The United Auto Workers laid down their demands in July; the Ford Motor Co. laid down its offer in August. Since then, the two sides have barely been on speaking terms. It was only last week that they really began negotiating.
First sign of a break came Tuesday, when Ford asked the U.A.W. to postpone a routine afternoon meeting until evening. When the time came, there appeared an extraordinary tableau. Instead of sitting down face-to-face as usual, U.A.W. Chief Walter Reuther and his aides camped by themselves in the Ford headquarters' second-story bargaining room, while the Ford men ensconced themselves in other rooms on another floor. Within two hours, word came that henceforth there would be a blackout on news of the negotiations "to facilitate serious bargaining."
Four Lettermen. The separate tables seemed salutary. After two more days of dickering at arm's length, the Ford team again met the union at week's end, this time to make its second offer since contract talks began. Reuther roundly rejected Ford's terms, but quickly submitted a "counterproposal" of his own.
Though both camps kept mum on the details, few expected the latest ripples to end the six-week-old strike overnight. The blackout did seem to improve the temper of the affair, which has tended to be insulting. U.A.W. bargainers have been complaining that Ford Negotiator Sidney F. McKenna works "like a computer," like to call him the "McKennacal Man." The union's veteran negotiator, Gene Prato, ended one recent session by announcing, in four-letter terms, that he'd had more than enough of McKenna.
Reuther admittedly aims to pressure Ford by keeping its rivals going. Yet last week he had no sooner cajoled restive workers back to Ford plants that make parts for American Motors Corp. than other U.A.W. workers at A.M.C. went out on a wildcat strike over a minor squabble. And beyond Ford, where it has 160,000 workers on the streets, the U.A.W. has 30 other strikes under way. Among them: a walkout of 25,000 Caterpillar Tractor Co. employees and a strike involving 4,500 Burroughs Corp. workers.
Signs of Strain. Strike benefits to Ford workers are running to $5.25 million a week, and the U.A.W. is having trouble finding income to match the outgo. For one thing, the non-struck automakers are no longer paying workers' U.A.W. dues directly to the union, and the U.A.W. finds it difficult to col lect from the boys. So last week Reuther rallied the faithful at Detroit's Cobo Hall for approval of an emergency dues increase. So armed, he warned that unless Ford makes a move, "we are in for a long, long strike."
Ford was showing signs of strain. Having lost production of some 228,000 cars thus far, its dealers have fewer than 140,000 on hand, barely a third of them '68s. With the flow of U.S.made parts ended, its Canadian operations have all but stopped.