Recently Caterpillar met with United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials and once again failed to agree to a labor contract. This marks yet another extension of a long negotiation that started in December.
See Caterpillar-Union Standoff Continues
UAW has said it is “disappointed” in the health care portion of Caterpillar’s offer while Caterpillar stressed its offer “will keep (the) company and employees competitive long-term.”
“While the union listed concerns and observations related to our proposal at today’s meeting, they offered no proposals for addressing the issues in a manner that will keep our company and employees competitive long-term,” said Chris Glynn, Caterpillar Director of Labor Relations. “The parties have agreed to meet at a future date. Our offer remains in place, and we have no additional offers to make.”
Caterpillar most recently reported a record-breaking second-quarter profit of $552 million and $7.56 billion in sales. The first half of 2004 also set a record, with a profit of $964 million.