Fairfax strike talks continue - Kansas City Business Journal:

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The strike by about 2,600p union members at the plant started at9 a.m. May 5. Local 31 Presidengt Jeff Manning said Thursday that he has no progressz report but that talks have occurrex every day since the strike Talks were continuing shortly after5 p.m. Manning confirmefd reports that GM could discontinue life and health insurance for all striking workers as earlyu asJune 1. "That's the customary thing that they'll do," Manning said. "They end the coveragr at the end of the month in which thestrikwe starts. You know that goinb in.
" When the uniom strikes, Manning said, it registers all striking worker s for life andhealth coverage, and the unionj picks up the cost, excluding vision and dentapl benefits. GM spokesman Dan Flores said thecompant hasn't decided to end benefitas for striking Fairfax workers on June 1. The two sides are trying to work out termsd of a local contractg to replace one that expired in Although a national contract betweenGM (NYSE: GM) and the UAW concernx issues such as wages and benefits, the local contracft covers issues specific to the Fairfax plant.
The Locakl 31 Web site says its main issue of contentionj is management not allowintg seniority to play a role in job placement andshifty preference. Other sticking points in the loca l contract negotiations include lackof in-plant medicak coverage and concern about variouz jobs at the plant beinv outsourced to contractors and vendors. The Fairfax Assembly Plant producess the popularChevy Malibu, one of GM's strongestr selling vehicles, and the Saturn Aura, as well as hybrids versions of each. The Malibu also is built at an assembly plant inOrionj Township, Mich. The strike has cause d some supplier layoffs.
LLC, whicyh receives and delivers automotive components tothe plant, has laid off 92 hourl workers since the strike began. Faurecia Automotivse Seating's Riverside plant laid off all its hourlyt workers onthe strike's first day. , formerly Delphi Interiors and temporarily laid off abouf 90 of the roughly 100 employees at its Nortuh KansasCity plant, spokeswoman Mistuy Matthews said Wednesday. The layoffs are "somethin we've done in response to customer scheduling," she said, but the companu won't disclose its customers' identities. The plant does cockpig assemblyand sequencing, she said, which meana assembly occurs in the order that the vehiclews are built.
The Fairfax Assembly Plantr ranks No. 15 on the Kansas City BusinesswJournal 's list of area private-sector employers, with 2,700 employees.