CAT Caterpillar Inc

By James R. Hagerty 

Glen Barton, an engineer who grew up on a Missouri farm, helped lead Caterpillar Inc. through a six-year battle with the United Auto Workers that weakened the union's influence over pay and work rules.

He served as a group president of the Peoria, Ill.-based company from 1990 until 1999, then spent five years as chairman and chief executive of the maker of construction and mining equipment. When the UAW went on strike in 1994, Caterpillar deployed a temporary workforce including office staffers and welders bused to Illinois from as far away as Alabama. After 17 months, the strike crumbled.

Caterpillar credited Mr. Barton with leading the adoption of a Six Sigma program to boost quality.

Mr. Barton died Oct. 24 at age 77.

In the early 1990s, Mr. Barton and other Caterpillar executives argued that the company's labor costs threatened its ability to compete, particularly with Japan's Komatsu Ltd. Mr. Barton said labor costs at Caterpillar were 25% to 30% higher than those at Komatsu, an estimate disputed by the union.

Donald Fites, Mr. Barton's predecessor as CEO, led the struggle with the UAW. The battle helped establish the now widespread "two-tier" wage system, in which companies hire new workers at wages far below those for employees protected by past union contracts. It also helped end "pattern bargaining," in which big auto and equipment makers all granted roughly the same terms to the UAW.

Glen Barton was born Aug. 20, 1939, in Alton, Mo., and grew up on a farm. "We'd get up at six o'clock in the morning and milk the cows," he said in an interview recorded by Caterpillar. "We had to milk them at 4:30, 5 o'clock in the afternoon also, regardless of (whether) there was a basketball game that night or not." He graduated as valedictorian of his high-school class, earned a civil engineering degree at the University of Missouri in 1961 and then joined Caterpillar as a trainee.

"When you become CEO you sort of say, I am not going to screw this up," he said in the interview. He was pleased that the company remained profitable during a downturn early in his term as CEO.

"We had the groundwork in place, that when the economy picked up in 2004 we just raced from the $20 billion level of sales to the $30 billion level," he said. Sales jumped from $22.81 billion in 2003 to $30.31 billion in 2004 and $36.34 billion in 2005.

In his retirement, his charitable activities included heading a fundraising campaign for the Red Cross. He also contributed to educational causes and the Peoria Zoo.

Mr. Barton is survived by his wife of 23 years, Phyllis "Polly" Hayes, as well as four children, nine grandchildren, a sister and a brother.

Write to James R. Hagerty at bob.hagerty@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 04, 2016 10:14 ET (14:14 GMT)

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT)
Historical Stock Chart
Von Jun 2024 bis Jul 2024

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT)
Historical Stock Chart
Von Jul 2023 bis Jul 2024