Caterpillar, UAW to Resume Full-Scale Talks

Caterpillar Inc. and the United Auto Workers are to resume full-scale negotiations today, more than six years since the last time the construction equipment maker and the union had a contract. Last year, officials from both sides held six meetings with a federal mediator to figure out where they stood. Those meetings led the officials to order talks between each UAW local and factory-level executives to settle individual concerns. Neither side would comment on prospects for a contract that would affect about 13,000 workers. The last time they held serious talks, in November 1995, the two sides wrangled over creating lower pay scales for some workers; giving the company, based in Peoria, Ill., more control over workers’ schedules; and what to do with dozens of people the union believes were fired illegally. No figures for salary or benefits have been released. The last contract expired Sept. 30, 1991, followed by a six-month walkout that was broken by Caterpillar’s threats to replace all the strikers. After that, brief walkouts shut down plants without warnings. Workers slowed production by following rules to the letter and filed hundreds of complaints with the National Labor Relations Board.