General Motors, UAW near deal as contract talks adjourn
By Our Corporate Bureau | 18 Sep 2007
Mumbai: General Motors Corporation and the United Auto Workers Union have called a break in the contract negotiations with both sides agreeing to return to the bargaining table later in the day.
Negotiators for the UAW and GM agreed to a break in contract talks after a marathon 16-hour bargaining session that raised expectations that the union and the top US automaker were nearing an agreement.
The UAW has agreed to extend its contract with the top US automaker on an hour-to-hour basis as talks continue and around 73,000 GM factory workers prepare to return to work.
The outcome of the contract talks is seen as crucial to efforts by the three Detroit-based automakers — GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC — to recover from combined losses of $15 billion last year, and sales difficulties that have driven their slice of the US market below 50 per cent.
GM, Ford and Chrysler are seeking sweeping concessions from the UAW to close a cost gap with Toyota Motor Corp they say amounts to more than $30 per hour for the average factory worker.