Ford Dearborn Workers Voice Opposition to Givebacks

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aByHa.QlbhIY

By Keith Naughton

Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co., seeking approval of an accord to cut labor costs, faces opposition from some United Auto Workers members, including a group at a Michigan plant that shouted down a union leader touting the deal yesterday.

UAW Vice President Bob King, who leads the union’s Ford department, was greeted by chants of “No, no, no,” from about 500 workers who gathered when the automaker halted production for him to speak at the Dearborn pickup-truck factory, said Gary Walkowicz, a union official at the plant.

Ford, the only major U.S. automaker to avoid bankruptcy, won support from UAW local leaders last week on an agreement that would grant concessions similar to those won by General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC. The accord at Dearborn-based Ford, which still must be voted on by union members, includes a six-year ban on some strikes and a wage freeze for new hires.

“In 17 years as a union official, this is the first time I’ve gone against the views of the international leadership,” said Nick Kottalis, president of the Dearborn truck unit of UAW Local 600. He was among seven union leaders at the plant who signed a letter recommending a vote against the accord. King came to the factory after the letter was distributed yesterday.

“The biggest problem I have with this agreement is having an arbitrator possibly deciding on strike issues,” Kottalis said in an interview. “I’m not very confident in an arbitrator siding with the UAW.”

Kottalis’s unit represents about 2,300 workers at the pickup-truck plant and is the largest in Local 600, where members are voting on the agreement today through Oct. 30. The local is the Detroit-based union’s biggest at Ford.

FULL story at link.