UAW president Ron Gettelfinger said Tuesday, January 6, that the union would
seek rank-and-file approval for any changes it makes to labor agreements to help
the Detroit Three comply with provisions of the federal bailout.The UAW’s bargaining team from the General Motors department was scheduled to
begin discussing their negotiating strategies Tuesday, Gettelfinger said in an
interview with Automotive News. The union’s bargaining teams from Ford Motor Co.
and Chrysler will begin meeting later this week, he said.
President George Bush is requiring GM and Chrysler to make cuts to improve
their competitiveness as part of emergency loans each receives from the federal
government to stave off a cash crisis.
Chrysler and GM have received $4 billion each to date. GM is slated to get an
additional $5.4 billion on January 16. GM would get another $4 billion on
February 17 if Congress authorizes additional federal loans under the $700
billion banking bailout legislation passed this fall.
The UAW was singled out for more concessions than any of the other
stakeholders, including bondholders, dealers and suppliers, Gettelfinger said.
The union is willing to help, he said. But the process is being slowed by
confusing loan language and the absence of a federal point person or car czar to
clarify questions, he said.
The so-called term sheet of the loan calls on the UAW to agree to competitive
compensation with the Japanese transplants and more flexible work rules. What’s
more, it requires new multibillion-dollar trusts created by the UAW for retiree
health care to be half paid with automaker stock instead of cash.
With GM and Chrysler needing those concessions by February, Gettelfinger said
UAW staff resources have been stretched thin.
He declined to say what changes the UAW would make to the cost-saving
national agreements signed in late 2007. But whatever changes are negotiated,
the UAW rank and file would vote on the provisions, he said.
“We’ll sit down and have discussions along the lines of things we could do in
the contracts and have that ratified without opening the contracts,”
Gettelfinger said.
Any changes made to the voluntary employee beneficiary associations, or
VEBAs, also must be approved by a court. The previous retiree trusts were
approved by a judge after a class hearing.
Gettelfinger said he expected bondholders, dealers and suppliers also to make
sacrifices. But he said he would not let those negotiations stop the UAW from
making changes that would help the automakers get their loans.
Filed by David Barkholz of Automotive News, a sister
publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.
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