GM has tentative deal with Lansing plant

Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News

GM has a tenative labor deal with the United Auto Workers local that has been on strike in Delta Township in Lansing.

General Motors Corp. canceled the medical and life insurance benefits of workers on strike at a Lansing-area factory, the latest salvo in the automaker’s escalating labor strife with the United Auto Workers union.

The UAW is picking up the medical tab for workers who show up for picket line assignments, as well as for their families, said Doug Radamacher, president of UAW Local 602, which represents GM’s Delta Township plant near Lansing. Strikers, however, will get no dental or vision coverage.

The company last canceled benefits for workers on a picket line during the crippling Flint strikes of 1998.

GM’s move comes come after a factory in Mansfield, Ohio, backed out of a strike threat that was scheduled for 10 a.m. today. UAW Local 549 and the automaker will continue talks to reach a local contract. The UAW earlier had threatened to send workers to the picket line.

"Things are escalating. They are getting to the point of generalized nastiness," said Gary Chaison, professor of industrial relations at Clark University.

"It’s gone from a state of ‘We’re all in this together,’ to a state of ‘You’re the reason we have all these problems and you’re going to fix it.’ "

About 2,300 hourly workers at Delta Township walked off the job April 17, halting production of GM’s popular crossover SUVs — the GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave and Saturn Outlook.

The workers stopped receiving benefits from GM as of midnight Wednesday, GM spokesman Dan Flores said.

"We are well within our contractual rights to discontinue benefits for the duration of the strike," Flores said.

The UAW’s national contract with GM allows the automaker to cancel benefits on the first of the month following a walkout. Under the provision, GM could have canceled the benefits as early as May 1.

"It’s not an unusual move, but it is a statement," said labor expert Harley Shaiken, of the University of California-Berkeley.

GM is ensnared in labor disputes with several UAW locals across the country over plant-level contracts.

A Kansas City, Kan., factory that builds the hot-selling Chevrolet Malibu sedan went on strike May 5.

The local troubles come on top of the 11-week strike at American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. that has forced GM to idle or cut production at more than two dozen plants, costing the automaker $800 million in the first quarter.

American Axle stopped paying medical benefits for striking workers once the UAW launched the walkout on Feb. 26.

GM had limited inventory of the Malibu, Acadia and Enclave before the strikes in Delta Township and Kansas City began.

The Mansfield, Ohio, plant does metal stamping for GM and employs about 1,400 hourly workers.

The disputes have proven more disruptive than the two-day national strike launched against GM last year during negotiations over a new national agreement. Clashes at the local level have the potential to create major problems for automakers.

The 54-day UAW strike against GM factories in Flint was the priciest dispute in GM’s history, virtually shutting down the company and costing more than $2 billion.

GM’s decision to cut medical benefits will be a significant financial strain on the UAW, hit by decades of declining members and already being drained by the American Axle strike, labor expert Chaison said.

UAW Local 602’s Radamacher said the union has ensured members’ benefits aren’t interrupted and is working to help members cope with the financial strain of the month-long strike. Workers receive $200 a week from the union while on strike.

In an online notice to Local 602 members, Radamacher on Monday said the union found GM’s latest contract proposal "unacceptable." The union hasn’t had a local agreement since GM completed the plant in 2006, he said.

"I’ve never seen anything like this in my 29 years in Lansing," he said. "When there’s something that is passed back across the table that our bargaining team can take to our members, we’re going to look forward to getting back to work."