DETROIT, July 11 (UPI) -- U.S. automakers and the United Auto Workers begin contract talks this month, looking for innovative deals that fit today's competition, the UAW's chief says.
When the UAW agreed to huge concessions in 2009 it was with Washington demanding the givebacks to help the industry reassert its presence in the economic growth engine.
Now, however, UAW members face a choice: try to regain what they gave up or try to figure out a way forward that allows them to share in the Big Three automakers' success, The Detroit News reported.
General Motors, Ford and Chrysler also face a choice of whether to restore concessions or hold the line on costs and do whatever it takes to remain competitive.
"Michigan is at a historic crossroads," UAW President Bob King said recently. "The public is looking at us to see whether we've learned from the crisis or whether we go back to the same old way of doing things."
All three Detroit automakers have been mum in the run-up to formal negotiations, but privately told the News Washington's intervention fundamentally altered the rules.
The deal the Obama administration imposed on the UAW during the industry bailout prevents it from striking GM or Chrysler, leaving binding arbitration as its only resort.
Strike targets now are obsolete, said labor expert Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of California-Berkeley, who advised the UAW in the past.
"We're in uncharted waters," he told the News. "The past is only a very loose guide."
At some plants, however, workers already are trying to gin up opposition to the new contracts before negotiations even start.
GM worker Nick Waun from Lordstown, Ohio, is a member of the Autoworkers Caravan, a group that includes workers from all three auto manufacturers and union retirees. He has been distributing leaflets, calling for elimination of the two-tier wage system that workers approved in 2007 and reinstatement of the cost-of-living allowance, as well as the rollback of other concessions.
"A lot of members say if they don't see those two things, they're going to vote 'no' on the contract," he said.
