Factory Workers Contracts

Caterpillar Inc. presented the United Auto Workers with a new contract offer on Tuesday, and the union said it would deliver it to the membership this weekend for a possible vote, perhaps foretelling the end to a 17-month strike that has been this decade's most costly and dismal failure for the American labor movement. During the walkout, the Peoria, Ill.

With a few hours to go before a midnight strike deadline, machinists at Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works plant in Palmdale and in Marietta, Ga., voted late Tuesday to approve a contract. Palmdale workers will receive a 3% pay raise over three years and more flexibility in scheduling time off. Under the new package, workers will be able to take vacation time in four-hour increments and sick time in one-hour increments, according to Gary Holt, area director for the International Assn.

Workers at Johnson Controls Inc.'s battery division in Fullerton and at three other plants ratified a new three-year contract agreement, the United Auto Workers union said Friday. The new contract, which expires June 20, 1997, covers about 250 workers in Fullerton and an additional 750 in Dallas, Louisville, Ky., and Middletown, Del.

Striking General Motors Corp. employees at two key parts plants in Flint, Mich., voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to end a walkout that virtually shut down the U.S. operations of the world's largest auto maker. More than 80% of the striking United Auto Workers union members approved an agreement with GM, the union said. Workers began returning to their jobs Wednesday evening. GM now must begin the huge job of restarting 25 major plants in the U.S.

The strikes against General Motors Corp., though very costly by themselves, together were only the latest skirmish in a long-term battle GM is fighting to arrest its drooping share of the U.S. auto market and otherwise regain ground lost to its rivals. The strikes, which effectively halted GM's North American production for several weeks, will cost the company as much as $2.

Machinists Approve McDonnell Douglas Offer: The 6,700 workers, who have been on strike since June 5, overwhelmingly approved a new contract, ending their 99-day strike against the St. Louis-based aerospace company. The workers, who will start returning to work Monday, won changes in three key areas: job security, wages and pension benefits, the union said.

Striking Pepsi Workers Reject Company Offer: In their first vote since walking out six weeks ago, drivers, warehouse loaders and bottlers at plants in Torrance, Baldwin Park, San Fernando and Buena Park rejected the company's proposal, Teamsters Union officials said, but they would not disclose specific results. No new talks have been scheduled. "We are very far apart in negotiations," said Michael Patton, benefit specialist for Teamsters Local 952.

Chrysler Corp. and union workers reached a tentative settlement Saturday that could end a three-day strike at the plant where most of the automaker's windshields and windows are manufactured. Nearly 1,000 members of UAW, Local 227 went on strike Wednesday at the McGraw Glass Plant, largely over job security. The UAW wanted Chrysler to spend millions of dollars on new technology so the plant would be competitive with independent suppliers and remain in operation.

Workers at Delta Pride Catfish Inc. on Friday ratified a new three-year contract, ending a 13-week strike at the nation's largest catfish processor. Provisions in the contract include wage increases and assurances that striking workers will be rehired over the next few months at the latest, union officials said.

The strikes against General Motors Corp., though very costly by themselves, together were only the latest skirmish in a long-term battle GM is fighting to arrest its drooping share of the U.S. auto market and otherwise regain ground lost to its rivals. The strikes, which effectively halted GM's North American production for several weeks, will cost the company as much as $2.

General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers union reached a tentative agreement Tuesday to settle a 54-day strike that cost the giant auto maker as much as $2.8 billion and nipped U.S. economic growth this summer. The walkout--GM's most costly in 28 years--was a concerted effort by the world's largest industrial corporation to halt a damaging slide in its competitive position, but a number of experts said GM failed to win a clear-cut victory.

The United Auto Workers union set a Thursday strike deadline at a key General Motors Corp. plant in Flint, Mich., that makes stamped parts, such as hoods and fenders, for GM truck assembly plants. The union said contract talks were not progressing as it had hoped. The auto maker and the union said they hope for a settlement, and talks are continuing.

Daimler-Benz's German union is considering an alliance with the United Auto Workers at Chrysler Corp. that would negotiate benefits for the 410,000 workers who would work for DaimlerChrysler, a Daimler board member said Thursday. The new "global labor council" being considered by the two unions would collectively bargain for benefits for DaimlerChrysler workers on both continents.

The United Auto Workers union approved a six-year contract with Caterpillar Inc. on Sunday, their first deal with the heavy equipment maker since 1991. The contract covers roughly 13,000 Caterpillar workers, most at plants in Aurora, Decatur and East Peoria in Illinois and at the company's Pontiac, Mich., plant. It also covers smaller numbers in Pennsylvania, Colorado and Tennessee. The vote at Local 974, the largest local covered by the contract, was 55% to 45% for the deal, UAW officials said.

It has come down to 50 nameless workers, 50 union members still locked out of their assembly line jobs after six years of strikes and employment without a contract. The fate of the anonymous 50 is the bargaining chip that could either end the long-running war between the United Auto Workers and Caterpillar Inc.--the most costly American labor dispute of the last decade--or drive its combatants farther apart.

Declaring health benefits and job security its key issues, the United Auto Workers union Monday picked Ford Motor Co. as its target in negotiations for a new contract with the Big Three auto makers. Under the union's pattern bargaining approach, the contract reached with Ford will be used as a model for separate agreements to be worked out later with General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Corp. The current three-year industry contract, which covers about 400,000 hourly workers, expires Sept. 14.

The United Auto Workers union set a Thursday strike deadline at a key General Motors Corp. plant in Flint, Mich., that makes stamped parts, such as hoods and fenders, for GM truck assembly plants. The union said contract talks were not progressing as it had hoped. The auto maker and the union said they hope for a settlement, and talks are continuing.

The United Auto Workers voted Sunday to reject a new contract with Caterpillar Inc., continuing its six-year dispute with the nation's largest maker of earth-moving equipment. Jim Clingan, president of Local 974, the union's largest Caterpillar local, said members nationwide voted 58% to 42% against the contract. The union hall here erupted in applause when the contract, which was supported by the union leadership, was rejected.

Caterpillar Inc. and the United Auto Workers union reached a tentative contract agreement Friday that, if ratified, will end one of the nation's longest, most contentious labor disputes of the 1990s. The company and its 13,000 UAW workers have been at odds since 1991, when the previous contract expired. The dispute prompted two lengthy strikes, the hiring of temporary replacements and the filing of more than 440 unfair labor practice complaints with the federal government.