Catherwood LibraryILR School

After two days of bringing production to a grinding halt at five major automotive assembly plants, a United Auto Workers strike against four Johnson Controls auto-parts factories has yielded a major labor victory in an industry that has declined from fifty to twenty-five percent union density in the past three decades (see WIT for June 14, 2002). A tentative settlement was reached Friday morning after thirty-six hours of high-level, non-stop bargaining, and was ratified by union member at all four struck plants later that afternoon. The settlement includes four-year contracts with raises, signing bonuses, and company paid health, dental, vision care, and retirement plans at the three plants where the union had already won recognition, recognition of the union at the fourth striking plant, and company neutrality at twenty-six other plants the UAW is trying to organize.