three-day walk-out at another GM truck assembly plant in January by 4,300 IUE workers in Moraine, Ohio. Unlike its rivals at Ford and Chrysler, GM has reached local agreements with only 60 percent of its 105 UAW locals. In response to the strike, a GM spokesperson said, "We are facing an extremely competitive market out there..."

These negotiations will be watched closely by UAW locals without local agreements, to see who gets the upper hand. Like other UAW locals, the union, which nearly went on strike in 1995, has been preparing for a showdown with the auto giant for most of the year.

In a related development in the auto industry, Ford Motor Co. has announced plans to drop production of the Ford Thunderbird and three other models. This will mean closing down the car unit at the Loraine assembly plant in Ohio. This is the first car assembly plant Ford plans to shut down since 1982.

Ford says about 1,800 UAW workers will be laid off later this year. In addition, another 700 parts workers who supply materials to Ford will also lose their jobs. According to the Wall Street Journal, this is "the first of several moves intended to shrink Ford's North American capacity."

Another press report from the Chicago Tribune said that "at least seven of Ford's auto assembly plants may face partial or complete shutdown in the next five years as the company moves to consolidate as well as eliminate product lines."

Frank Forrestal is a member of UAW Local 551 at Ford in Chicago.  
 
 
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