UAW aims to close wage gap but keep jobs in U.S., too

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By Joseph Szczesny, Special to the Tribune
September 11, 2011

It has come down to this. After years of fighting for sizable wage increases, low-cost health benefits and to protect the jobs bank, in which laid-off workers would receive up to 95 percent of their pay waiting for a call back to the plant, the United Auto Workers is looking basically to close the two-tier wage scale it agreed to four years ago, when General Motors and Chrysler teetered on the verge of bankruptcy and Ford wasn't in much better shape.

The pay scale, under which new hires are paid $14.65 an hour versus $29 for veterans, is the major issue as the union's contract with the Detroit Three expires Wednesday.

That's not the only way this year's negotiations differ from previous ones. The UAW can strike only Ford this time around — and such a move has been authorized — under the federal bailouts and prepackaged bankruptcies GM and Chrysler went through two years ago.

"These are unusual negotiations in that there is a lack of rhetoric on either side, but there are substantial issues that have to be resolved," said Harley Shaiken, a University of California at Berkeley labor expert. "There is conflict, and it's a difficult choice for the union."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0911-bf-auto-talks-20110911,0,429962.story