2002 Special Convention for Collective Bargaining
Day 3
The final day of the Bargaining Convention found discussions continuing on the issues that will be part of next year's contract talks. The following items were discussed:

· People Programs - The UAW has blazed the trail that insures employer-funded programs that meet important human needs inside and outside the workplace. This also includes the families of UAW members, through family assistance with tuition and access to UAW Skill Centers. Areas for additions are childcare, elder care, long-term care, and assistance to troubled workers.

· Joint Activities - UAW members must have equal authority in all programs and must be involved from the beginning. Joint activities are valuable to our members as long as they further and protect our interest in health and safety, job security and improved family and work life.

· Quality - Quality is a bargaining issue because our union is concerned with the needs of our members in the workplace and consumers in the community. Our members are more involved than ever before in quality issues. We will build on these gains to insure our members always have a voice in quality.

· Job and Income Security - During the 1999 talks, the UAW won many advancements in job and income security. These gains will be maintained and built upon during the 2003 talks. Some areas of interest include:

-Minimize hiring of temporary employees.
-Improving and expanding special early retirement options at locations faced with plant closings and job shrinkage.

· Sourcing/Outside Contracting - During the economic boom of the 1990's, corporations tried to concentrate on sending work out to cheaper suppliers. Cheaper is not always better, for often times quality suffers. The UAW has fought this concept in the past few contracts and will continue their fight next year. Some of the proposed resolutions for the next contract will include:

· The right to strike over outsourcing and outside contractor violations.
· That all outsourced work must be mutually agreed on, and replacement work be issued in place of any outsourced work.
· Prohibitions against sharing jointly developed cost saving strategies with outside vendors.
· Union Involvement - Commitments to work with the union to jointly develop internal guidelines and administrative procedures.
· Reducing Work Time - In 2000, American workers spent more time on the job than any other industrialized nation. In Europe, a 35-hour work week has been instituted to help combat unemployment. Overtime is hard on workers, leading to stress, fatigue and depression. Additional four day weekends and longer relief time will be areas of discussion during the next contract talks.

Other items such as health and safety, wages and benefits, organizing and new technology will be issues at the bargaining table. However, due to the fact that each segment of the membership works for different companies, specifics of these are hard to discuss at the Bargaining Convention. President Ron Gettelfinger ended the conference with a commitment to the membership to win the best possible contracts at the next round of bargaining.


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