U.S. may referee GM strike
|
|
July 17, 1998: 12:30 p.m. ET
White House offers mediation help as 43-day strike takes toll on economy
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The federal government is offering to help resolve the 43-day strike against General Motors by the United Auto Workers union, a bitter standoff that is beginning to take its toll on the nation's economy.
Labor Secretary Alexis Herman said Friday the White House would make available federal mediation to help settle the strike.
"We are obviously encouraging the parties to make progress in their discussions and ... federal mediation is available if they want to call in a federal mediator," White House spokesman Mike McCurry told reporters.
General Motors and the UAW agreed Wednesday to allow an arbitrator to decide whether the union's 43-day walkout is legal.
The agreement was reached during a hearing before a federal judge in which GM asked for arbitration to be ordered on the issue.
The strike has shuttered 26 of GM's 29 North American plants and idled more than 184,000 employees as the nation's No. 1 automaker remains deadlocked after six weeks in a fight with the UAW.
The Federal Reserve Board reported Thursday the bitter walkout has begun affecting the overall U.S. economy and that economic expansion in the second quarter was likely to be a fraction of its 5.4 percent growth rate in the first quarter.
McCurry didn't indicate that the federal government was yet encouraging the parties to seek help from federal mediators, which he said would be unique in decades of negotiations between major automakers and the UAW.
"We are listening carefully to the disposition of the parties and hearing what they report on their own deliberations," he said.
-- from staff and wire reports
|
|
|
|
|
|