GM-UAW Bargainers Talking Again About Critical Contract Agreement

DETROIT, MI.(AP) – General Motors and the United Auto Workers are back at the bargaining table.

The talks had stopped in the pre-dawn hours this morning after a marathon 16-hour session. Thousands of GM union workers were on the job this morning at the automaker’s 82 U.S. plants.

There’s optimism that both sides are getting close to reaching an agreement. GM’s four-year contract with the UAW expired at midnight Friday, but the union decided to extend it on an hour-by-hour basis.

The union named GM as the lead company in contract talks and potential strike target Thursday. But the threat of a walkout have seemed to fade. A UAW local told its members to report to work at the GM assembly plant in Arlington, Texas, as scheduled today. But it said it’s committed to a strike, if necessary.

In a joint statement sent to union members and the media, Local 276 leaders told members they expected negotiators either to wrap up talks or declare an impasse at the end of Sunday’s negotiating session. Local 276 represents 2,800 workers at Arlington’s GM plant and 2,700 retirees.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)