Down through the 60 days, I'm sure that we've said a few thousand well -chosen words in answer to your question since all day.
Are you going to stay in as long as Mr.
Ruther stays here? We are available to meet with the Union on a mutually arranged schedule.
Mr.
Ruther is present.
We're sure that we'll be here to listen to him.
We haven't seen him since the first day of negotiations.
You think his presence will help any? In the process of collective bargaining, I think that the leaders of the Union are always necessary to the ultimate and equitable solution of our problems.
What do you think the chances are of a settlement by the contract deadline at midnight tonight? I wouldn't like to comment on that.
I'm always an optimist.
Well, if there is no contract settlement by midnight, what is the company's position? The company's position or operating policy, if we have no agreement at midnight tonight, was announced yesterday by the corporation.
It has been a matter of widespread public dissemination in the press and radio of the country and TV.
Well, apparently you'll continue operating without a contract, but what will the terms of the agreement be with the workers? As I just said, we made an announcement yesterday.
I don't have it here, but we would be very happy to furnish you with the 15 -point operating policy, which was released to the public and the unions yesterday.
Well, I understand there are going to be two exceptions to the present contract.
Can you tell me what they are? Well, the contract expires, and with the expiration of the contract, certain things terminate.
For example, the requirement that a union member belong to the union to the extent of paying dues is a requirement of the expired contract.
Further, the checkoff of union dues, which is pursuant to the individual authorization by the worker, is contingent upon having a live agreement.
So that when that agreement expires, our requirement to check off union dues automatically expires.
And also the union shop? The union shop also is a condition of the agreement.
And when the agreement expires, well, that provision expires.
Now, the union shop is a requirement that employees, as a condition of employment, pay periodic union dues, and that sort of ties into the checkoff.
Are you prepared to make any further concessions today? Well, the process of collective bargaining is a give and take process.
And the union is prepared to enter into good faith, practical collective bargaining on a give and take basis.
We are not prepared to surrender.
Do you have any comment on GM's plans to operate without a contract? Well, we are still hoping that the corporation will be willing in this situation, in the absence of an agreement by the terminal date, midnight tonight, to extend the contract in this situation as they have in the past.
Never before in 22 years of relationship with the corporation have we had a situation where the corporation has canceled the agreement and been unwilling to extend the agreement to facilitate further negotiation.
We are hoping, obviously, that the corporation will reconsider that matter in the event we do not have an agreement by the terminal date.
But do you have any comment on the 15 points that the company listed yesterday for operating? Well, it is quite obvious that the corporation, if they choose not to extend the contract, are going to be, find it necessary and advisable to continue the essential gains that the union has won from the corporation in past negotiations.
And we are obviously glad that the corporation is not going to try to take this opportunity to try to take back some of these things that we had some difficulty in getting the company to give in the first place.
What about the union shop? Well, we are not concerned about that.
The thing that we are concerned about now is not Dew's collection or the union shop.
We are concerned about workers and their families and their problems.
And these are the things that we are not going to run away from.
Now, this is not a new experience.
I can give you a list of many items that represent gains that GM workers have today.
And we got them all by insisting upon having these problems met under circumstances where the General Motors Corporation refused each of these matters.
I mean, the pensions that Mr.
Curtis talks about in his cute little pamphlet.
We had to wait for pensions.
GM Motors refused to give them pensions.
Vacation pay, call -in pay, overtime pay, the insurance program, the Blue Cross plan, all of these things, we had to fight to get these things because the GM Corporation said no.
And they said no until the workers said, well, we won't go forward without an answer.
And the same thing will happen now.
Whether it happens between now and midnight or after midnight, ultimately the GM Corporation will be obligated and required to sit at the bargaining table in good faith and give workers and their families that increasing measure of economic and social justice that we are seeking.
Now, we're not trying to blaze any great new trails.
We know that we're living in a period of economic difficulties, but there are certain basic minimum things which the Corporation will have to give us.
And they will.
It's a matter of time.
We would prefer to do it sensibly and sanely between now and midnight.
But if we can't do it that way, then we'll wait beyond midnight.
But ultimately, they will say yes to some of these things as they have in the past.
Do you think if you have to wait through the summer that the UAW workers will maintain full discipline? I have unlimited faith in the rank -and -file members of our union.
They know where we have come from together.
They know that the things that they enjoy in the plants were not served to them on a silver platter out of the fullness of the heart of these great corporations.
And I believe that they will understand the common sense approach that our union is making when we suggest to them that they not be provoked into rash action, that they keep their feet on the ground, and that ultimately the situation in the industry will be such that the corporations will be prepared to bargain in good faith at the bargaining table and work out some of these problems.
Now a worker who's still on the job, I don't think is going to run away from his responsibility to the unemployed.
A worker who is still on the job...
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I mean, I made it clear the other day when the contention of the union that the company had not bargained on a single item.
And this was challenged by a corporate spokesman.
And I sent the gentleman a telegram asking to tell me one item, one item on which they have bargained.
As a matter of fact, there's a section of the contract which the company talked about changing way back.
It's their request.
And we've suggested now that they make that little change.
They don't want the change now.
They have not bargained about a single item either of an economic nature or a non -economic contract matter.
Now obviously there's no purpose in sitting there and wasting their time and our time in this kind of a situation.
Although we will be there until midnight and we will be there beyond midnight for as many hours as they care to meet.
If there is the slightest demonstration that the corporation is prepared to bargain in good faith.
Last Saturday, Mr.
Riggle, you were inclined to answer a question about what legal alternative the union would have.
Have you checked that possibility yet? Well, our legal experts are watching this situation very closely.
And when we finish at midnight tonight, we would hope to have a contract.
If we don't have a contract and the corporation's position continues as it has been now for these many months, as saying to our union, here is the old contract.
We will not change it in the slightest.
You can either take it or leave it.
If that's their position, then we will have to carefully evaluate our legal position and determine what we think is appropriate action in that respect.
We have made no decision as of now because we hope to bargain yet today.
The union has yet hasn't sought assistance from the federal mediators and conciliation service.
Well, we were contacted by the federal conciliators, as was the company, I'm sure.
And we said that we would welcome them.
As a matter of fact, I would like nothing better than if you fellows would pick a small committee of three to sit in the back row to find out, is there any bargaining? There's just no question about it that they're not bargaining in there.
And when the corporation tries to play the numbers game, we have 120 plants, and they've got 10 demands in common.
Right away, that makes 1 ,200 demands.
That isn't the way you bargain.
Maybe it makes clever public relations, but it will not solve a problem.
We're looking for answers to problems.
There are a lot of unemployment in General Motors.
There's 90 -some million dollars in the SUB fund.
We want that money in the pockets of workers so they can buy the things they need for their families.
The money was put there to help GM workers during periods of unemployment.
And yet the General Motors Corporation is unwilling to work out provisions whereby monies belonging to GM workers can be had by them during the periods of their difficulty.
We can just go over all these issues and show you that what the company is doing is making propaganda when they ought to be bargaining.
How is the union's financial position now? The union's financial position is not a problem in these negotiations.
We obviously have been affected, as everyone else has, by the recession, by the reduction in employment in the automotive industry and in other basic industries under our jurisdiction.
But we are in a position where we will be able to meet the financial needs of the union during this period.
And therefore, if the company believes that cutting off the checkoff in the union shop is going to bother us, they're just kidding themselves.
There are some basic human problems that we are going to solve in 1958, either between now or midnight, or sometime between the midnight deadline and some future date.
We're going to solve these problems, and the sueners of GM Corporation recognizes that.
What they ought to do is go back and read a little history.
They ought to find out what position they took on the Blue Cross Plan back in 1941.
They said, no, never, we won't go down the road to socialism.
Now they're bragging about the Blue Cross.
They said they would never go down the pension road.
Now they're bragging about it.
They said never for the GAW.
We got the beginning of one.
I mean, this has been, they were against vacation pay, they were against call -in pay, they were against night shift premium, they were against vacation, all of these things.
It seems to me that a fellow ought to get a little bit wiser because every day he gets a little bit older.
To what degree are the auto workers and the electrical workers working in concert? Well, we shall maintain a very close working liaison between the two unions.
Their decisions are theirs.
Their contract is a matter which they have to decide on and make decisions on, and the same is true with the UAW.
We will work together in a friendly kind of way, maintaining close liaison, so that they know what we're doing and we shall know what they're doing.
But we are not interfering with their decisions and they are not interfering with our decisions.
We have a close, friendly working relationship.
Is it your understanding they will work without a contract, as you will? This is their decision.
You mean the news...
Well, we propose, we propose, it is my intention to stay at the bargaining table all day until the deadline, hoping that we can work out a sensible and satisfactory settlement.
Comment on the chances of meeting the deadline? Well, we've always worked up against deadlines and we always obviously are optimistic.
Although I'm advised, well, I have not been at the bargaining table excepting for the first day, I've been advised that the corporation to date has been unwilling to bargain on a single issue.
Either of an economic or a non -economic nature.
Now there are, as we have said, some very serious and pressing human problems that need solution now that can be brushed under the rug for two years or can't be ignored.
The problem of the unemployed, the problem of the pensioners, the problem of workers whose jobs are being transferred, whose plants are being shut down, and many other problems that need solution now, and the union is asking for a sensible, reasonable approach to these problems.
But unfortunately to date, I'm advised that the corporation has been unwilling to give consideration to any of these problems.
