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GM And Unions Announce Support of Child Passenger Restraints

19 November 1998

GM And Unions Announce Support of Child Passenger Restraint Initiative

    DETROIT, Nov. 18 -- In a joint announcement, General Motors
and The United Auto Workers (UAW)-GM Health and Safety Center; the
International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture
Workers AFL-CIO (IUE); the United Steel Workers of America (USWA); today
pledged their support for the Operation ABC Mobilization: America Buckles Up
Children.
    The Operation ABC Mobilization is a national initiative whose objective is
to increase child restraint use through highly focused public awareness and
law enforcement activities.  The next focused Operation ABC Mobilization week
will occur from November 23-29, 1998, including the Thanksgiving holiday.
    The joint endorsement of Operation ABC Mobilization reinforces the UAW,
IUE, USW, and GM joint priority on the health and safety of their employees
and families.  According to Tom Weekley, UAW Director, and Mike White, GM
Director, UAW-GM Center for Health and Safety, "Encouraging our workers and
their families to always use child restraints and safety belts is one of our
major health and safety priorities."
    The joint announcement also encourages state and local leaders and law
enforcement agencies to actively participate in this important life-saving
initiative focused on children.
    "We plan to conduct awareness efforts to encourage our employees and their
families to always properly use child restraints," said Harold E. Nichols,
Chairman - ITTA - ESI Conference Board [IUE] and Dennis Bingham, President of
Local 87m USWA.
    Each year, over 600 children die and over 80,000 children are injured in
car and truck crashes, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) reports that about 40% of all children ride unrestrained in cars and
trucks.  Bob Lange, GM Director, Automotive Safety, said, "If only parents,
grandparents, and other caregivers would always correctly secure their
children who are riding in vehicles, we would sharply reduce the deaths and
injuries of children involved in motor vehicle crashes."
    Every state and the District of Columbia have child restraint use laws.
The Operation ABC Mobilization helps to focus the attention of parents and
care-givers on these laws and on the benefits of child restraint use.
    The UAW, IUE, USWA, and GM urge parents and care-givers to always properly
secure children in cars and trucks using these basic guidelines:
    *  All occupants must be properly restrained in safety belts or the
appropriate size child safety restraint (such as a rear-facing infant
restraint, a front-facing child restraint, or a booster seat).
    *  Children should be properly restrained in the back, where they are
safer.
    *  A rear-facing infant seat must never be placed in front of an active
air bag.
    *  For information regarding proper child restraint use, parents and
care-givers should read the owners' manuals for their vehicles and for their
specific child restraints.