Word: bieber
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Yogi Berra says, 'It's never over 'til it's over,' and that's true of negotiations as well." So said United Auto Workers President Owen Bieber early last Saturday morning, after the midnight deadline had passed for a new contract agreement between the U.A.W. and General Motors. The union had just announced that it was authorizing workers at 13 key GM facilities to go on strike, purportedly because of local grievances, while it continued bargaining for a new labor contract...
...Bieber's unprecedented selective strike directive gave the union the upper hand in the negotiations. The plants targeted by the U.A.W. produce some of the company's bestselling models, which account for nearly half of GM sales. The cars include the Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Cadillac Fleetwood and Pontiac Fiero. In addition, walkouts at the 13 plants threatened to cause shortages at other GM factories. Without a settlement of the strike by the end of the month, virtually all of GM's manufacturing facilities might be forced to close...
...autoworkers would be successful in gaining some concessions. On Monday, Alfred Warren Jr., GM's chief negotiator, presented a 20-page proposal on job security that he called "one of the most far-reaching and most important offers we've ever made." The next day, Bieber agreed that the GM plan "has the potential to be a far-reaching document," though he conceded that "we still have a great deal of work to do." But further study by the union showed that the proposal barely acknowledged its demand for less production abroad, calling only for "discussions" on "sourcing...
...table. It represented only a modest improvement over GM's earlier offer to replace annual 3% pay increases with lump-sum payments totaling $900 during the first two years of the contract. The two sides then went into marathon sessions, but progress was slow. By late Friday night, Bieber saw that there was scant chance of reaching a final agreement by the midnight deadline...
...United Auto Workers argues that if quotas are lifted, the Japanese share of the U.S. market will jump from about 22% to 40%. By the union's count, 200,000 American jobs would be lost. Says U.A.W. President Owen Bieber: "Brock apparently wants to punish the workers for the greed of their bosses...