BY JOHN SARGE AND JEAN LUC DUVAL
PONTIAC, Michigan - Hundreds of striking auto workers and their supporters marched and rallied in front of General Motors (GM) offices at the sprawling truck assembly complex here May 20. For the second week in a row, striking members of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 594 showed their determination to win a decent local contract. Union officials said that more solidarity action were planned.

Some 5,900 UAW members walked out April 23 over the company's refusal to hire 600 more assembly workers to fulfill commitments made to end a 1995 local strike. In Pontiac, like other recent strikes against the world's largest automaker, workers are protesting personnel shortages. Workers have been unable to get vacations or even adequate relief time, and there has been a rise in on-the- job injuries.

Strikers report some departments work many hours of overtime to meet GM's production demands. Charles Dinkins explained while walking the picket line, "I'm hoping for the best. But our jobs are overcycled and undermanned. The bottom limit is the dollar and we are an expendable commodity."

Local 594 president Ron Miller told the gathered unionists that the strikers would not go back to work until the company settled over 3,200 grievances that have piled up. He said the union negotiating committee has been meeting with the company, but has little progress to report.

The Pontiac walkout is the latest in a series of strikes over local contracts and working conditions at GM plants. Speaking at a shareholders meeting May 23, GM head Jack Smith said the auto giant would not allow itself to sign labor agreements "that damage us for the long term." He reported strikes had cost the company $1.2 billion in 1996 and $225 million through May 15, 1997.

Meanwhile, the 3,400 members UAW Local 1999 who had struck GM's Oklahoma City assembly plant April 4 voted to end their walkout May 25. The main issues for workers in Oklahoma City were the same as the issues in Pontiac - the refusal of the auto giant to staff its plants with enough workers. UAW members were demanding that GM add 500 workers to the plant.

Yvonne Smith, Local 1999 vice president, told the press GM's plans called for workers to work 58 or 59 minutes out of every hour, compared to prior standards that ranged from 51 to 56 minutes per hour. "That is virtually no recovery time," Smith said.

Union members voted by a 70 percent majority to end their seven-week strike without seeing the final agreement. The local membership will have a ratification meeting the first week in June. Neither the company nor the union would comment officially on the settlement.

In a related development, 8,500 members of the International Union of Electronic Workers (IUE) in Warren, Ohio, approved a new contract on May 24 by a 79 percent majority. The members of IUE Local 717, who make parts for GM vehicles, walked out May 13 for one day. GM quickly negotiated an agreement with the union, because an extended strike could have crippled much of its North American auto production.

Jean Luc Duval is a member of UAW Local 235. John Sarge is a member of UAW Local 900.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home