General Motors chief executive Mary Barra this week secretly met with brass from the United Auto Workers for the first time since the union called a strike last month that has idled more than 46,000 employees, the New York Post reported. In an unusual move that union officials took as a positive step, Barra on Wednesday asked UAW president Gary Jones and Terry Dittes, the union’s vice president who’s leading the main talks, to come to a conference room near her office. GM officials on Tuesday had abruptly pulled out of a meeting for major negotiations in which officials were slated to discuss job security and bringing jobs back to the US from Mexico. No such meeting occurred on Wednesday, either, and Barra that afternoon appeared concerned that talks were off track, according to a source. UAW officials had been angling for a direct meeting with Barra as a way to break through on negotiations, which have remained stalled for about five days.
