Content provided in partnership with

Automotive Industry

UAW, GM Work At Friendship

Automotive Industries, June, 1999 by Marjorie Sorge

If the union president and the head of the antomaker's labor relations can create a trusting relationship, it'll he a long, but quiet bargaining year.

Steve Yokich and Gary Cowger don't exactly need a friendship like Luke Skywalker and Han Solo but it wouldn't hurt. How well the UAW president and the head of labor relations for General Motors get along, and how much they trust one another, will decide the course of this summer's national contract bargaining.

So far, the signs point to a warming relationship. The union and the company are relatively quiet. There's little posturing in the press and both sides seem to agree they'll maintain a low profile during negotiations. When things don't go well, there's a lot of rhetoric in the media.

Most Popular Articles in Autos: Service Slants; 2007 utility vehicle buyer's guide: Side-By-Sides are popular; here's who ...; Transmission considerations: beyond the manual gearbox; Buell Motorcycle engineering, innovation, & dedication: in an industry ...; 100 + 10: America's oldest automotive magazine celebrates its 110th year ...; More »

But, as Sheila Ronis, president of The University Group, points out, that's only the beginning. "Gary is wonderful, but he can't solve the cultural problem," she says. "That can only come from (GM Chairman) Jack Smith and the board." She's not talking about sending people to charm school Instead, she says GM executives must create a new set of beliefs and values that creates trust,

The same goes for the UAW. Yokich and Dick Shoemaker, the head of the UAW's GM Department, must embrace the same ideas. "They must be believed all the way down to the plant manager level and first line supervisor," Ronis says. That may be easier if the UAW chooses GM to negotiate its agreement first.

Common wisdom says it will. The reasons are many. First, neither side can afford a strike. It may be easier to avoid a walkout if the UAW isn't trying to force a "pattern" agreement forged with another automaker on GM. "Last summer's (54-day) strike at GM can't be repeated," says David Cole, director for the Center For the Study of Automotive Transportation in Ann Arbor. "That strike probably dealt an axe blow across the head of strikes for a long, long time. It cost GM $2 billion and blackened the image of both the company and the union.

Second, GM will use modular assembly in the future and that could help the UAW organize suppliers if a contract is negotiated correctly. Yokich has been publicly opposed to modularity because it costs jobs. A modular plant requires only a third the workforce of a traditional plant. But he knows it's coming. GM is the least efficient of the major automakers and must make its plants more productive and cut costs. Modularity addresses those issues because suppliers build the modules and ship them into the assembly plant from nearby sites.

Yokich must negotiate an agreement that puts a UAW spin on the program. Most likely that will be the ability to organize supplier plants that feed the modular plant. While labor law forbids GM to force its suppliers to be unionized, the automaker can strongly encourage it and find reasons to chose suppliers willing to accept the union.

That's great for the union, with a few caveats. "The UAW can only declare victory if it has protected every Person who is working and has a clear field to organize the supplier plants that surround the assembly plants," says Cole.

To do that Yokich must walk a political tightrope. Some very influential UAW members want modular plants. Others are staunchly opposed. He's got to negotiate an agreement that brings both sides together, otherwise ratification could be difficult. If he can't get an agreement that accepts modularization, GM could easily take the work offshore and that will cost thousands of UAW jobs.

Third, Yokich, 62, hasn't chosen GM as the "target" during his presidency. This is likely his last chance. If this is a traditional three-year agreement, he'll retire just before the next round of bargaining. "It's simply good politics to be mad at GM," says one UAW official.

Every UAW president has taken on GM first, so politically it's probably a performance Yokich can't avoid. If he goes to Ford, where many perceive he has a close relationship with Vice Chairman Pete Pestillo, some GM union members may challenge the contract, wondering if what was won at Ford is best for them.

Fourth, the UAW will negotiate a separate agreement with GMs former components operation, Delphi, which became a separate company last month. That adds one more element of complexity that may be easier solved if GM goes first. Look for an agreement with wages and benefits that are similar to the GM agreement The big changes won't come until the next round of bargaining.

The situation at Ford is vastly different. The UAW and Ford have gotten along quite well for almost two decades but the challenge is to maintain cooperative labor relations. "The danger is that because it is so successful Ford could get sloppy in the implementation," says a UAW official. "It can't forget this is not a self-stimulation process." Plus, there's a lot of new blood at the top and in middle management. The challenge is to make certain these people are as Committed to labor cooperation as those who forged the relationship almost 20 years ago.

Automotive Industry

UAW, GM Work At Friendship

Automotive Industries, June, 1999 by Marjorie Sorge

Find Research Guides for:

Find Featured Titles for: Sports

Most Popular Articles in Autos

Most Popular Publications in Autos