Date set for Caterpillar-UAW contract talks
By PAUL GORDON | Journal Star
Posted Nov 29, 2010
Contract talks between Caterpillar Inc. and the United Auto Workers will begin Dec. 15, the two sides confirmed Monday.That date was decided during a meeting Nov. 17 between the leaders of each sides bargaining teams, a meeting held for the purpose of deciding a tentative schedule, said sources close to the situation.
Caterpillars team will be headed by Chris Glynn, director of labor relations. The UAW will be led by Dennis Williams, financial secretary-treasurer for UAW International.
A place and time were not disclosed, but sources close to the situation said it likely will be in Peoria at the Hotel Pere Marquette. Talks are also expected to occur Dec. 16.
Thats where many meetings occurred during the last contract talks, which began Dec. 10, 2003, to replace a contract that expired April 1, 2004. But the contract was extended and talks continued off and on well more than a year before a new contract was hammered out.
The existing contract expires March 1. It covers approximately 10,000 active hourly Caterpillar employees in the Peoria area as well as in Aurora, Decatur and Pontiac in Illinois and plants in Pennsylvania, Colorado and Tennessee. There also are provisions in the contract that pertain to thousands of Caterpillar hourly retirees.
Neither the company nor the union will discuss yet what they expect the chief issues to be in this round of talks.
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