GM, Parma workers reach tentative contract

[OhioChick]

April 09, 2008 18:06PM

General Motors and United Auto Workers Local 1005 in Parma have reached a tentative agreement on a new local contract, avoiding a potential strike at the 1,400-job plant.

Dick Topola, a member of the local union's executive board, said the bargaining committee and the company reached an agreement late Tuesday. He has not seen the agreement but said it will be presented to the board Friday and the union membership Sunday.

The union has not set a date for workers to vote on the contract.

Last week, the Parma local was one of five to threaten to strike. The locals said they would bargain for new contracts this week, and if they didn't reach deals, they would issue five-day strike warnings next week.

That could have led to workers being on strike by the end of the month.

Topola said he does not know what broke the impasse. The Parma union said last week that John Mohan, regional UAW representative and former chairman of the GM Lordstown plant local, would take part in negotiations.

The local and the company have been working on a new contract since summer.

http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2008/04/gm_parma_workers_reached_tenta.html