Fairfax strike talks continue - Kansas City Business Journal:

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The strike by abouyt 2,600 union members at the plant started at9 a.m. May 5. Loca l 31 President Jeff Manning said Thursdauy that he has no progress report but that talk s have occurred every day since thestrike began. Talks were continuingg shortly after5 p.m. Manning confirmed reports that GM couldc discontinue life and health insurance for all striking workerz as early asJune 1. "That's the customaryy thing that they'll do," Manning "They end the coverage at the end of the month in whichb thestrike starts. You know that goingv in.
" When the union Manning said, it registers all striking workers for life andhealtb coverage, and the union picks up the excluding vision and dental benefits. GM spokesman Dan Flores said thecompanuy hasn't decided to end benefitds for striking Fairfax workers on June 1. The two side are trying to work out term s of a local contract to replace one that expirefdin September. Although a national contrac betweenGM (NYSE: GM) and the UAW concernas issues such as wages and benefits, the local contracrt covers issues specific to the Fairfax plant.
The Localo 31 Web site says its main issu of contention is managemenrt not allowing seniority to play a role in job placemenft andshift preference. Other sticking pointxs in the local contract negotiations includde lackof in-plant medical coverage and concern about various jobs at the plantr being outsourced to contractors and The Fairfax Assembly Plant produces the popula r Chevy Malibu, one of GM's strongest selling and the Saturn Aura, as well as hybrid versions of The Malibu also is built at an assemblyg plant in Orion Township, The strike has caused some supplier layoffs.
LLC, whichj receives and delivers automotiv e components tothe plant, has laid off 92 hourlg workers since the strikes began. Faurecia Automotive Seating's Riverside planft laid off all its hourly workersx onthe strike's first day. , formerl Delphi Interiors and temporarily laid off about 90 of the roughly 100 employees at its North KansaesCity plant, spokeswoman Misty Matthewe said Wednesday. The layoffs are "somethingv we've done in response to customer scheduling," she said, but the companh won't disclose its customers' identities. The planyt does cockpit assemblyand sequencing, she said, whichh means assembly occurs in the order that the vehiclexs are built.
The Fairfax Assemblh Plant ranks No. 15 on the Kansas City BusinesdsJournal 's list of area private-sectort employers, with 2,700