LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 5, 1996-- 5A
UAW to target Ford in strike action
N UAW President
Yokich reportedly
breaks with tradition
DETROIT (AP) - United Auto
Workers President Stephen Yokich
appears bent on breaking with tradition
and keeping the Big Three guessing as
national contract talks intensify.
The UAW began intense bargain-
ing yesterday with Ford Motor Co.,
which Yokich designated Tuesday as
the target company. Union and Ford
officials said they hope to complete
a new national contract within the
next 10 days.
Yokich has repeatedly deviated from
UAW tradition since these negotiations,
his first as president, began in June.
He began the initial talks with
Ford, General Motors Corp. and
Chrysler Corp. earlier than usual. He
said he would announce the target
company on Aug. 22, also earlier
than in the past. But when that date
came around, Yokich said he was
delaying the announcement.
When he finally informed Ford's top
negotiators that the company was the
union's choice, he made no public
announcement. But by yesterday, union
and company officials were acknowl-
edging the obvious.
"Ford does not dispute that the UAW
has named Ford as the lead company"
company spokesperson Jon Harmon
said.
Union and industry officials also said
Yokich ordered lower-level talks to con-
tinue at GM and Chrysler. In past nego-
tiations, once a target was selected, the
UAW recessed talks with the other two
companies. When an agreement was
reached with the target, it was used as a
"pattern" for contracts with the other
companies.
As another signal that the UAW is
approaching these talks differently,
Yokich has refused to use the terms
"target" - he prefers "lead company"
- or "pattern bargaining."
Harley Shaiken, a University of
California-Berkeley labor professor
who closely monitors the talks, said
Yokich likes to keep everyone guessing.
It works to his advantage.
"He's already broken any number
of precedents in this set of contract
talks," Shaiken said. "lf precedents
get in the way of maximizing his
leverage, he throws them away in an
instant."
By keeping Chrysler and GM at the
table, Yokich is retaining his prerogative
to change the target should the union
reach an impasse at Ford, said Dale
Brickner, a labor professor at Michigan
State University.
"Yokich left the door ajar for
Chrysler or GM to rush in with a better
deal," Brickner said. "I think the mes-
sage is, 'We think we can get a deal out
of Ford, but if you guys still want to be
in the poker game we'll sit down at the
table with you between now and the
14th and talk about it."'
The current three-year contracts
expire Sept. 14. UAW spokesperson
Karl Mantyla said Ford and the union
will keep meeting daily until an agree-
ment is reached.
Yokich's challenge is to get a contract
that covers the entire industry while rec-
ognizing each company's different
competitive status. Shaiken said the
decision to keep bargaining with all
three companies allows the UAW to get
a reaction from GM and Chrysler to any
Ford proposals before they are cast in a
signed contract.
"He'll push the envelope at Ford, but
he's not going to try to rip it," Shaiken
said. "He realizes whatever he gets at
Ford he's got to sell at GM."
When the talks began, conventional
wisdom was that cash-rich Chrysler
would be the likely target. But Chrysler
reportedly was less willing to consider
limits on outsourcing, and when the
Canadian Auto Workers decided to tar-
get Chrysler, the UAW's focus turned to
Ford and GM.
GM has the most UAW members of
the Big Three, but also has a host of
problems that make its contract the
most difficult to negotiate.
The biggest issue of these talks is
outsourcing, the practice of contracting
for parts from outside, usually
nonunion, suppliers. Ford and Chrysler
outsource considerably more of their
parts work than GM does.
In March, GM's North American
operations were virtually shut down by
a strike over outsourcing at two parts
plants in Dayton, Ohio.
GM wants to buy more parts from
outside suppliers to cut its costs, which
are the highest of the Big Three. But
Yokich is intent on stemming the loss of
jobs covered by the UAW, which today
has about half the members it had in
1979.
"The UAW went to Ford because
they feel they can get the best frame-
work for new language on outsourcing,"
Shaiken said.
U U
University of Wisconsin
-Platteville
"If you have built castles in the air,
your work need not be lost.
T'hat is where they should be.
Now put the foundations under them."
-Henry David Thoreau
B bJOE WESTRATE/Daily
Buying books
Dozens of students wait in line at Shaman Drum Bookstore yesterday to
purchase books for their classes. The line extended out onto State Street
below the stairs.
[ 1
1PA RKING
Continued from Page 1A
"I generally don't drive - I have my
spot and my car stays there, said LSA
*senior Jenny Schneps. "It's much faster
to walk and I don't have enough
patience to find a spot."
But Sheldon says Ann Arbor's park-
ing problems are not likely to improve
for some time because parking systems
have not been well maintained.
"Right now we don't have the
resources to improve parking," she said.
"There is all kinds of competition on all
parking spaces and we are getting less
,tolerant about illegal parking than we
used to be - it's always going to be
tough."
CONFLICTS
Continued from Page 1A
problems or who cannot agree with
instructors about what an "unreasonable
: burden" is are directed to contact higher
*authorities, including the chair of the
department, the dean of the school, or
the ombudsperson, for assistance.
"Students have never been informed
of this before' Scaglione said. "That's a
principal difference. ... Now we all
know the rules of the game."
After the provost's office approved
Scaglione's policy, Provost J. Bernard
Machen sent a memo to all faculty
members.
"Although the University of
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JOE WESTRATE/Daily
AAPD Parking Enforcement Officer Missie Pressly tickets a vehicle yesterday on
State Street.
sa
Michigan, as an institution, does not
observe religious holidays, it has long
been the University's policy that every
reasonable effort should be made to help
students avoid negative academic conse-
quences when their religious obligations
conflict with academic requirements,
Machen stated in the letter.
However, many professors said they
already were flexible with students with
regards to religious-academic conflicts.
"I'm very lenient and flexible," said
physics Prof. Fred Adams. "I was
always tolerant of such things."
Adams said that to accommodate stu-
dents he does not schedule exams on
religious holidays and routinely photo-
copies notes for students who miss class.
Prof. Shannon Anderson also said
she is accommodating to students. "It's
never been an issue in my class.
Students are excused for religious holi-
days;' she said.
But LSA junior Dan Serota, who
observes Jewish holidays, said that stu-
dents have encountered hardships in the
past.
Serota said he has not personally
experienced problems. But he said "a lot
of my friends have not been as lucky."
"I think (the policy) is a really good
idea," Serota said.
Ponni Perumalswami, an LSA junior
and member of the Hindu Students'
Council, also said the policy is a good
idea.
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