A Strike Defused

Chrysler is rolling--for now

By refusing to grant immediate pay hikes two weeks ago, Chrysler Corp. had almost dared its workers to strike. A walkout could easily bankrupt the sputtering company, but Chairman Lee lacocca was gambling that the rank and file would not take that risk. When the showdown ballot came last week, lacocca won his bet, at least temporarily. By a tally of 70% to 30%, the workers voted to stay on the job and postpone negotiations on a new contract until January. That strategy had been pushed by United Automobile Workers President Douglas Fraser, who reasoned that an improved U.S. economy and increased auto sales this fall might put Chrysler in a more generous mood next year.

Though angry enough to strike, most workers were thinking of their families and the holiday season coming up. Said a veteran of the assembly line at Chrysler's Jefferson Avenue plant in Detroit: "I voted to work. It's getting cold. Christmas is coming. And I wanted to have something for Santa Claus." Strike benefits from the union would have been $65 a week, or nearly $200 less than the average take-home pay for a Chrysler assembly-line worker.

Until the votes were counted, however, the outcome was far from certain. Only four weeks ago, the Chrysler workers overwhelmingly rejected a contract settlement agreed to by the company and the U.A.W. leadership. The deal called for cost of living raises starting in December that would have added an estimated 5%, or 50-c- an hour, to the average worker's pay by June 1983. The company also promised wage bonuses linked to Chrysler's future profits. But the workers, who have not had any kind of pay raise in two years, wanted an immediate raise.

Chrysler's workers are increasingly disillusioned with Eraser's moderate stance toward their employer. Some think that the U.A.W. chief, who since 1980 has been a member of Chrysler's board of directors, has become too cozy with management. Says one official of a U.A.W. local: "You can't sit on two sides of the fence and represent one."

Figures released by Chrysler last week offered some hope that the company will be healthier when bargaining resumes in January. The automaker posted a modest third-quarter profit of $9.4 million, compared with a $140.1 million loss a year ago. For the first 20 days in October, Chrysler's sales were up 10% over the same period in 1981. Nonetheless, sales so far in 1982 are still running 39% less than in 1978, the last good year for the auto industry. Unless business shifts into a higher gear soon, Chrysler will remain hard-pressed to satisfy its disgruntled work force.

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