GM's Baltimore Plant Targeted for Closing
By JOHN PORRETTO, AP Auto Writer

DETROIT - General Motors Corp.'s 68-year-old Baltimore assembly plant is the
only major GM factory targeted for closing as part of the automaker's new
tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers, union leaders told local
presidents Sunday.



The local officers were in Detroit to hear highlights of the proposed
four-year labor pacts announced Thursday with GM, the world's largest
automaker, and major automotive supplier Delphi Corp.


According to a UAW-produced document prepared for the officers and obtained
by The Associated Press, GM has identified three facilities for shuttering:
the Baltimore plant, which has about 1,100 UAW workers; a powertrain plant
in Saginaw, Mich., with 378 employees; and the Argonaut Building, an aging
office structure in Detroit.


GM builds the Chevrolet Astro and GMC Safari vans in Baltimore. The plant's
future was uncertain because GM had no work assigned to it beyond 2005 - now
the year it will close.


During negotiations, Delphi, which was spun off from GM in 1999, proposed
the consolidation of six facilities, the document says. The supplier
proposed merging two plants in Flint; its Tuscaloosa, Ala., plant into an
operation in Lockport, N.Y.; and an Olathe, Kan., facility into Fitzgerald,
Ga.


"The UAW resisted this proposal and Delphi withdrew it," the UAW document
says. "Nevertheless, the company notified the union that it intends to raise
the issue of potential consolidation of these facilities during the term of
the 2003 agreement."


GM has 115,000 active UAW workers; Delphi has about 30,000.


Company representatives have declined to discuss details of the proposed
pacts.


The details are among the first to emerge about which operations the Big
Three automakers have targeted as part of four-year, tentative contracts
they reached with the union last week.


The new deals provide $3,000 signing bonuses, a second-year bonus tied to a
worker's rate of pay and wage increases of 2 percent and 3 percent,
respectively, in the third and fourth years of the contracts.


The UAW predicts the average production worker will realize additional
income of $17,400 over the life of the agreement.


That's not quite the per-worker boost of nearly $30,000 four years ago, but
the state of the domestic industry has changed significantly.


The late 1990s were prosperous times for GM, Ford and Chrysler, with money
rolling in on the sale of pricey sport utility vehicles and large pickup
trucks. Ford, for example, made $7.2 billion in 1999. In 2000 and 2001, the
world's second-largest automaker lost a combined $6.4 billion.


GM and Chrysler also made billions in 1999, but profits have shrunk in
recent years as Asian and European rivals have started building - and
selling - more vehicles in North America, including big pickups and SUVs.


Gains by foreign automakers were never more evident than in August, when the
Big Three's combined U.S. market share fell to its lowest level ever and
Toyota outsold Chrysler in a month for the first time.


Some analysts say the UAW and Big Three seemed to realize the time had come
for the two sides to work collectively against the foreign invasion.


The manufacturers and their suppliers are under intense pressure to reduce
overhead and improve productivity as Asian and European rivals continue to
expand in North America.





Ford and Chrysler also plan to sell or close several plants as part of
tentative agreements reached last week with the UAW. The goal is to reduce
the glut of North American manufacturing capacity and better align supply
and demand.

The 1999 pacts banned plant closings.

The UAW entered negotiations with GM wanting assurances that the automaker
would continue choosing Delphi for new business as opposed to nonunion
suppliers. GM is Delphi's biggest customer.

According to the UAW document, GM agreed to award about $1 billion in new
business to Delphi, though no timeframe was given. In exchange, the document
says, "the UAW and Delphi agreed to a series of actions aimed at making
Delphi a more quality-minded, competitive and viable company for the long
term."

The proposed four-year contracts between the UAW and GM, Ford, Chrysler,
Delphi and supplier Visteon Corp. still require ratification by
rank-and-file members. That process is expected to take place in the next
week. The deals cover more than 300,000 UAW workers and 500,000 retirees and
spouses.