The UAW is as equally responsible for the auto industry's problems as the companys' executives. By acting childishly during negotiations, they are jeopardizing their own livelihood. They just don't get it, do they? Something has to give, something has to bend.
Last month, Fox News reported:
WASHINGTON -- General Motors and Chrysler have found themselves stuck in neutral in negotiations with the United Auto Workers union. With just two days before two of the Big Three automakers return to Washington, D.C., to offer a restructuring plan and ask for more cash from the federal government, concession talks are set to resume with the labor group, which is on a crash course with the automakers over who has to sacrifice for the companies to stay afloat.
Talks in Detroit with GM broke off Friday night over the issue of health care for retirees. UAW negotiators walked out in a dispute over swapping stock for cash payments into a union-run trust fund that will take over retiree health care costs starting next year. On Sunday, a source close to the negotiations said talks with General Motors and the UAW will resume in the afternoon. Chrysler's talks were moving very slowly, and the UAW shifted its efforts to Ford Motor Co., the healthiest of the Detroit Three and the only one not receiving government loans.
David Axelrod was unclear on the Obama Administration's view. Not surprisingly, Axelrod is once again demonizing the "Big Corporations" and siding with the union members whose votes they rely on for continued Totalitarian dominance.
Government cannot and should not stick its nose into American business and American pockets. Regulation, CAFE standards, Card Check Union voting policy all have led to the economic slow-down we now face.
"This is a difficult situation," President Obama's senior adviser David Axelrod said on "FOX News Sunday. "Everyone's going to have to continue to work toward a solution."
Axelrod said that the companies will have to undergo "significant restructuring" of their industry so they can produce cars that people want to buy. He said it won't be painless.
"We have a vested interest in seeing the auto industry continue," he told "FOX News Sunday." "And that's going to involve concessions on the part of everyone, not just the auto workers, but shareholders, creditors and, of course, the executives who run the company."
Axelrod wouldn't say whether the administration would offer the auto industry more bailout money. Asked if the U.S. economy could withstand a bankruptcy at GM, Axelrod didn't respond directly.
What are they thinking? If the companies go belly-up, the union members will be out of jobs anyway? How can they support the unions, when the union may have no place to work? This is part of the reason why we have been against this bailout from day one. It's a lose-lose situation for everyone. Government cannot and should not stick its nose into American business and American pockets.
Regulation, CAFE standards, Card Check Union voting policy all have led to the economic slow-down we now face.
But Obama and the Liberals are going to continue to push for Card Check, creating more and more unions, and further damaging more corporations. They just don't get it, they are more interested in having a subservient voting block than actually worrying about the economy.
Trust me. A bad economy makes people more and more dependant on Government and that is exactly what The Democrats want.
I don't think anyone is saying the union isn't going to take a haircut on their claims. Few believe GM will be able to honor all its obligations. That said even if they fired the union and hired people at minimum wage there would still be issues on the brands, engineering quality, lack of profitability on smaller cars etc etc. The UAW has the same contract with Ford and GM and only GM is on the dole.
ReplyDeleteAs far as being obstinate, I don't believe anyone is saying that the contract the UAW has with GM is any less legitimate than, say, the retention contracts that AIG had with key employees. That GM can't honor that contract (and its other contracts) is why we have bankruptcy courts. These negotiations amongst the parties are real hardball, and I don't fault the union for not rolling over and playing dead. I think the union will make concessions but it isn't unreasonable for them to expect others (eg the bondholders) to make equivalent concessions.
Now, if this was a normal company they would have filed for bankruptcy a while ago and fought it out in court, that is why we have bankruptcy courts. However GM is not a normal company, it is very large and I can see a public policy interest not allowing it to careen out of control in bankruptcy and bring down many with it. Unlike when, say, Macy's went bankrupt - where people kept shopping - the autos are different. I think the real goal here is to get agreement so they have a very short (week or two) bankruptcy as key issues are agreed ahead of time (this is called a pre-packaged bankruptcy...google the term for more info).
Whoa, how did you get 140 comments on the earlier post? Cool (though i didn't post any disagreements, concerns for personal safety and all that)
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