UAW counters GM contract offer after full day of finger-pointing

Bloomberg

The United Auto Workers (UAW) made a counter proposal to General Motors (GM) Co that would end a nearly month-long strike if the automaker agrees, capping a tumultuous day in which the union and company traded barbs and blame.
UAW Vice President Terry Dittes offered no specifics on the proposal in a letter sent to members and published on the union’s website. GM had been awaiting a response to its latest offer made, which a person familiar with the matter said included $9 billion of total investment in US plants, about $2 billion more than the carmaker vowed to make in mid-September.
Analysts say the strike has cost GM more than $1 billion of lost profit. The automaker’s senior executives appealed to rank-and-file employees, portraying UAW leadership as dragging their feet in responding to its proposals.
“We object to having bargaining placed on hold,” Scott Sandefur, GM’s vice president of North American labour relations, wrote to Dittes in a letter obtained by Bloomberg. “As we have urged repeatedly, we should engage in bargaining over all issues around-the-clock to get an agreement.”
The public war of words escalated, with the UAW issuing an open letter accusing GM of stalling negotiations to “starve UAW-GM workers off the picket lines” and protect its own interests. The union said its negotiators remain committed to bargaining day-and-night to find an agreement.
“These delaying tactics have human costs. Families are suffering, from Detroit to Texas to New York,” the letter said. “This strike has been and continues to be about securing the American workers’ future.”
The UAW’s walkout has halted production at 34 US plants and disrupted output at factories in Mexico and Canada.