(10/14/2019) - The General Motors strike may be nearing an end, sources believe.
United Auto Workers leaders from General Motors facilities across the country have been summoned to a national meeting in Detroit on Thursday morning.
The meeting is a good a sign that a tentative agreement is very close, sources say.
All local union presidents have been called to the UAW National General Motors Council Meeting on what would be a full month after the strike started.
Union leaders in Mid-Michigan could not confirm the agenda for the meeting or comment on whether a tentative agreement is reached.
Nearly 49,000 UAW members have been on strike since Sept. 16, more than four weeks ago. They are anxious to get back to work, but only if it's a fair contract.
Workers got a slight $25 a week increase in strike pay from the union, allowing them to collect $275 a week. Union leaders also are allowing strikers to obtain part-time jobs as long as they keep up with their picket duties.
After some optimism late last week, workers picketing outside the Flint manufacturing complex on Monday openly wondered if the strike pay increase and union concession was a bad omen for negotiations.
"Is the strike going to last longer? Is that why you're paying us the extra $25? Or is it the strike fund is available and we can afford to give you an extra $25," said UAW Local 598 member Adam Krieger. "We're left in the dark."
He said many of his union brothers and sisters are echoing the same question. But he said all they can do is support each other.
Krieger has worked at GM's Flint Engine Operations for 19 years, helping support his children ages 5 and 2. He said life has been rather frantic the last month with a lot of anxiety and a lot of stress.
Krieger is hoping the long wait for a contract will be worth the struggle.
"I think we deserve what we're asking for. I don't think we're being greedy or irrational as far as our demands," he said. "You have a corporation that makes the kind of profits that General Motors does and you can't afford to give us what we want? We want job security, we want an outlet for our temps. We're not asking for unreasonable things, I don't think."
As the strike drags on, University of Michigan-Flint economics professor Chris Douglas said he's shocked it's continued this long. He said GM and the union have other options to bring workers back, but he doesn't believe they will be used.
Douglas said the two sides could bring in a mediator to help broker a deal.
"A mediator can't reach a deal by himself, so if the two sides can't come to an agreement, there's no guarantee a mediator could reach an agreement either," he said.
Douglas said they could streamline negotiations by allowing UAW President Gary Jones and General Motors CEO Mary Barra talk one-on-one.
"But it's not clear what they would offer that the negotiators aren't already offering -- that the CEO hasn't already given direction to the lead negotiator for General Motors about what they would be willing to accept versus not accept," Douglas said.
He believes the UAW also could switch target companies from GM to Ford or Chrysler for the remainder of the negotiating cycle. Whatever deal the union gets from another automaker would then be the basis of a deal with GM.
"The problem with that is that would even prolong the work stoppage at General Motors, which would hurt UAW members even more in terms of going more weeks on $275 a week in strike pay," Douglas said.
He doesn't see another way to resolve the differences between both sides without running into other problems. But Douglas recalls some of those options used in the 1950s and 1960s, when strikes were more common.
The UAW's work stoppage grew over the weekend, when about 3,500 employees at Mack Trucks in three states over fair pay, benefits and job protections.
A statement by the company says it is surprised and disappointed the union decided to strike rather than allow work to continue through negotiations.