UAW unsettled with auto bailout deal
With a $17 billion loan package for General Motors and Chrysler come strings attached involving wages. But the United Auto Workers union isn't entirely satisfied, which could make negotiations ahead rocky. Steve Henn reports.
Workers at the Chrysler assembly plant leave the facility at the end of their shift in Belvidere, Ill. -- December 19, 2008 (Jim Prisching/Getty Images)
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TEXT OF STORY
Steve Chiotakis: So, General Motors and Chrysler get a bailout -- $17 billion in loans to help them through a tough period. There are strings attached involving wages. The United Auto Workers union doesn't like those strings, and that'll make for a rough road of negotiations ahead. Here's Marketplace's Steve Henn.
Steve Henn: The UAW has agreed in principal to a series of concessions, including ending job banks which pay workers even after they're laid off. But many analysts say deeper cuts are needed.
When Don Grimes was a young man, he got a job on a GM assembly line.
Don Grimes: It certainly helped pay for college. It was very lucrative and I'm very thankful for that, but the truth is it's unsustainable.
Today, Grimes is a researcher specializing in labor issues at the University of Michigan. He says when he was young, the Big Three basically had a monopoly. Workers and management divvied up windfall profits. But those days are gone.
Grimes: It doesn't give me any pleasure in saying this, but you have to have labor costs that match up with your competitors. That's the end of the story.
The bailout signed last week call for the automakers and the unions to do just that. But union leaders may try to rework that deal in the new year after President-elect Obama takes office.
In Washington, I'm Steve Henn for Marketplace.
Comments
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From DeRidder, LA, 12/23/2008
I agree that the UAW should wake up and smell the coffee. I understand that taking a pay cut,a person would have to make some financial adjustments, but I would rather do that, than stand in the unemployment line getting alot less money for short time period any day. Plus you would still have your health benefits also.
From erie, PA, 12/23/2008
The UAW isn't satisfied? Are you kidding me? Are we supposed to feel sorry for these guys? I wish my boss would buy and maintain a beautiful golf course, Olympic size swimming pool, and comfortably large hotel for, for all of his employees!!!! No wonder they don't want to take a pay cut, how could they possibly afford to use these NECESSARY luxuries ??? And I am supposed to feel sorry for these guys??? Yeah, I don't think so. Sell the course, and all the amenities, take the pay cut, and quit whining about how bad off you !!!!!!
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