Contract talks continue as GM strike enters fourth week



DETROIT (AP) — Contract talks aimed at ending a 22-day strike by the United Auto Workers against General Motors continued Monday after United Auto Workers union bargainers rejected a company offer on Sunday.

In a letter to members, UAW Vice President Terry Dittes cast doubt on whether there will be a quick settlement in the contract dispute, which sent 49,000 workers to the picket lines on Sept. 16, crippling GM’s factories.


The company’s proposal did nothing to address a host of items, Dittes wrote on Sunday, specifying job security for members during the term of the four-year contract.


“It did nothing to provide job security during the term of this agreement,” Dittes wrote. “We, in this union, could not be more disappointed with General Motors who refuse to recognize the experience and talent of our membership.”

In a statement, GM said it continues to negotiate in good faith “with very good proposals that benefit employees today and builds a stronger future for all of us.”


Also Monday, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she is concerned about the growing impact of the strike as it entered its fourth week.

Whitmer, who visited workers on the picket lines at a GM plant near the state capital of Lansing, said she hopes the strike ends soon.

“These things are important, that they try to remedy them and find some common ground as quickly as possible,” she said.

The strike immediately halted production at GM’s U.S. factories. On Monday, GM shut down V8 engine and continuously variable transmission assembly lines at its Ramos Arizpe plant in Mexico, idling about 415 workers. Earlier the company closed two assembly plants in Mexico and Canada.

Despite Dittes’ letter both sides continued bargaining Monday. He wrote that progress had been made on important issues last week, but the talks took a “turn for the worse.”

Dittes also sent a sharp letter to GM’s vice president for labor relations Sunday, saying: “You didn’t even have a professional courtesy to explain why you could not accept or why you rejected our package proposal for each item we addressed.”



Industry analysts say GM is losing more than $80 million a day as the strike continues. Workers earn $250 per week in strike pay while they’re on the picket lines, about one-fifth of what they normally make.


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