United Auto Workers

Dec. 30--1936: The United Auto Workers union staged its first "sit-down" strike, at the Fisher Body Plant No. 1 in Flint, Mich.

Suddenly, manufacturing is back -- at least on the campaign trail. But don't be fooled. The real issue isn't how to get manufacturing back. It's how to get good jobs and good wages back. They aren't at all the same thing. Republicans have become born-again champions of American manufacturing, especially given crucial primaries occurring next week in Michigan and the following week in Ohio. Mitt Romney says he'll "work to bring manufacturing back" to America by being tough on China.

A brief in yesterday's Business section incorrectly reported details of the planned cutbacks at Chrysler Corp.'s Newark, Del., plant. The company and the United Auto Workers are still negotiating, and the impact on employees remains unclear.The Sun regrets the error.

After a week of drubbing, jokes and outrage over their failed appeal to Congress, the leaders of America's auto industry appear to have gotten the message. When asking for billions in federal financial aid, candor goes a lot further than hubris. In plans submitted to Congress this week, company executives have offered to make sweeping cuts in their operations and to eliminate an array of venerable auto brands and models - that's long overdue. They have agreed to negotiate significant cuts in union benefits, a necessary if painful concession for labor leaders, and offered to work for $1 a year rather than the millions in salary and bonuses they had been receiving.

DETROIT -- The United Auto Workers union has scheduled a meeting of its 300-member GM national bargaining council Monday, a strong indication that leaders expect a settlement with GM by tomorrow's 11:59 p.m. deadline.Optimism surged among UAW bargainers yesterday after a long meeting that included GM Chairman Robert Stempel and and UAW President Owen Bieber.

Several paragraphs about endorsements from organized labor received by C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, the Democratic nominee for the 2nd Congressional District, were omitted from an article in yesterday's editions. Among those endorsing Ruppersberger are the state and local branches of the AFL-CIO, the International Association of Firefighters, United Auto Workers, United Food and Commercial Workers, United Mineworkers of America and United Steelworkers of America. Ken Allen, president of the Baltimore County Supervisory, Management and Confidential Employees, said he believes union members will support Ruppersberger because the race could help Democrats regain control of Congress, which he said would be better for unions.

Two weeks into a strike by United Auto Workers at the General Motors van plant on Broening Highway, the factory's suppliers are running out of ways to keep their workers busy.The A.O. Smith Automotive Products Co. in Belcamp, which makes an underbody support structure for the vans, is scheduled to lay off 10 of its 25 workers today."We see ourselves in a pretty critical junction," says Edward O'Connor, vice president of human resources and public affairs.Union officials and GM management say some progress was made on minor issues in negotiations earlier this week, but major differences remain in the dispute that caused 3,200 workers to walk off their jobs on June 24 and left the plant idle.

Workers at the General Motors plant in Southeast Baltimore will return to work a week later than planned from their winter holiday, joining five other plants putting employees on temporary layoff status early next year. The decision to keep the plants closed an extra week was based on demand for the vehicles and other market conditions, said GM spokesman Dan Flores. "These are market-driven decisions," Flores said yesterday. "Clearly, under ideal circumstances, we want to run every plant at maximum capacity."

lTCMartin expects no lull at plantWhile its contract with Local 738 of the United Auto Workers expired at midnight last night, Martin Marietta Corp. said yesterday that it expected no interruption in production at its Middle River complex today. The union has advised its 400 members to report to work at their normal times.On Sunday, union members voted by a 10-to-1 margin to reject a proposed contract from the company that would have halted cost-of-living wage increases, cut the number of holidays and eliminated the jobs of cafeteria workers and janitors.

DEARBORN, Mich. -- After round-the-clock negotiations lasting nearly 30 hours, the United Auto Workers union reached a tentative agreement yesterday with Ford Motor Co. on a new contract for its 101,000 unionized workers."

WASHINGTON - First it was the heads of Detroit's Big Three automakers who offered public pledges to cut costs, shrink their vehicle lines, go green and slash their salaries in the quest for a desperately needed government bailout. Yesterday, it was the workers' turn to sacrifice before crucial congressional hearings begin this morning on the automakers' request for $34 billion in emergency loans. United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said the union would allow General Motors, Ford and Chrysler to delay billions of dollars in payments to a retiree health-care trust and suspend a jobs bank that pays laid-off workers.

DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co.'s buyout plan drew an overwhelming response from white-collar employees in parts of the company, prompting the automaker to begin saying no to some offers. Employees who thought they had buyout deals were shocked and angry after learning that the offers were being pulled, some Ford workers told the Detroit Free Press. Yesterday was the final day for workers to accept buyouts. "They got more retirements than they bargained for," a longtime Ford engineer said.

Nearly half of Ford Motor Co.'s hourly workers will leave the company by Sept. 1, boosting cost-cutting efforts at the second-largest U.S. automaker as it aims to become profitable by 2009. Ford said yesterday that 30,000 more workers accepted buyouts ranging from $35,000 to $140,000 that were offered in October to all employees represented by the United Auto Workers union. That number, plus the 8,000 union workers who accepted buyouts at select plants earlier this year, means that 38,000 union workers will be leaving the automaker and that Ford has exceeded its goal of cutting 25,000 to 30,000 blue-collar jobs by 2008.

In the largest employee buyout in U.S. corporate history, General Motors Corp. said yesterday that nearly a third of its 113,000 manufacturing workers in the United States have agreed to quit or retire this year in return for cash payments of as much as $140,000. The program will cost GM nearly $4 billion, but it is expected to save money in the long run by reducing the automaker's health care and pension costs as it struggles to reverse huge losses and adjust to its diminished share of the U.S. auto market.

Dec. 30--1936: The United Auto Workers union staged its first "sit-down" strike, at the Fisher Body Plant No. 1 in Flint, Mich.

DAYTON, Ohio -- All the wild talk and rumors threw Scott Seibert into a dark mood. People were fretting about losing their jobs, their homes and their savings. Seibert couldn't wait to leave early from the Delphi Corp. factory where he has worked for the last 29 years and 10 months. "I find it hard to work right now with a knife sticking in my back," he said, over a drink at a workers' hangout near the plant. From Seibert and many others here, the bankruptcy filing by Delphi, the nation's largest auto parts maker, represents the end of an era for a 95-year-old company that took its name from this once-thriving industrial city.

The strike by 3,200 autoworkers against General Motors Corp.'s Southeast Baltimore minivan assembly plant enters its 17th day this morning with a slight hint that a settlement may not be far down the road.Following yesterday's negotiating session, Rodney A. Trump, president of Local 239 of the United Auto Workers, said there was some indication that movement will occur on both sides when talks resume at 9:30 this morning.Mr. Trump declined to elaborate. He also cautioned against striking workers becoming overly optimistic for fear that they might be disappointed.

DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co.'s buyout plan drew an overwhelming response from white-collar employees in parts of the company, prompting the automaker to begin saying no to some offers. Employees who thought they had buyout deals were shocked and angry after learning that the offers were being pulled, some Ford workers told the Detroit Free Press. Yesterday was the final day for workers to accept buyouts. "They got more retirements than they bargained for," a longtime Ford engineer said.

At the American flag-festooned Poncabird Pub yesterday, men in work clothes sat in small groups and attempted to understand the death in the family. It was after shift change at the nearby General Motors plant, whose sprawling buildings and parking lots could be seen from most barstools. It will close next year after 69 years, its employees had just learned. "Look at these guys," a barmaid said. "The other shoe has dropped; their future is pretty much shot." Although the autoworkers knew the patient had been on the critical list for some time, not many wanted to talk with outsiders about it. Outside on Broening Highway, named for an early 20th-century Baltimore mayor, tractor-trailers thundered into well-worn potholes.

Workers at the General Motors plant in Southeast Baltimore will return to work a week later than planned from their winter holiday, joining five other plants putting employees on temporary layoff status early next year. The decision to keep the plants closed an extra week was based on demand for the vehicles and other market conditions, said GM spokesman Dan Flores. "These are market-driven decisions," Flores said yesterday. "Clearly, under ideal circumstances, we want to run every plant at maximum capacity."