UAW Says Won't Control Chrysler

[Hannah Bell]

The United Auto Workers president is seeking to distance his union from direct responsibility for the future of Chrysler LLC, noting 55% of the auto maker will be owned by a retiree health care trust fund and not the union itself.

"It's this independent trust that will own these shares," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said...The trust--known as a Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association, or VEBA--is supposed to take ownership of 55% of Chrysler as part of a government-brokered cost-cutting plan that union workers ratified earlier this week...Mr. Gettelfinger also implied in the Fox interview that the UAW would be able to act independently, even strike if necessary, despite the fact that the union would own a critical piece of the company through the VEBA trust...

"The VEBA is CONTROLLED BY THE OUTSIDE INDEPENDENT DIRECTORS who have been appointed by a judge to serve on that," he said. "We have less UAW representation on the VEBA. And as far as the board seat that the VEBA is going to get with the approval of the UAW, the voting will be done by independent directors….So, I don't see that conflict of interest issue."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124120108093077927.html

So much for "The workers will own the company". For this joke the workers lost $5.3 BILLION in health care.