UAW says in talks with foreign automakers in U.S.

[The Northerner]

(Reuters) - The United Auto Workers union is in talks with most of the foreign automakers in the United States to represent the hourly workers at their U.S. assembly plants, the union chief said on Wednesday.

"The vast majority of the assemblers here in the United States have at least agreed to confidential discussions," UAW President Bob King said at an industry conference in Traverse City, Michigan. "We've had productive discussions. The last thing we want is confrontation."

The language marks an escalation of claims about an organizing effort that King and other UAW leaders see as key to the union's survival. None of the seven major Asian or European automakers with plants in the United States has confirmed talks with the union that many industry leaders have blamed for the Detroit automakers' uncompetitiveness in past years.

Despite King's comments, several foreign automakers with U.S. plants denied they were in talks with the union,

King has said the future of the union depends on its ability to unionize workers at U.S. plants owned by Asian and European automakers. The companies are called "transplants" in industry parlance

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/03/us-uaw-transplants-idUSTRE7726N920110803

[amborin]

1. hope King can pull this off.....remember Smyrna.....

[bbinacan]

2. My guess is that the foreign

automakers will relocate to get lower wage costs. Sad.