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U.S. NEWS A7
Monday 14 September 2015

UAW chooses Fiat Chrysler as target in contract talks

DEE-ANN DURBIN United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams addresses the media in Detroit. In a statement, Wil- make the lower wage.
AP Auto Writer liams said Sunday that it chose Fiat Chrysler as its target company in ongoing contract negotia- Dziczek said the UAW might
DETROIT (AP) — The United tions with Detroit automakers. have chosen FCA because
Auto Workers union said its CEO, Sergio Marchionne,
Sunday that it chose Fiat (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) has said he wants to elimi-
Chrysler as its target com- nate the wage gap.
pany in ongoing contract form of hourly pay raises close the wage gap for en- efits FCA the most, since 45 All three companies also
negotiations with Detroit for longtime workers who try-level workers, who make percent of its hourly workers want to stick with profit-
automakers. haven’t had one in a de- about half the $29 hourly make entry-level wages. sharing instead of increas-
Fiat Chrysler — the smallest cade. wage of veteran employ- Only around 20 percent of ing hourly labor costs. Dur-
of the three companies — The UAW also wants to ees. The wage gap ben- workers at Ford and GM ing the past four years,
now becomes the focus of workers have gotten annu-
bargaining and could be al profit-sharing checks; at
hit with a strike if negotia- FCA, those bonuses totaled
tions stall. A deal with FCA $9,000 per worker.
will also set a general pat- Williams and Marchionne,
tern for contracts at Gen- who greeted each other
eral Motors and Ford. with a hug as the nego-
All three companies offi- tiations began in July, both
cially kicked off bargaining say they would consider it
for new four-year contracts a failure if they can’t reach
in July. The current con- an agreement and work-
tracts expire Monday but ers strike. Workers at FCA —
likely will be extended. The known as Chrysler before
contracts cover around its 2009 merger with Fiat —
140,000 U.S. factory work- went on a seven-hour strike
ers. during contract negotia-
In a statement, UAW Presi- tions in 2007 but were pro-
dent Dennis Williams said hibited from striking in 2011
all three automakers are under terms of a govern-
“working hard” to reach an ment-funded bankruptcy.
agreement and will contin-
ue negotiating even as the
UAW turns its focus to FCA.
FCA confirmed its selection
but said it would have no
further comment.
Kristin Dziczek, director
of the industry and labor
group at the Michigan-
based Center for Auto-
motive Research, says the
choice of FCA — the small-
est and least profitable of
the Detroit Three — signals
a different attitude at the
UAW, which used to go
after the most profitable
automaker during negotia-
tions. “This is the recognition
that the union has had for
a while, that you can’t de-
stroy the companies and
still have jobs,” she said.
Still, this year’s talks were
expected to be the most
contentious in years be-
cause all three companies
are healthy and making
money. The union wants a
piece of the profits in the