In their first full, face-to-face contract talks in over two years, negotiators from Caterpillar Inc. and the United Auto Workers union will sit down Monday in the Chicago area with federal mediators at their side.
Underlying the talks is the most optimism since the giant Peoria-based manufacturer and the union squared off over six years ago in what has become the nation’s largest and longest-running labor-management feud.
Two years ago, more than 12,000 UAW members rejected a contract proposal, and they have been working under terms imposed by the company, Illinois’ largest manufacturer, in 1992 and again in 1994.
“We are cautiously optimistic. After all of the years, that is all you can be,” said Randy Morrell, president of UAW Local 751 in Decatur. “We’ll just see.”
Saying they want to keep their talks low-key, both company and union officials have refused to discuss the likely contract issues. Nor would they disclose the exact location of the negotiations.
Unlike previous efforts, however, the two sides have taken several steps that signal more cooperation than before.
Starting in May, select officials from both sides met six times at sessions overseen by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
In December, they halted their meetings, saying that they had made enough progress for local union and company officials to bargain over local issues.
Since then, six of seven UAW locals have reached agreements with the company. Talks are stalled in York, Pa., where Caterpillar is shutting down its plant and shifting work out.
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In another measure of their willingness to get along, the union and company asked the National Labor Relations Board in December to put off hearings on unfair labor practice charges against Caterpillar.
The two sides said they wanted to put off the cases while they are caught up in contract negotiations, said Glenn Zipp, the NLRB’s regional director in Peoria. Theoretically, any agreement might call for Caterpillar and the UAW to privately resolve the issues, Zipp added.
Holding off on its legal battle with Caterpillar is a major concession for the UAW, because keeping the company embroiled in that costly wrangling remains the union’s greatest single pressure point.
Out of 877 charges filed by the union against Caterpillar, the NLRB has upheld 441 complaints. The dispute “really hasn’t hurt Caterpillar’s (financial) results . . . but they certainly want to put it to rest,” suggested Mark Oline, a securities analyst with Duff & Phelps Credit Rating in Chicago.
The union has said Caterpillar might be forced to pay millions if it loses the battle over the charges, a claim strongly disputed by the company.