Page 8-Saturday, August 11, 1979-The Michigan Daily
Help for Chrysler in the works
....
From UPIand AP
The United Auto Workers (UAW)
Union said yesterday it has not aban-
doned its quest for a $1 billion tax in-
vestment in Chrysler Corp., despite the
administration's rejection of direct
cash help for the struggling firm.
But a UAW spokesperson said the
union is encouraged that the gover-
nment apparently will consider some
formf of aid for Chrysler.
"WE BASICALLY take the position
that it's a positive step for the federal
government to have acknowledged that
the Chrysler situation is as serious as it
is," the spokesperson said.
'The key for us is that the ad-
ministration appears to have rejected
the position that some people have
taken that there should be no federal
involvement,'
UAW President Douglas Fraser plans
to meet next week with Treasury
Secretary G. William Miller to discuss
ways to help the firm, union sources
said.
CHRYSLER REPORTED losses of
$260 million in the first half of this year
on top of $205 million in red ink last
year.
Fraser has asked the government to
purchase $1 billion in Chrysler stock,
giving the government about a 30 per
cent equity ownership of the cor-
poration and a strong voice in its at-
State moves to
tempt to regain profitability.
He has said he is not wedded to the $1
billion stock purchase and could be per-
suaded to support other forms of help.
CHRYSLER, blaming the industry's
big car sales slump and the cost of
meeting federal automotive regulations
for its losses, asked for a $1 billion
payment against future tax credits.
Miller rejected that plan Thursday
but said the administration would con-
sider some form of aid, possibly the
same kind of loan guarantees used to
rescue Lockheed Corp. in 1974
In related developments, Chrysler
said the number of blue collar workers
it has placed on indefinite layoff has
risen to 23,800, nearly one-fifth of its
work force.
THERE WERE reports the company -
plans soon to idle 5,000 salaried
workers. A Chrysler spokesperson said
he knew of no such plans but conceded
the company is "in a cost reduction
program and there's bound to be
salaried layoffs coming up."
The administration's offer of help for
Chrysler received generally favorable
reaction on Capitol Hill yesterday, but
there were indications the loan guaran-
tee proposal may run into opposition.
aid ailing firm
The chairman of the House Banking
Committee, Rep. Henry Reuss (D-
Wis.), said yesterday his panel will
schedule prompt hearings on whatever
plan the Carter administration
develops to help the No.3 automaker.
REUSS SAID Congress should look at
alternatives to the recommendations
set out Thursday by Miller.
In addition, Gov. William Milliken
said yesterday the state will expedite
the purchase of 800 mid-sized cars from
Chrysler in a move to pare down the
firm's burgeoning inventory and ease
its cash flow crisis.
Milliken said the $3 million deal was
in the works anyway, but the timetable
is being moved up because of
Chrysler's perilous financial state.
IT WAS THE first step the state has
taken to aid Chrysler since the federal
government unveiled its loan guarantee
plan.
Milliken said Chrysler submitted the
low bid on the cars which will be
assigned to the state police, Depar-
tment of Transportation, and the
Management and Budget Department's
motor pool. Cars will be purchased at
an average price of $3,850.
The governor admitted, however,
that the state's $3 million purchase is an
act of "symbolism" and won't have a
major effect on the company's $70o
million back inventory.
MILLIKEN ALSO announced he and
the governors of four other states with
major Chrysler plants have sent a joint
telegram to President Carter saying
the federal government is obligated to
help out the No. 3 automaker.
Illinois Gov. James Thompson said
yesterday the federal government
should not take over the financially
troubled auto company, or bail it out
completely, but should give some aid to
the firm.
Thompson joined Milliken and gover-
nors James Rhodes of Ohio, Pierre du
Point of Delaware, and Joseph
Teasdale of Missouri in the telegram.
ALSO, A subsidiary of Chrysler said
yesterday it planned to sell its right to
collect payments from car buyers to
Household Finance Corp. (HFC) for
$550 million.
The deal means buyers' payments to
Chrysler financial Corp. will be turned
over to HFC, the nation's third-largest
finance company, in an effort to
provide Chrysler with ready cash.
GM says UAW demands may force strike
DETROIT (UPI) - General Motors
(GM) Corp. said yesterday union con-
tract demands could double the com-
pany's labor costs and force a strike.
It was the toughest in a series of
strongly worded announcements by the
company, which analysts say is the
most likely strike target in current
negotiations to renew contracts for
750,000 workers at GM, Ford Motor Co.
and Chrysler Corp.
GEORGE MORRIS, GM's chief
negotiator, was visibly angry after a
main table bargaining session with
United Auto Workers (UAW) Union
negotiators at the end of the fourth
week of contract talks.-
"There's got to be movement,"
Morris said. "They've got to be
realistic. We can't bargain in this at-
mosphere.
"I'm disturbed," he said.
"WE MADE three attempts in what
we thought were moderate terms to
carry this message to the UAW. And
apparently they weren't listening."
Morris said the union's major money
demands would cost an estimated $15
an hour over three years, 100 per cent
greater than current labor costs and
"at least 10 times higher than the most
expensive contract we ever
negotiated."
His anger appeared to focus on the
UAW's top priority and only detailed
money proposal on the table - a plan
for automatic increases in pensions for
retired workers.
THE PENSION scheme, Morris said,
"is totally unacceptable at General
Motors."
Irving Bluestone, the UAW's chief
negotiator at GM, challenged the com-
pany to come up with a counter
proposal on pensions to get bargaining
going.
"Right now, there's no bargaining
taking place," Bluestone said. "You
can't bargain with somebody who is not
responding with any proposals of his
own.
"IT'S ONE THING to complain about
the union's proposal. It's quite another
to respond to a serious problem."
B luestone said Morris told the union
bargaining committee its demands "as
they stand today could bring on a
strike."
Union contracts at the Big Three auto
companies expire Sept. 14. The union
said earlier it is seeking a substantial
wage hike, pension increases tied to the
cost of living, more paid time off and
improved fringe benefits.
The Ann Arbor Film Coo efftive Presents at MLB $1.50
Saturday, August 11
THE MARK OF ZORRO
(Rouben Mamoulian, 1940) 8:40 only-MLB 3
Classic swashbuckler, full of costume, horsemanship, true star-crossed love,
and venomous villainly. TYRONE POWER stars as Don Diego de Ia Vega, fop by
day and fox (Zorro) by night, who rights wrongs in old California with his
flashing blade. LINDA DARNELL is his Lois Lane, adoring the bandito in black
and despising the craven Diego. But the man who steals the picture is BASIL
RATHBONE, the best swordsman in Hollywood, playing his brilliant Mephis-
topheleon role-the cynically witty evil that Zorro must wipe out so California
can breathe easy again.
The Adventures of Robin Hood
(Michael-Curtiz, William Keighty, 1938) 7 & 10:20-MLB 3
"Welcome to Sherwood!" Arguably the most enjoyable film ever made, this
is that rare movie in which everything comes together: the brisk direction,
delightful character actina. lush technIcolor. Kornaold's sumptuous score,
de Haviland's loveliness, Rathbone's villany, there aren't enough adjectives to
describe this picture. Above all, it is ERROL FLYNN who makes ROBIN HOOD
the exhilirating esperience that it is; in his finest performance he created a
screen character that will never die. CLAUDE RAINS.
Tuesday: FREE SHOWING of ODD MAN OUT and SATURDAY NIGHT
AND SUNDAY MORNING
THERE WILL BE SHOWINGS NEXT WEEK. PICK UP A SCHEDULE AT ANY OF OUR
SHOWINGS FOR A COMPLETE LIST.
We support Projectarst's Local 395
CIA recruiting campaign
results 'tremendous'
WASHINGTON (UPI) - The CIA has
started a "pepped up" advertising
campaign to recruit new agents and the
results have been "tremendous," an
agency spokesperson saidyesterday.
Suffering from a battered public
image after several years of
congressional investigations and
Freedom of Information suits, the once
supersecret agency has faced a drop-off
in recruiting.
BUT WITH HELP from Madison
Avenue, the Central Intelligence Agen-
cy has found 4,000 tp 5,000 would-be
agents in less than a month, a
spokesperson said yesterday.
A New York advertising agency has
been directing a sleek new recruiting
campaign for the agency in big-city
newspapers across the nation since
July 22.
"Every time we go to the post office,
there's another bag" of responses, the
spokesperson said.
THE AGENCY previously depended
on small, discreet advertisements,
mostly in professional journals for
engineers and scientists or college
newspapers, but the number of recruits
dropped steadily.
The CIA decided to try a new ap-
proach.
"We began looking at it, got together
with them (the ad agency), and decided
that the old ads were too sterile," the
spokesperson said. "They needed to be
pepped up."
They were also targeted at a wider
audience with an advertising campaign
in 12 majornewspapers.