BY JOHN SARGE
FLINT, Michigan - The strikes by 9,200 workers at two General Motors plants here is turning into a showdown between the world's largest auto maker and the United Auto Workers (UAW). In the last week of June, GM shut down almost all of its assembly plants and other operations in North America and announced it will try to prevent the laid-off unionists from collecting unemployment compensation. Meanwhile, workers at two GM brake plants in Dayton, Ohio, voted to authorize their own strike.

On June 5, 3,400 UAW Local 659 members walked out of GM's Flint Metal Center over health and safety, outsourcing, subcontracting, and working conditions. Six days later 5,800 members of UAW Local 651 struck at Delphi East, on the other side of town, over similar issues. At the heart of the dispute is the company's demand that fewer workers produce more vehicles. GM wants to slash up to 50,000 hourly workers from the payroll in the coming years.

This is the 10th time in the last two years that UAW members have struck GM plants over the company's productivity demands. Most of these skirmishes ended with the company backing down. This time GM is looking to force the union to capitulate.

The stakes in the battle are high. GM is far behind its main competitors in cutting jobs, outsourcing parts production to lower-wage suppliers, and speeding up the lines. In 1997 General Motors averaged $850 profit on each vehicle produced, compared to Ford Motor Co.'s average of $1,520, according to Habour & Associates Inc.

"Plants that continue to lose millions of dollars each year because of noncompetitive work practices prevent GM from being a strong contender in the marketplace," General Motors vice president Donald Hackworth declared in a recorded message to employees June 30. "We can no longer run our business that way," he added.

A July 1 news article in USA Today stated that "analysts applaud GM's tough stance with the union." Citing an interview with an auto industry analyst at Furman Selz, the article continued, "If GM doesn't come out of this strike with blatant work rule concessions from the United Auto Workers, [Maryann] Keller says, `Then good-bye stock.' "

Three weeks after forcing Local 651 members onto the picket line, GM's stock price has fallen more than 10 percent while Ford's stock prices rose about 6 percent.

GM shutters assembly plants
Since the beginning of the strikes, GM has shuttered 26 of its 29 North American assembly plants and sections of more than 100 parts plants. Two other assembly plants closed June 29 for a two-week vacation break. The layoffs total 162,700 workers, including more than 10,000 in Canada and 32,000 in Mexico. As of June 30, the company had lost almost $1.2 billion and the production of 227,000 vehicles.

As the third week of the strike was drawing to a close and with union officials suggesting that the work stoppage could last into August, GM made public announcements designed to pressure union officials and workers. On June 24 the company sent a letter to the UAW leadership at the union's convention in Las Vegas outlining plans to file a grievance under the national contract and demand expedited arbitration. The bosses charge the union with illegal tactics in violation of the 1996 agreement. They claim that the issues in Flint fall under the national agreement. Union tops dismissed the letter as a publicity move.

The same day the auto bosses announced that they would attempt to block state unemployment insurance payments for laid-off workers in the United States. The company tried this during the 17-day strike by UAW members in Dayton in 1996. GM failed in most states but was able to delay workers receiving their benefits. The company's move this time was offset somewhat by the state government in Michigan, which said that laid-off workers - but not strikers - would be eligible for weekly payments of up to $300 per week. It is estimated that as many as 100,000 workers across the state, both from GM plants and from independent parts suppliers, will qualify for jobless benefits. GM promised to appeal the Michigan Unemployment Agency ruling.

As the fourth week of the strike opened, GM's Hackworth ordered plant level bosses to send home any "nonessential" maintenance workers at closed factories, turn off power to machinery, and dim lights to save on utilities. This "cold shutdown" also affected plants not shut down due to the strike. As these plants closed for the vacation break, maintenance workers expecting to work the two weeks were sent home and planned maintenance was canceled. The vacation period is usually used to install new equipment and repair existing machinery. This followed announcements that the company was slashing "discretionary spending" to conserve cash during the strike.

GM officials also announced that they were considering blocking health-care benefits for laid-off workers. Under the UAW national agreement, workers on short-term lay off continue to receive medical coverage. On June 29 the auto giant backed off its plan to slash health care for unemployed workers, but said this would be reviewed weekly. Dental benefits were cut.

Workers say: more jobs, no speedup
But UAW members don't seem intimidated by GM's moves or Wall Street's rumblings. On June 30 workers at two GM brake plants in Dayton, Ohio, voted to authorize their local union leadership to strike the plants. It was the 3,400 members of UAW Local 696 who struck for 17 days in March 1996. Now the issue is GM's refusal to add about 100 jobs to the plants, as had been agreed to in an October 1997 local contract. Union officials also report that the auto maker wants to outsource work presently done in the plant and reduce employment to 1,520 in a few years. Press reports indicate that about half the local membership voted even though many were on vacation shutdown. More than 80 percent of those voting favored of strike action. An Indianapolis, Indiana, UAW local will also be taking a strike authorization vote July 12.

Working conditions at GM have been worsening for years under the employer's drive for productivity gains. At the Metal Fabrication Center in Flint, bosses are demanding that workers give up production quotas that plant officials agreed to in the last local contract. Under the quota system, workers are only required to finish a set number of parts each day. The company claims some workers put in less than a full day's work but receive eight hours' pay.

Workers argue that conditions would make it dangerous to work any faster or harder. Randy Henry, a welder with 27 years seniority, told the Flint Journal, "They asked us to put out 20 percent more. They mentioned it for a day. [But if we attempted it] we'd probably die." The work is extremely hot. "I got to where I sweat in my helmet and it turns my helmet off," Henry declared. The welding helmets have electronic sensors that make it easier for workers to see their work.

Will DeLaVergne, who welds engine cradles in the plant, agreed. "They've even raised production to some extent," he said. If the unionists were forced to work nonstop for eight hours "the quality would go down - it's probably 120 degrees in there. You would drop if you had to weld like that all day."

It is conditions like these that keep the picket lines well staffed. Workers at the Metal Fabrication Center only have two gates to picket, so dozens walk the lines around the clock. At Delphi East, with many more gates spread around the complex, the picket lines are smaller but no less enthusiastic. Strikers wave to passing cars and trucks, and there is a constant blast of horns along the main roads at both complexes.

Strikers have also begun to draw up their own signs. Most focus on what strikers view as GM's approach to negotiations. One sign declares, "Your lies and deceit got us on the street." There are also some protectionist signs attacking the North American Free Trade Agreement, and demanding "Save Flint jobs."

Picket lines are magnet for solidarity
The picket lines are also a magnet for other workers. Picket captains maintain a sign-in sheet for guests. The names and union local numbers of dozens of recent visitors fill the pages.

Nine members of UAW Local 686 were on the lines June 27. They had piled into a van and traveled from the Delphi Thermal Systems plant in Lockport, New York. David Smith explained that the group "felt that the brothers and sisters in Flint needed our help, so when we were laid off we didn't wait. We came straight here."

Press reports indicate that the U.S. border patrol has been slowing Canadian workers trying to visit the picket lines. On June 22 a group of about 20 members of the Canadian Auto Workers were delayed more than 30 minutes after telling the border cops where they were going. The crossing between Ontario and Michigan usually takes very little time.

Ian Bawden, who works at GM's Windsor, Ontario, transmission plant, explained, "We're laid off as of today, so we have a lot of free time to come over and assist. When we were on strike two years ago, the brothers and sisters from Flint came out to support us, and we owe them the same respect. We're all in this together."

Workers walking picket duty appreciate the solidarity. "We need all the support we can get," Charles Andis, who has worked at the Metal Fabrication Center for 22 years, said. "I'm sure we'll all be down there for them in the future if it comes to it. I think it's turned out to be one big union family."

On June 29 the chief negotiators for the union, UAW vice president Richard Shoemaker and the company's Gerald Knechtel, met for the first time in more than two weeks. There was no reported progress. But after the meeting the company announced that it would continue to make health-care payments and the union sent more than 200 more strikers back into the Delphi East complex to build parts for non-GM customers, including Chrysler and Harley-Davidson.

John Sarge is a member of UAW Local 900 in Wayne, Michigan. Frank Gorton a member of the UAW from Detroit and Priscilla Schenk contributed to this article.  
 
 
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