Friday, September 17, 1999
UAW gains raise, clout in tentative deal
BY JUSTIN HYDE
The Associated Press
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — The United Auto Workers won a 3 percent wage increase and a clearer path toward organizing nonunion plants at DaimlerChrysler AG in a tentative agreement Thursday, local union officials said. The national contract covers 75,000 workers.
Officials at two UAW locals said they were informed the four-year proposed contract also provided a $1,350 signing bonus for each union member.
Neither DaimlerChrysler nor a spokesman for UAW national negotiators would disclose terms. UAW spokesman Frank Joyce said a ratification vote has yet to be scheduled, but one local leader said it was planned for the end of next week.
Roger Brown, president of UAW Local 550 in Indianapo lis, said that in addition to the pay raise and bonus, he was told the deal includes a neutrality provision that would preventDaimlerChrysler from intervening in efforts to organize plants.
The union has its eyes on a Mercedes-Benz sport utility factory in Alabama with 1,600 workers and DaimlerChrysler's Freightliner commercial truck plants in the Carolinas.
UAW leaders have com plained about company moves against organizers. DaimlerChrysler has in the past vowed to remain neutral in the UAW's efforts. It is against federal labor rules for the issue to be part of the UAW's contract.
In addition, Mr. Brown and Scott Stanton, vice president of Local 624 in Syracuse, N.Y., said the contract includes an agreement not to spin off any parts of the company into inde pendent businesses.
Mr. Stanton and Mr. Brown also said the deal includes improvements in retiree benefits. Nearly half of the UAW's 407,000 active autoworkers at GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler are eligible for retirement within five years.
According to DaimlerChrysler, its average assembly worker is 43 years old, has 16 years of experience and earns about $70,000 a year, thanks to overtime and profit sharing. The same worker gets 37 paid vacation days a year.
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