UAW Weighs 11th-Hour Bailout Concessions

[Omaha Steve]

Source: CBS/AP

Auto Workers To Hold Emergency Meeting In Detroit To Help Big 3 Get Government Loans

(CBS/AP) Local United Auto Workers leaders from across the U.S. will hold an emergency meeting in Detroit on Wednesday to discuss concessions the union could make to help auto companies get government loans.

UAW leaders called the meeting Monday night in an e-mail, obtained by The Associated Press, to local union presidents and bargaining chairmen.

Among the subjects to be discussed at the meeting will be the possibility of restructuring the union-administered health care fund so that the automakers can delay payments to the multibillion-dollar fund, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The union leaders will also discuss potentially eliminating the jobs bank, in which laid-off workers keep receiving most of their pay. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the details of the talks haven't been finalized.


Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/02/business/main...

[ksimons]

1. would love to be a fly on the wall of that meeting

although I'd have stay out of reach of swatting rolled-up contracts -- S P L A T --

[cosmicone]

2. This is a good start but UAW needs to do more n/t

[madmom]

3. What would you propose they do? We haven't had a raise in

the last 2 contracts, we went from the best health insurance to the worst just to name a couple, as compared to what have they (meaning the company) given back.They don't get to take a jet to Washington?

[LiberalFighter]

6. People talk about issues that they have no knowledge about... don't they?

I might agree to a delay of our VEBA provided that the government would guarantee payment if GM defaults.

I can't imagine any other possible concessions that the workers could provide to the company.

[cosmicone]

8. I don't mean to sound unsympathetic and I do understand

the plight of the auto workers. However, I have seen people in NUMMI in Fremont, CA whose job was to put two screws into a plastic plate every 58 seconds getting paid $88,000 a year plus benefits. The average worker there made about $68K plus benefits. This is way above national average.

How can other car companies like Toyota, Honda, Isuzu, Mazda etc. come to the US, start plants from the ground up and STILL make money?

[fascisthunter]

4. the upper class needs to do more for it's workers

they can start by cutting their own pay in half, the greedy head cases.

If they weren't such greedy sociopaths, people wouldn't feel the NEED to unionize in the first place....

[AndyTiedye]

5. Buy 'Em Out

GM's stock is so low, the UAW probably has enough money to buy a controlling interest.

[Hawkowl]

7. Everyone should work for $1 per hour

WTF. No more concessions by employees! How is this supposed to help the economy? IDIOTS! If no one is making a living wage, no one is going to be able to buy shit. Thus no more economy. Cut management pay so it is more in line historically with line workers. Across all industries. Real wages have been stagnant, at best, for almost 30 years.

Single payer health care would do more to make U.S. automakers competitive overnight than any realistic wage cuts.