United Auto Workers leaders have told plant-level bargainers at General Motors Corp. locals nationwide to hold off negotiating major issues that affect factory competitiveness to ensure the national union has a say in deals at each plant.
National contracts between the UAW and Detroit's automakers typically are negotiated simultaneously with dozens of plant-by-plant agreements that govern how each factory operates.
The local deals, which can have a major impact on overall labor costs, competitiveness and productivity, cover a wide range of topics, including the number of job classifications and restrictions on non-union labor allowed to work inside plants.
But this year, national labor chiefs want to make sure local leaders don't give too much ground to GM in a bid to lock in new work that would keep their plants running, sources say.
It's common practice for GM and other automakers to use the promise of new products to help win money-saving work rule changes through what are known as competitive operating agreements.
GM has been aggressive in pushing for competitive operating agreements to help close the estimated $25- to $30-per-hour labor cost gap with foreign-based carmakers that operate in the United States.
National union leaders already have stepped in twice earlier this year -- at plants in Lordstown, Ohio, and Kansas City, Kan. -- when local leaders there appeared ready to give GM the deals it wanted in an effort to get the automaker to commit new vehicle production to the factory.
GM spokesman Dan Flores declined to discuss the status of negotiations, but said the automaker is focused on reducing "competitive gaps" and ensuring the company's future.
GM is focused, among other things, on two key aspects of local deals -- job classifications and a requirement known as full utilization, which means non-union labor can be hired to work at a plant only if union workers are on the clock as well.
Less than a month remains before the UAW's four-year contracts expire with GM, as well as Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC.
GM and the UAW exchanged proposals earlier this month, though talks have yet to reach an intense level, sources say.
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