General Motors Co. CEO Mary Barra met on Wednesday with UAW President Gary Jones to jump-start stalled contract talks and end a 25-day strike at the company’s U.S. factories, according to people briefed on the meeting.
Barra asked for the meeting with Jones and the UAW’s top bargainer for GM, Terry Dittes, concerned the union had yet to respond to the company’s latest proposal, which it shared with the union Monday, the people said. The meeting was at GM’s Detroit headquarters, in the same building where negotiations are under way, the people added.
Top negotiators for the union and the company haven’t met at the main bargaining table in the last two days, a sign talks have slowed, the people said.
But in a letter to GM’s top bargainer Thursday, United Auto Workers Vice President Terry Dittes wrote that there won’t be a response to Monday’s offer until committees working issues are finished. He didn’t know how long that will take.
Details of the Wednesday meeting between Barra and top union bargainers were disclosed in the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press. It’s an indication that there won’t be a quick end to the nearly monthlong strike by 49,000 workers that has halted production at all of GM’s U.S. factories.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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