According to Fort Wayne, IN’s Journal-Sentinel, Fort Wayne Foundry Corp. wants its union employees to agree to wage cuts and hikes in their contributions to health-insurance program in order to address the company’s liquidity problem. The newspaper’s source is an official with the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics & Allied Workers International Union, which represents most of the hourly employees of two of the company’s plants.

Fort Wayne Foundry manufactures engine manifolds for General Motors. It operates three foundries and a tooling plant in Fort Wayne and Columbia City, IN. Other employees are affiliated with the United Autoworkers union. Officials at Fort Wayne Foundry did not respond to the newspaper inquiry.

Randy Gould, the GMP local official, did not detail the cost of the company’s demands to workers, but the union’s current agreement has them paying no health-insurance premiums. The workers average wage is about $14/hour, according to the Journal-Sentinel, and Gould predicted his union’s members might be willing to make some concessions to Fort Wayne Foundry.

"The company has a cash flow problem and is asking its hourly employees to meet with them and consider renegotiating the existing labor agreements," Gould stated in the account.