Automobile Industry Labor Relations

Japanese auto companies are locating most of their new American plants far from black population centers and are then hiring blacks at rates well below their representation in nearby areas, according to a new study. Blacks are under-represented at virtually every Japanese "transplant" auto factory in the United States, according to a review of Japanese hiring patterns by University of Michigan researchers Robert Cole and Donald Deskins.

Fresh from a defeat at Nissan Motor Co.'s manufacturing plant in Tennessee, the United Auto Workers said Thursday that it will turn its attention to the U.S. factories of Nissan's Japanese rival Honda Motor Co. The union has failed to organize any U.S. auto plant that is wholly owned by a foreign company. On Wednesday, workers at Nissan Motor Manufacturing Inc. rejected the union's fourth organizing bid in 12 years by a 2-to-1 margin.

In the wake of half a dozen lawsuits, Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday said it was backing down from a controversial employee ranking system that required supervisors to give 5% of their staff unsatisfactory grades that could lead to pay cuts and dismissal. Chief Executive Jacques Nasser sent an e-mail to all employees saying the system would be replaced by a more flexible evaluation system that does not require doling out the lowest grade and reducing pay.

After 19 days on strike against Volkswagen, unionized workers have won a victory that goes beyond the paycheck. The Volkswagen workers--the largest automotive union in Mexico--got a 14.7% increase in wages and benefits, more than double the rate of inflation. The settlement reflected labor's increasing muscle, which could grow with reforms that President Vicente Fox hopes to present to Congress in the next several months.

The strikes crippling General Motors Corp. highlight how its adoption of efficient manufacturing techniques pioneered by the Japanese is leaving the auto maker more vulnerable to union pressures. Like nearly every major auto maker in the world, GM uses a just-in-time inventory system that relies on suppliers to deliver parts to assembly plants as they are needed on the line.

The United Auto Workers union said Monday it had agreed to an early retirement program with General Motors Corp. that would let some workers as young as 50 leave with full benefits, potentially slashing more than 10,000 jobs from the auto maker's hourly work force. The plan will be financed by up to $450 million in funds set aside by the UAW and GM for training.

You can't blame Ben Hamper for feeling a little overwhelmed. In the midst of a publicity tour for his first book, "Rivethead: Tales From the Assembly Line," he sits at the Manhattan offices of his publisher, Warner Books, smoking cigarettes and mulling over the strange twists and turns of fate that have brought him there. Five years ago, he was working the rivet line at the General Motors Truck and Bus Plant in his hometown of Flint, Mich.

The mood was grim Friday at United Auto Workers Local 645 as workers and labor officials gathered to talk about the impending closure of the General Motors Van Nuys plant across the street. "It's like a blow to the chest," said Johnny Nieto, who has worked at the facility 14 years. "We all thought we had a future in this plant." Some officials began to plot ways to force GM to keep the plant open. But many of the current 2,600 workers were worried about their future and that of their families.

After 19 days on strike against Volkswagen, unionized workers have won a victory that goes beyond the paycheck. The Volkswagen workers--the largest automotive union in Mexico--got a 14.7% increase in wages and benefits, more than double the rate of inflation. The settlement reflected labor's increasing muscle, which could grow with reforms that President Vicente Fox hopes to present to Congress in the next several months.

The corrosive standoff between Caterpillar Inc. and striking United Auto Workers took confusing turns Friday as both sides agreed to resume bargaining but then quickly vowed not to budge from earlier demands. The talks, the first in the lengthy work stoppage to be held with a federal mediator, are scheduled to begin in a Chicago suburb on Monday morning.

Volkswagen and Mexican union leaders Wednesday reached a wage deal to end a 19-day strike that halted production at the only factory making the German auto maker's popular New Beetle. After a marathon negotiating session, the two sides struck a pre-dawn accord that gave the 12,322 union workers at Volkswagen's Mexico plant a 10.2% wage increase. It also included an increase in food coupon benefits equivalent to 3.

The United Auto Workers went on strike early Friday at Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s plant in Normal, Ill., the first work stoppage by the union against an auto maker in nearly four years. Negotiations between the Japanese company and the UAW resumed Friday morning after the union told its 2,700 members to walk out at 1:30 a.m. Neither the auto maker nor the union would specify what the sticking points were in contract negotiations that began June 20.

In the wake of half a dozen lawsuits, Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday said it was backing down from a controversial employee ranking system that required supervisors to give 5% of their staff unsatisfactory grades that could lead to pay cuts and dismissal. Chief Executive Jacques Nasser sent an e-mail to all employees saying the system would be replaced by a more flexible evaluation system that does not require doling out the lowest grade and reducing pay.

Workers at Volkswagen of Mexico won a pay raise substantially higher than the rate of inflation, in a settlement that's likely to encourage other Mexican unions fighting to recover the buying power workers have lost over more than a decade of austerity policies. The workers won a 21% overall increase, consisting of a 13% wage hike, a 5% increase in productivity incentives, 2% in loans and 1% in aid for school supplies for workers' children, a union spokesman said.

Volkswagen filed a petition in Mexico seeking a ruling that would declare a 5-day-old strike illegal, a move that forced the two sides to break off negotiations. Volkswagen management said in a petition filed Monday that the workers' union didn't hand in the proper documentation to justify a strike and that workers abandoned their posts before the strike was scheduled to start.

Workers at Volkswagen's plant in Puebla, Mexico, walked out in a wage dispute, halting production at the world's only factory producing the popular New Beetle. Salary talks with unions representing 12,600 workers collapsed after 10 days of negotiations. Although the two sides resumed talks later in the day, the walkout continued, a spokesman for the German car maker said.

Last week, Chrysler stopped the assembly line for 10 minutes in its massive auto plant here and bought soft drinks and coffee for workers to reward them for productivity and outstanding quality. Wednesday, Chrysler gave the same workers pink slips. "One day we're heroes and next they stick it in our ear," said John Callahan, 54, who has worked in the plant for three different automobile manufacturers during the last 35 years.

Despite a long strike by union workers, Caterpillar Inc. on Thursday reported record earnings of $955 million for 1994 and said productivity increased substantially since the walkout began in June. The performance, though disappointing to investors, reflects Caterpillar's ability to run plants effectively with managers, temporary workers and union members who crossed the picket lines. It is also the result of strong worldwide demand for heavy construction equipment.

Auto workers overwhelmingly approved a new contract Sunday with General Motors' Saturn Corp. that would alter the risk-reward arrangement that helped make Saturn "a different kind of car company." Union workers voted 2,220 to 271 for the four-year contract covering Saturn's 7,200 workers in Spring Hill and about 100 at the company's engineering center in Madison Heights, Mich. The contract is much closer to those negotiated by the union for other U.S. auto workers, according to UAW Local 1853.

The United Auto Workers said Tuesday that its members at Ford Motor Co. have ratified a new four-year contract. "We're very proud of this contract and the teamwork that made it possible," UAW President Stephen P. Yokich said. "It's rewarding to know that the UAW Ford membership supports the agreement by such a substantial margin." The union said 85% of the workers who voted approved the deal. Vote totals were not immediately available; the union represents about 100,000 Ford workers.