BY MEG NOVAK
SPRING HILL, Tennessee - On July 19 more than 5,000 members of United Auto Workers Local 1853 voted to authorize a strike against Saturn, a division of General Motors. The vote, which carried by a 95 percent majority, authorizes union officials to call a strike as early as July 24, although negotiations between the union and the company were set to resume July 21. It would be the first strike ever at this plant.

The vote comes four months after a referendum to enter under the national UAW contract with GM was rejected by union members by a margin of 2-1. The plant in Spring Hill, which opened eight years ago and employs some 7,200 workers, is GM's only U.S. assembly plant currently producing cars. GM has responded to the parts shortage created by strikes at two facilities in Flint, Michigan, by laying off more than 175,000 workers in Canada, the United States, and Mexico.

The Saturn plant has been touted worldwide as an innovative "partnership" between union members and the auto bosses. Workers here have a different contract than the nationwide agreement between the UAW and GM. The contract at Saturn is based on a "risk and reward" pay program under which workers average 12 percent less in hourly wages than workers at other GM plants, but can add to their base pay by reaching certain goals. The "equal partnership" is also supposed to allow Saturn workers to have more input in decisions and provide for almost no layoffs. The company is now planning to build one of it's newest model cars, the LS mid-sized sedan, as well as major Saturn components, at other plants.

"Job security is the number one issue," said Michael Branch, who has worked at the Saturn plant for eight years. He has worked for GM for 21 years, and like many of the workers Militant correspondents spoke to, Branch moved to Tennessee to work at Saturn. "Nobody wants to strike," he said, "but we will support our union."

"GM needs to return every worker to their original seniority date and give them $20,000 a year for pain and suffering," stated Todd Sapelak, who has worked at Saturn since 1991. He was first hired at GM in 1979, worked for one year and then was laid off for five; called back for three years, and then laid off for three. Sapelak said he moved away from his family and friends, primarily because he thought there would be more job security at Saturn. "At Saturn, GM is taking more and more decisions away from the union on the risk and reward program," commented Jim Sprague. Saturn is the third GM plant he has worked in. He recently walked the picket line with strikers in Flint during the two-week summer shut down in Spring Hill. "Eight years ago when I hired in here it was like paradise, but the last three or four years, it's just another GM plant."

The union also claims that GM is trying to unfairly cut second quarter pay. UAW shop committee chairman Mike Bennett said the automaker initially reduced second quarter output by about 5,500 units, as sales have slipped. Even though workers then made up lost output, the union claims the company will only pay them $390 of the $1,400 bonuses they are owed.

Shelley Reed, who has been at the plant for seven years, said, "Saturn is using the national strike to back out on quarterly pay.... If they want to fight with us every quarter, then let us have our money on each paycheck."

Meg Novak is a member of the United Steelworkers of America in Birmingham, Alabama. Rich Stuart, a member of the USWA Local 12014, contributed to this article.  
 
 
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