As the UAW continues negotiations with Ford, GM and Chrysler, the union may want to take note of an automotive labor agreement signed recently in Europe.

 

The workforce at Audi’s assembly plant in Brussels, Belgium, agreed to measures that will lower the German automaker’s labor costs. More than 62 percent of blue-collar workers and 94 percent of salaried staff voted in favor of the agreement.

 

The agreement is the result of negotiations between management and trade unions aimed at achieving an equilibrium between working hours and income, or, put another way, competiveness and job security.

 

“The outcome is a sign of mutual trust,” stressed Werner Widuckel, the board member in charge of human resources at Audi. “We have achieved our cost objectives while at the same time safeguarding workforce wages and salaries as effectively as possible. This means greater competitiveness.”

 

The Brussels facility assembles the Audi A3 and the Volkswagen Polo.

 

Will the negotiations between the UAW and the Big Three go as smoothly? Will the union trade retiree benefits and work rules for job security? We shall see. On day one of negotiations between GM and the union, dozens of UAW retirees were circling outside carrying picket signs with messages such as, “We worked hard for the money. No more cuts.”

 

John Engler, former Michigan governor and current president of the National Association of Manufacturers, called the negotiations no less than a “day of reckoning” for the automakers and the union. You can read more about the UAW’s negotiations with the Big Three here.