UAW Ponders Strike Target

The United Auto Workers union has not yet selected a strike target as its current contract with Detroit's three carmakers approaches a Sept. 14 expiration.

UAW President Dennis Williams says the union will decide before that date on a target, where contract negotiations will create a pattern for the other two companies.

The UAW has been signaling it wants to eliminate the two-tier wage system it accepted when the industry was near collapse five years ago. The union also has suggested the three carmakers consider paying for the adjustment by pooling their healthcare operations to reduce costs.

The carmakers say their labor costs are still significantly higher than those at plants in the South operated by its nonunionized Asian competitors. But all three are piling up huge profits, marking the first time in a decade the contract negotiations have not been conducted under difficult economic conditions. Analysts predict a contentious finale for this year's bargaining.

This year's contracts will affect $17 billion in wages and benefits for some 137,000 workers, according to the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.