The Journal Times from Racine, Wisconsin • 33

Service woes stall auto sales, UW study finds but noted some automakers are trying to DETROIT (AP) Good service sells cars, a new study shows, and U.S. automakers are putting added effort into making some of the Industry's best salespeople perform well. They're stepping up training for dealer mechanics. As evidence of what's at stake, the University of Wisconsin study suggests Chrysler problems may be traced in some measure to chronic stalling problems customers had with its Dodge Aspen-Plymouth Volare model. For every five customers whose new-car warranty problems are quickly resolved, a dealer gains one additional sale through word-of-mouth advertising, the study concludes.

But for every five customers whose repairs are delayed, two will bad-mouth the dealer, telling friends not to buy from him. In the model year studied, 1977, two thirds of the Volare-Aspen owners surveyed reported stalling problems. The study Could not determine how many sales were tost as a result of poor service, about 10 percent. The study found that 36 percent of the Chrysler owners who ran into slow repairs said they had ruled out Chrysler as the maker of their next car 9 percent did so even if their cars were trouble-free. In comparison, 12 percent of the troubled customers with General Motors cars ruled out GM the next time, and 20 percent of Ford's problem customers did so.

It was 40 percent for American Motors. GM is so big, with 60 percent of the domestic market and 46 percent of the total U.S. market, that "GM has the ability to pass frustrated buyers around among the GM divisions and still maintain loyalty to the corporation," the study said. "Each division has loyalty rates more nearly consistent with those of the other companies." To improve service performance, GM this year opened a Service Research Center at its Warren, technical center to bring service-support activities under one roof and the motto: "Fix it right the first time." dealers, to a greater extent than manufacturers, have more at stake in good service. For example, 26 percent of those whose problems were resolved after a delay said they would shun the dealer the next time they shopped for a car, while 18 percent said they would try another automaker.

The study also found that only 40 percent of Chrysler's buyers had no warranty problems during their first year, and 18 percent still had complaints at the end of 12 months. This compared with an average of 52 percent of the new car buyers having no complaints, and an average of 14 percent stijl having problems after a year. The study said the Aspen-Volare stalling problem accounted for the difference, and concluded: "Chrysler's serious financial crisis, resulting from recent sales deterioration, may have roots in the extremely high rate of troubles" in those cars. Chrysler, which is now trying to overcome its setbacks with government-guaranteed loans, had 16 percent of the domestic car market in 1976. Today, its share is GM, which has been advertising Mr.

Good wrench service, has also agreed to allow dealers to bill it at standard labor rates for warranty work. A lower rate for such service had been a bone of contention. Ford says it is putting a "major" effort into training mechanics this year. Chrysler surveys its new car buyers to ask about service and tracks complaints against dealers. If a dealer gets more than its share, the company dispatches a field team to help out with training or advice.

Chrysler is also offering to take back cars people don't like in the first 30 days after a sale. So far, returns have been less than one half of 1 percent. Meanwhile, Miller and McNeill suggest that automakers add attention to buyer loyalty and service complaints to their interest in the balance sheet of profit and loss. To solve problems of delay and inconsistency in warranty work, manufacturer and dealer "must coordinate policies of parts shipment, mechanics' training and complaint handling," they wrote. una out through improved "goodwill accounting.

The authors also suggested there has been a "leakage" of U.S. auto sales to foreign producers due to service dissatisfaction. "People recognize that a car is a complex piece of machinery and they are not perfect, that things will go wrong," Richard E. Miller of the Disputes Processing Reseach Program at the University of Wisconsin Law School at Madison said in an interview. But, he added, when things go wrong, "They expect it to be flxed.

Results of the study, involving interviews with 1,537 buyers of new 1977-model domestic cars from 33 dealers in the Milwaukee and Madison areas, were published in the September issue of Administrative Science Quarterly. It was written with project director Kenneth McNeill. The new car ownerswere each interviewed twice once after two months and again after a year. The study found that usDoess the Journal Times, Sunday, Oct. 19, 1980 Rjurw, Wis.

7Q Discounts start to disappear as air fares begin rapid rise Wednesday it will boost prices Nov" 1, assuming other major airlines on' the route go along, as they are ex pected to do. Eastern now charges $258 for alt round-trip tickets between New York and either Los Angeles or San Francisco. That will jump to $390 although discounts will be available! for travelers who reserve a week iff advance and stay over a Saturday. For them, the fare wUl be $268 at" night and $298 during the day. The; one-way fare will remain $195.

Under the American proposal for most of its routes, roundtrip pur-, chases qualifying for the discount; would get 15 percent off on weekend day flights, 25 percent off on weekend nights or weekdays, and 35 percent off on mid-week nights. The weekend is defined as Friday through Sunday. applicable discounts. The lowest round-trip discount fare offered by American Airlines between Dallas-Fort Worth and New York had fallen from 1255 to $237 since Jan. 1, for example, while the basic round-trip fare was rising from $392 to $526.

But American wants to boost the lowest discount fare to at least $342, and possibly more, if it raises coach fares again before Dec. 1. An American spokesman said no decision has yet been made. The airlines have been hurt by rising fuel prices and declining passenger loads, brought on both by higher fares and the recession. But they now seem willing to raise fares even in highly competitive markets like the New York -California routes.

Eastern Airlines, which had slashed prices as low as $99 each way without restrictions, said i it 'Unisexers' ask change in insurance NEW YORK (AP) The life expectancy at birth of a U.S. female Is just over 77 years. For a man it is just over 69 years. That's eight years by most calculations, but some see it as no difference at all. They assert that to claim a difference is to discriminate unfairly.

Male and female are equally human, they say, and human life expectancy at birth in the United States is 73 years. They are the unisexers. As you might expect, the unisex concept Is producing considerable confusion in the insurance industry, in which insurance costs and benefits, and annuities too, are based on precise actuarial tables. That neat, ostensibly objective arrangement is now threatened with disarray because, as some actuaries say, the unisexers refuse to believe in differences, including ma thematic and genetic. The unisexers won't buy that.

Individuals are individuals, not tuarial contrivances, they say. William M. Mercer the nation's largest employee benefit consulting firm, puts it this way: "A particular woman may not live longer than a particular man, and our discrimination laws have focused on individuals, not groups. Therefore, it is argued that sex differentiated mortality tables can no longer be used to establish different benefit amounts." Mercer, which must advise companies on their benefits programs, is justifiably worried. It can search through legislative, judicial and regulatory decisions, but it will find more confusion than guidance.

Reflecting those changes, a major retirement fund the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund is considering a unisex mortality table to determine monthly benefits. Under the plan, men and women of the same age would receive the same monthly benefits if they contribute the same amount of premium dollars regardless of the likelihood that the women will collect for a longer period of time. Eqaullty of sexes would override the actuarial tables. Briefly 'USA M' 4 4 1 1 I -fx NEW YORK (AP) If you want to fly this winter, be prepared to pay a lot more. Airlines are raising fares rapidly, whittling away at discounts and making them harder to get "We hope it will cut down the use of discount fares by people who would fly full fare anyway," said David -Frailey, a vice president of American Airlines.

American said Wednesday it notified the Civil Aeronautics Board of plans to reduce discounts offered on most routes to a maximum of 35 percent off regular coach fares, down from the current 55 percent. And tickets for round trip discounts will have to be bought 30 days in advance for a trip lasting at least seven days. Current rules call for purchases only seven to 14 days in advance, depending on the route, and require a traveler to stay until the next Saturday. The new rules take effect Dec. 1.

Whether discounts actually are reduced depends largely on whether other airlines go 'along. Delta and Braniff say they will, and United says it will match them in part Other airlines said they are studying the issue. Basic airline fares have been rising rapidly all year. "We're well aware that airline prices are running ahead of the cost of living," said Chuck Novak, a spokesman for United Airlines. Coach fares are up an average of 43 percent since Jan.

1, and he added that another 6 percent hike was planned for Nov. 18. This year's increases bad been offset, however, by large and widely Clarification In story on Friday's business page about Twin Disc annual meeting, the company's chief executive officer, John H. Batten, was quoted as saying Twin Disc still expects its annual sales to reach 1250 million in 1985. Inadvertently omitted from the story was Twin Disc's most recent annual sales figure, $208,975,000 for the fiscal year ended June.

30. Card shop to open in Westgate i A greeting card and gift shop called Shari's Card Shop will open this week at 4801 Washington Ave. in Westgate Mall, the retail development anchored by a Shopko discount department store. Occupying 2,700 square feet of space, the store will be operated by Cherkinian's Card Shops said Marion Fiala, the corporation's secretary-treasurer. Cherkinian's, headed by Jack Cberkinian, 1945 Saturn has; three other stores: Cherkinian's Card Shop at 434 Maui St Down? town, the Elm wood Card Shop at Elm wood Plaza, 3701 Durand and the Card Corner in Cudahy at 5656 S.

Packard Ave. in Packard, Plaza. Shari is Mrs. Cherkinian's first name. Mrs.

Fiala said Friday the West-gate Mall store would open this week, probably early in the week. Stair spirals People partial to spiral staircases could have a field day here. A plant safety specialist at Tenneco Petro-Tex chemical plant in Houston, Brooks Vails, inspects a spherical storage tank from the stairway that wraps around it. Pioneer Savings promotes six Bits of Business Pioneer Savings and Loan Association announced its board of directors has approved promotions of six people. Promoted to assistant vice president: Jeanette Johnson, who is branch manager for the West Racine office at 3009 Washington Be mice Rose, who was assistant secretary, and Thomas Rudy, direc tor of personnel who was also formerly an assistant secretary.

Promoted to assistant secretary: Randall C. Due, a savings supervisor, and Jackie Van De Bogert, new branch manager in Walworth. Beatrice L. Timler, an assistant supervisor in data processing, was promoted to assistant treasurer. Gerald M.

Thome, executive vice president of Security First National Bank, Sheboygan, has been appointed chairperson of the Small Business Administration Wisconsin Advisory Council for a term ending July 31. Michael G. Kloster has been ap pointed to the board of directors of Eye a manufacturer of eyeglass accessories at 1219 Jones general manager Robert L. Koke announced. Kloster Is an account executive with Office Electronics Milwaukee.

Old Soldier' VaBeo leaves UAW firing line (which has been a unit of Tenneco survived." "I guess you could say I was case hardened at Case," Valeo quipped in that interview of a few days ago. Asked what he considers the labor movement's biggest problem today, Valeo said, "We have to adjust not only to the changing times, but to the changing attitudes of the people who make up our membership, and potential members Valeo said union members of tot-day are "much more skeptical and critical of the performance of the organization that represents them You can't impress them by telling them what you went through." He said the government is the on ly vehicle "large enough and strong' enough" to make changes in the, economy that he sees as necessar to "redistribute the wealth." By way of elaboration, Valeo said that "multinational corporation have accumulated so much power that affects the destiny of us all thai we'll be devoured Jby it. Decisions that are made by a handful of people in the corporate suites should be de mocratized." Valeo was an early supporter of. Walter Reuther and was a delegate, to the UAW convention In 1946 which Reuther won the union's presi idency. "I would consider him one of mj mentors," Valeo said.

''He estab lished the idealism of the UAW thaf, differentiates it from any other ur ion In this country. "He was colorful. He bad vision He had commitment. The UAW was his life. He could move people." he was released before the end of the year on a medical discharge.

Valeo returned to Case, resumed his union activities, and soon found himself playing an active rplen a bitter strike that lasted, at the company's Racine plants, a couple of weeks longer than 14 months. The walkout ended here on March 10, 1947. What Local 180 got for its efforts was an agreement that raised wages a total of 25 cents over two and a half years and granted paid vacations for the first time. Among the things the union sorely wanted but did not get until years later, when new Case managers decided it was more practical to bargain than to wage war were a union shop clause, a dues checkoff provision, an arbitration clause and a master contract covering workers at Case plants In Illinois and Iowa as well as Racine. "We lost that strike," Valeo said.

"There's no question about that" The walkout left Local 180 severely weakened and embarking on a period In its history that turned out to be what Valeo termed "really dismal. Stark." Valeo won the local's vice presidency in 1948. "Two years later I made my big push," be Joked. "I ran for president. I got elected.

That was like being married to a woman that nobody else wanted." Valeo-continued as president until 1864, when ulcers put him on the sidelines. He returned to the presidency in 1956 and held It until 1966. when he was named to the UAW's professional staff here as an international representative. The last big, bitter strike at Case Inc. since 1967) was the one in 1960.

At the Racine plants the walkout lasted six and a half months, until Sept 19. At the end or it Local 180's contract still didn't nave a union shop clause, a dues checkoff provision or a funded pension plan, among other things. "William J. Grede was president of the company then," Valeo noted. "He was one of the founders of the John Birch Society." Gaylord Nelson was Wisconsin's governor, and Valeo credits him with playing a major role in bringing the walkout to an end.

"The company wanted him to call out the National Guard," Valeo said. "Instead, he got Nathan Feinsinger to head a mediation panel that settled the strike." It took three more years to settle one strike-related issue. Case had withheld vacation pay from the strikers. The union held that the pay bad been accrued by the workers before the walkout and was being withheld unlawfully, an argument that eventually prevailed in the courts. The workers got their vacation pay in 1963.

In 1964. with Merritt Hill in the Case presidency, the company and the union negotiated a three-year contract which contained a union shop clause, improved seniority provisions and the start of a SUB (supplemental unemployment benefit) plan, among other things the union had been seeking (or years. That agreement was hailed by both sides as "ushering In the dawn of a new era in J.I. Case-UAW labor By David Pfankuchen otth Journal Tlmn Tony Valeo is fond of some trees planted in Vernon County by a teenager from Kenosha and some other members of the Civilian Conservation Corps. "They're 40 years old now," Valeo said In an interview the other day.

"They're beautiful." The trees are evergreens, including lots of Norway pines. They were planted by the CCC, as the Corps was popularly known, to stem erosion and put some jobless young men to work. Including Valeo. Valeo was that teenager from Kenosha, and he says he considers the CCC one of the finest programs to come out of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. A former president of United Auto Workers Local 180 at the J.I.

Case Co. here, Valeo will be 65 years old Oct 28. Nov. 1, he will retire from the UAWs professional staff. He's been an International representative here since 1966.

Today Valeo is another departing member of the UAW Old Guard. In 1934, he was an 18-year-old Kenosha high school graduate looking for a job. "1 couldn't get one, come hell or high water." he said. "You gotta visualize what It was like in 1934, In the depths of the Depression. So 1 enlisted in the CCC "I was sent to Fort Sheridan first.

Then we went to Long Lake, Wisconsin, way up north in Florence County. From there I went to Coon Valley Vernon County, where we planted millions of trees." After a bitter, 14-month strike, "I made my big push. I ran for president. I got elected. That was like being married to a woman that nobody else wanted." Tony Valeo Other projects included building dam-like structures across gulleys to keep sUt from washing away, and Introducing other measures to prevent erosion of farmland, including contour plowing.

Pay was $30 a month. Of that, Valeo said, he kept $5 and sent $25 back to Kenosha to help support the family. He was one of five children. Valeo spent three years in the CCC. "I got out in April of 1937," be said, "and started to work at Case in May at 55 cents an hour as a sweeper.

Jesus, was I happy to get that job. "They bad just come off a strike. It was a turbulent time. I got interested in the union to the point of going to membership meetings In 1938 or 1939, somewhere in there, I got elected steward As a steward, I also became active on the (Local ISO's) education committee." Enter World War II. At the beginning of 1943, Valeo enlisted In the Army.

He was selected for officer training, but an ulcer intervened and UAW's Tony Valeo retiring as union rep management relationships." A story about the settlement in the UAW's publication Solidarity for August, 1964 carried the headline: "A Company Moves Into the 20th Century." The story included this quote from Valeo: "I believe that If the complete history of Local 180 is ever written, it will parallel the history of the American labor movement. "Ever since we came into existence and even before than our people have bad every conceivable antl-untoa" gimmick, legal and otherwise, thrown at them and they have.