GM Heads Off Strike That Could Have Shut All Plants

INDIANAPOLIS — An agreement that will save at least 250 jobs at a General Motors plant in Indiana has averted a strike that could have closed every GM assembly plant in North America.

The settlement with United Auto Workers Local 663 at the Inland Fisher Guide plant in Anderson was announced late Friday.

“I am very satisfied with the agreement,” said Max Baer, the UAW shop chairman. “Our main concern and focus was jobs for our plant.”

The dispute revolved around GM’s desire to send parts manufacturing to outside suppliers, known as “outsourcing.”

Baer said about 250 jobs at the plant had been lost recently through outsourcing or would soon have been lost, but under the pact they’ll be retained.

The union, which represents 3,400 of the 4,300 workers at the plant, notified the company last week that they might strike as early as Wednesday.

The plant in Anderson, 35 miles northeast of Indianapolis, is crucial to GM production because it supplies exterior lights to most GM cars. It also supplies most models with bumpers.

The agreement, which does not need ratification by union membership, was met with relief by workers afraid that they would have to follow recent walkouts by GM workers in Ohio and Michigan.

“I’m glad we’re not going to have to strike,” Jean Smitherman said. “Needless to say, I don’t think anybody in their right mind is going to say they can afford it.”

The UAW has struck GM twice since Aug. 27, both times over issues concerning worker cutbacks.

Outsourcing was a key issue in a nine-day UAW strike at Lordstown, Ohio, which forced nine assembly plants to shut down. The four-day walkout at a body-making plant in Lansing, Mich., halted production of the Pontiac Grand Am, GM’s second best-selling car.

GM lost $4.45 billion last year and has announced a massive restructuring program in which it plans to close 21 plants and eliminate 60,000 hourly jobs by 1995.

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Details of the settlements weren’t immediately released, but GM said it agreed to accelerate implementation of various local demand settlements.

“We have agreed to a timetable which will balance the needs of the membership with the logistics of installing equipment,” said Woody Moore Jr., plant personnel director.

GM is the largest employer in Anderson, a city of 60,000. In addition to the 4,300 workers at the Fisher Guide plant, there are nearly 7,000 at the Delco Remy parts plant across town.