GM labour contract talks go off the rails in Detroit

DETROIT — Talks for a new four-year labour contract between General Motors Co and its striking workers cooled after the United Auto Workers rejected the largest U.S. automaker’s latest offer on Sunday.

GM made an offer to the union that basically repeated one the UAW had previously rejected, Terry Dittes, the UAW vice-president in charge of the GM department, said in a letter to members. The union provided a copy of the letter to Reuters.

“These negotiations have taken a turn for the worse,” he said.

“We, in this union, could not be more disappointed with General Motors,” Dittes said. “The company has shown an unwillingness to fairly compensate ... the UAW.”

GM officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Dittes said the UAW made an offer on Saturday to GM that covered wages, signing bonuses, job security, profit sharing and other issues. He said GM responded on Sunday morning with its counter-offer, which “did nothing to advance a whole host of issues.”

The GM strike began on Sept. 16 with its 48,000 UAW members seeking higher pay, greater job security, a bigger share of the automaker’s profit and protection of health care benefits. The sides have been meeting daily. One key issue is around assembly of future vehicles. The UAW wants GM to make commitments on future products it would build in various plants beyond what has currently been offered, said a person familiar with the talks who asked not to be identified