Business Notes AUTOS

The traditional handshake that opens contract talks between the United Auto Workers and the big car companies has often seemed a bit forced. But when U.A.W. President Owen Bieber faced off across the bargaining table last week with Alfred Warren, the chief negotiator for General Motors, they had a powerful incentive to stay on friendly terms. Both sides know all too well that the share of the American car market captured by foreign competitors has risen from 23.5% to 28.3% since 1984. The Toyotas and Hyundais of the world would like nothing better than a U.S. auto strike when the U.A.W.'s contracts with GM and Ford expire on Sept. 14.

Despite their mutual interest in avoiding a walkout, the union and the automakers face tough negotiations. The U.A.W., alarmed that during the next 2 1/2 years GM intends to close twelve plants employing 30,000 workers, is demanding something close to lifetime job security for its members. The union wants workers affected by the closings to be transferred to other parts of the company and insists that GM's unionized work force be held steady at 370,000.

Money, of course, will also be an issue. Though GM is struggling, Ford is raking in record profits. During the first half of 1987, Ford outearned its much bigger rival by $2.99 billion to $1.9 billion. The average base pay of Ford's workers, meanwhile, has not gone up since 1984, when wages increased 2.25%, to $12.82 an hour. The union will feel more than justified in demanding bigger pay hikes from Ford in the next three-year contract. And GM's workers will want equal treatment, even if their company's profits are shrinking.