Deal could be nearing to conclude UAW strike

DETROIT >> General Motors CEO Mary Barra joined negotiators at the bargaining table, an indication that a deal may be near to end a monthlong strike by the United Auto Workers union that has paralyzed the company’s factories.

Barra and GM President Mark Reuss were in the bargaining room early Tuesday, a person briefed on the talks said, but they left later in the morning as committees began work on specific contract language. The person didn’t want to be identified because the talks are confidential.

The appearance of two key executives is a strong sign that bargainers are closing in on a contract agreement that would end the strike, which began on Sept. 16.

Another person briefed on the talks says the only issues that remain are faster pay increases for workers hired after 2007, apprenticeships for skilled trades workers, and the specifics of winding down a joint union-company training center. The person also didn’t want to be identified because the talks are ongoing.

The union has summoned its national council of factory-level leaders to Detroit for a meeting Thursday that was billed as an update on contract talks. The group could be assembling to vote on a tentative agreement. It also will decide if workers should return to their jobs before or after they vote on the deal.

“I don’t think Mary Barra would have returned unless they were making progress,” said Art Wheaton, an auto industry expert at the Worker Institute at Cornell University. “And I don’t think they’d have told everybody to return to Detroit on Thursday.”

The strike, now in its 30th day, is the longest against an automaker since a 54-day strike in 1998 in Flint, Michigan. That strike cost the company $2 billion.