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Automotive Industry

A Change for the Better - Brief Article

Automotive Industries, Jan, 2000 by Ron Harbour

I'm seeing plenty of proof that management-labor relations are improving in the U.S. domestic industry.

Last summer's labor negotiations between the UAW and the U.S. domestic auto companies were the quietest in recent memory. Contracts were reached without much fanfare and, even more importantly, without one strike against DaimlerChrysler, Ford or General Motors.

On the outside, everything seemed to be back to normal. But having visited dozens of automotive plants in the past year alone, I can assure you it is not "business as usual" at many automotive plants in North America.

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Big changes have been taking place at local operations. Most notably, I have seen some real cooperative steps by management and labor at some plants that have been infamous for bad labor relations.

The change in attitude at the local level, by both management and union employees, is one of the biggest stories and most positive trends in the industry today. Clearly, more and more local unions no longer believe the only way to gain job security is through the traditional methods of job classifications and antiquated work rules.

Some of the locals are beginning to understand they have to change in order to survive. They realize there are more plants and labor than supply demands--and that job security only will last as long as you are better than your competition.

And management seems willing to try and eliminate some of the working conditions that justifiably caused labor unrest. As a result, these operations are taking positive steps to make themselves more cOmpetitive, and gain new work for their facilities.

We have been getting a bird's-eye view of some of these changes as part of our research for The Harbour Report, our company's annual study of automotive manufacturing. This access to the plants, and the people working inside them, has given me the opportunity to see first-hand some of the surprising developments taking place.

Last month, for example, I visited DaimlerChrysler's Twinsburg, Ohio, stamping operation; Ford's Oakville, Ontario, assembly plant; and finally, GM's Flint stamping facility. All three operations historically have had volatile union-management relations.

At all three locations, however, I witnessed some very positive cooperative efforts taking place between the local unions and management. And these efforts are resulting in positive steps to improve operations, and to improve the attitudes of the people working at these locations.

No plant surprised me more than GM Flint -- site of the two-month walkout in 1998 that virtually shut down GM. The union felt it had to strike to preserve stone-age work rules that crippled the plant's competitiveness. And the plant itself was one of GM's worst examples of hard-to-build products, bad processes and difficult safety and ergonomic conditions that gave credence to many of the union's complaints.

That strike, the longest automotive work stoppage in the last quarter-century, had no winners. But it did force the two sides to face each other and come to the realization that changes had to be made. And so, when the last of the reporters went away and the workers returned to their jobs, union and management went to work to try and fix the Flint operation.

There is still much that needs to be done by GM manufacturing and the local union. The plant has miles to go to become more competitive with other operations. But some of the work that's been done there is significant, and the joint effort being made by management and the local union to improve some of the individual operations within the plant is excellent.

With the new attitude I observed, I couldn't help but think, "Things are going to be different around here."

If that's the case, and not just at Flint but throughout the automotive industry, the story of management and local unions working together to improve operations and grow their business not only will be a good thing, it also could become one of the biggest automotive stories of the millennium.

Ron Harbour is president of Harbour and Assoc., manufacturing consultants in Troy, Mich.

Automotive Industry

A Change for the Better - Brief Article

Automotive Industries, Jan, 2000 by Ron Harbour

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