Saturday, February 14, 2009

UAW throws GM under the bus

Update: Sources say negotiations will resume Sunday afternoon. Let's hope the UAW have come to their senses.

The UAW walked out on concession negotiations, according to an AP news source. They are willing to throw GM under the bus to protect their bloated benefit and pay packages. UAW wages and benefits are almost $30 per hour higher than the Japanese transplants. Unless the UAW realizes the gravity of the situation, GM and Chrysler will be forced into bankruptcy. That is a better alternative for the taxpayers. Then, the bloated UAW contract can be reduced by a judge. Have you ever seen a UAW contract? See a UAW contract here. It weighs 22 pounds. The UAW is not known for reason. A UAW organized plant(Magna New Process Gear plant) recently refused concessions even though the plant would be closed without them. They preferred unemployment to working under a reduced contract. The vote wasn't even close. The UAW rejected the concessions with 76% voting no.
AP source: GM concession talks with UAW break down
Feb 14 06:58 PM US/Eastern
By TOM KRISHER
AP Auto Writer

DETROIT (AP) - Negotiators for the United Auto Workers walked out of concession talks with General Motors Corp. Friday night in a dispute over payments to a union-administered retiree health care fund, a person briefed on the talks said Saturday.

The breakdown comes at a critical time as GM races against a Tuesday deadline to submit a plan to the government showing how it can become viable.

The Detroit-based auto giant is living on $9.4 billion in government loans, and the Treasury Department must approve its viability plan for GM to get $4 billion more. Chrysler LLC, which has received $4 billion in government loans and wants an additional $3 billion, faces the same deadline.

At GM, UAW negotiators walked away because the company made demands that were "detrimental to retirees and the ability to provide health care," according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. breitbart.com

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Time for GM and Chrysler to learn how to swim on their own. The union let them die so the union shall die with them. No bailout package should ever be used to support union, ever

Anonymous said...

If it weren't for the Unions, the big 3 wouldn't have needed a bailout. They were unable to restructure because parting bonuses made it more expensive to lay off workers than to keep them. Unions have played an important role in workers rights, and I don't see how we can make them illegal, but they are certainly nothing to look up to these days. There is someone there who's job it is to see if they have enough money in the pot to strike longer than the company can stay afloat. When they have enough, they bite the hand that feeds them until they get what they want.

How does our auto industry survive this? It is a complicated issue, only made more more so by unions, Toyota Republicans, Foreign plants in America, protectionism, foreign health care, socialism, etc. I've been blogging extensively on the issue myself.

Schnitzel_Republic said...

It really isn't so much the pay itself that makes this entire union deal so bad. Its the other items like a company pension, healthcare, and leave time.

GM has no choice...declare the bankruptcy....shut plants for 60 days and then offer a new package with greatly reduced healthcare, and just a 401K pension deal. The unions won't stand for it...but thats the way of this crisis.

Joe "Truth 101" Kelly said...

Why do you guys have a problem with labor wanting a piece of the pie? Since the air traffic controllers were fired by Reagan mangaement has had the right to hire scabs in the event of a strike. The problem is with Big Three management. They're the ones that flew their corporate jets to Washington asking for taxpayers to save their companies. They're the ones responsible for designs and parts that were inferior to Honda and Toyota.
The UAW has made concessions. Several. In 2010 the UAW takes ove rthe pension obligation. Their workers start at around $14 an hour. Management has to make concessions also in the manner of job security and it's compensation. I can see where management representatives probably told the Union management compensation was not their business then told the Union to take less. Sometimes you have to walk out to get back on track and make the other side realize what is in both party's interests.