Auto Talks Headed Into Home Stretch

Negotiators for the United Auto Workers and Ford Motor Co. faced the big issues of wages, benefits and allowing outsiders to perform some tasks as they neared the deadline for a settlement Friday.

The talks with Ford and the other Big Three automakers affect nearly 400,000 UAW members nationwide. They are being closely watched as a sign of the UAW’s clout under new President Stephen Yokich.

Facing a midnight Saturday deadline, UAW negotiators were pushing for a formal right to strike over any future company decisions to contract parts work to outside, non-union suppliers, a source monitoring the talks said.

“It’s one of their central demands,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “That’s still one of the key issues up in the air.”

A Ford source, also speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that assessment Friday night.

Outsourcing, as the growing industry practice is known, has been perhaps the biggest point of contention in the talks. The union wants to halt the long decline in its membership, while the automakers - especially General Motors Corp. - want more flexibility to shed unprofitable parts operations and their jobs.

The issue was at the heart of a strike last spring at two GM parts plants in Dayton, Ohio, though the strike technically was over an alleged violation of terms in the union local’s contract. That walkout virtually shut down GM’s North American production.