Corvette Assembly Plant’s UAW Leader Believes Strike Can Be Avoided

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Corvette Assembly Plant's UAW Leader Believes Strike Can Be Avoided

Maybe a work stoppage can be avoided at the Corvette Assembly Plant in Bowling Green.

At least that’s the viewpoint of the president of the United Auto Workers Union at the plant, which has assembled Corvettes since 1981, including the very popular 2014 Stingray.

Nearly two weeks ago, workers at the Corvette plant voted to authorize a strike amidst serious concerns over safety and quality issues.

Now, local 2164 President Eldon Renaud says new plant manager Jeff LeMarche seems more interested in solving the problems than his predecessor, Dave Tatman, who unexpectedly resigned in February.

“We think the previous manager had ignored some of those issues,” Renaud said. “We felt it was important to bring in a new set of eyes, and he seems very interested in problem solving.”

The assembly plant had received two OSHA violations under former manager Dave Tatman.

Renaud said he thinks General Motors will comply with the workers’ request to fix those items, adding that “some of it just takes time and engineering to develop fixes.”

The two sides are continuing negotiations on other manpower and quality issues. Also mentioned in earlier reports about the labor unrest at the Kentucky plant was a problem with the personnel director, and Renaud said this week the union won’t be satisfied until a new personnel director is in place.

The negotiations come about a year before the local union’s current contract with GM expires in 2015, but Renaud told a reporter with WKU, the public radio service of Western Kentucky University, that there were too many pressing issues to wait until then.


Source:
wkyufm.org

Related:
Corvette Plant’s UAW Members Approve Strike Authorization
Corvette Plant’s UAW to Vote Tuesday on Strike Over Management Issues
Meet The New Corvette Assembly Plant Manager Jeffrey Lamarche

 



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