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Saturday, Jul. 18, 1998
Saturn workers to hold first strike vote
`Different kind of car company' could fall in line with other GM union locals
By VICKI BROWN
Associated PressSPRING HILL, Tenn. - If labor unrest intensifies at Saturn Corp., the company that touts itself as ``a different kind of car company'' may start looking like everybody else to the public.
United Auto Workers Local 1853 has scheduled the first-ever strike authorization vote at Saturn for Sunday. If two-thirds of the 7,200 workers vote for authorization, the union may call a strike five days later.
The vote, which comes four months after dissident employees forced a referendum on their unique contract with parent General Motors Corp., may tarnish Saturn's image as a place where content workers turn out quality cars.
``They seemed like such a class act. I'm sort of disappointed,'' said Brenda Honeycutt of Cummings, Ga., who stopped by the Saturn Visitor Center with her sister this week before touring the plant.
Saturn spokesman Greg Martin said the strike vote doesn't indicate a change in how the company does business or treats its employees.
``The setting and mood here continues to be very collaborative,'' Martin said.
Saturn is GM's only U.S. plant still turning out cars. Strikes at two GM parts plants in Flint, Mich., have idled about 186,000 workers at 25 assembly plants and more than 100 parts plants across the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The first of the strikes by 9,200 workers in Flint has entered its seventh week, and UAW Vice President Richard Shoemaker said Friday that talks were at a standstill and there's no apparent end in sight.
Shoemaker said Friday that workers at GM's Chevrolet Corvette plant in Bowling Green, Ky., could be next to authorize a strike. It is the only GM assembly plant still without a local contract, 20 months after GM and the UAW signed their current three-year national pact. A vote could come next week.
Saturn workers are concerned about possible job cuts from work being sent to other plants, bonus pay and decreasing input on management decisions, said Mike Bennett, chairman of the local UAW bargaining committee.
``It's a tragedy that we are forced into this position,'' Bennett said. ``I think there's always a real possibility of a strike. You don't take these votes without some conviction about whether or not you'll go through with it.''
In Spring Hill, where Saturn opened its plant in 1990, people were aware of the vote but seemed unaffected. Some expressed concern a strike would hurt the local economy, but none said they thought a work stoppage was imminent.
``I think if they vote to strike they'll be killing themselves,'' said Paul Chandler, whose wife works at Saturn.
Steve Bylo, a clerk at Luther's Market, said business would be hurt by a strike. But he said Saturn workers who come in the store say they won't vote for authorization.
Saturn uses a team approach in the factory, a no-haggle pricing policy on the sales floor and has a reputation for premium customer service.
Workers voted overwhelmingly four months ago to keep their unique ``risk-and-reward'' contract with GM rather than abandon it for the contract all other UAW workers have.
Union leaders supported the contract then, but warned that could change if the company didn't meet its commitments.
Saturn employee Richard Benavides said the approach that was supposed to make Saturn different - letting ideas and innovations ``flow from the floor up, not the top down'' - has been lost in the past five years.
``We're just an assembly division. We're no better than any other UAW worker anywhere else in America,'' he said. ``We'd be better off with the national agreement because at least we'd have more protection.''
Under the ``risk-and-reward'' pay program, Saturn employees average about 12 percent less in salary than GM's other workers but can add to their base pay by hitting certain goals.
In earlier years, annual bonuses reached $10,000 and Saturn workers made about $4,000 more than their GM counterparts. Last year, because fewer cars were made due to shrinking demand, it was about $4,000 less.
Now, Bennett claims Saturn is shortchanging workers for their second-quarter efforts this year. He said workers are owed a $1,400 bonus but the company only plans to pay $390.
Hugh Johnston, a Jackson, Miss., mechanic who works for a Saturn dealer, said he doesn't believe the labor unrest will hurt Saturn's reputation. He said people are more concerned about the quality of Saturn cars than the relationship of its workers and management.
``I don't think our customers will care about the vote,'' he said after touring the plant with his wife and four children.Post your comments about local news eventsFront Page || Main Index || News || Business || Texas || South Texas Outdoors || Birdwatching || Sports || Entertainment || Selena || Education || South Texas Attractions || World Wide Web