Marcin said Ford wants to secure work rules at plants that help boost productivity and allow management to deploy workers where they are needed. With Ford's soaring profits, Marcin said he expects the union to ask to share in the company's success. It's his job to keep that share at a reasonable level. This will be his third time at the table for national contract talks. He handled health care negotiations for the 1993 contract and in 1996 Marcin coordinated European and new-market labor actions.
Third time's a charm.
He recently negotiated a contract with Ford when the automaker formed a joint venture with transmission maker ZF Inc. to keep jobs in Ford's Batavia, Ohio, plant. Ford brass said Gettelfinger showed vision and leadership in those negotiations, which resulted in a multitiered wage structure but secured union jobs. Gettelfinger and the UAW likely will seek job security guarantees and a share of Ford's growing profits. Former director of UAW Region 3, Gettelfinger worked in Ford's Louisville assembly plant, where the Ford Ranger and Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer are built. He is a graduate of Indiana University.