February 11, 2009 4:11 PM
- Text
UAW On Strike Against GM
(CBS/AP)
Thousands of United Auto Workers walked off the job at General Motors Corp. plants around the country Monday in the first nationwide strike against GM since 1970.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said the union launched the strike after "one-sided negotiations" failed to reach an agreement.
"It was going to be General Motors' way at the expense of the workers," Gettelfinger said. "The company walked right up to the deadline like they really didn't care."
Workers walked off the job and began picketing Monday outside GM plants after the 11 a.m. UAW strike deadline passed. The UAW has 73,000 members who work for GM at 82 U.S. facilities, including assembly and parts plants and warehouses.
If you're looking to buy a car, you're not going to notice this strike, reports CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason. GM has a two-month backlog of inventory that will keep it in business for a while.
But if the strike drags on, the whole economy could feel it.
For all the downsizing Detroit has endured, it's still a power engine in the U.S. economy. Nearly 4 percent of our GDP comes from the sale and production of new cars and trucks, adds Mason.
As GM workers filed out of a big Cadillac plant just a few miles from GM's headquarters in Detroit, most were surprised, reports Jeff Gilbert of CBS News affiliate WWL. Many expected a settlement.
Pay and job security are the big issues. Both sides say they want to keep talking, adds Gilbert.
Bargaining broke off Monday morning, and then resumed in the afternoon at an office building in Detroit.
Included in the negotiations was a groundbreaking provision establishing a UAW-managed trust that will administer GM's retiree health care obligations. GM pushed hard for the trust - known as a Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association, or VEBA - so it could move $51 billion in unfunded retiree health costs off its books. GM has nearly 339,000 retirees and surviving spouses.
"This strike is not about the VEBA in any way shape or form," Gettelfinger said at an afternoon news conference in Detroit.
"The No. 1 issue here is job security," Gettelfinger later said, adding that the union also was fighting to preserve workers' benefits.
GM spokesman Dan Flores said the automaker was disappointed in the UAW's decision to call a national strike.
"The bargaining involves complex, difficult issues that affect the job security of our U.S. work force and the long-term viability of the company," he said. "We remain fully committed to working with the UAW to develop solutions together to address the competitive challenges facing GM."
It remained to be seen what effect the strike would have on the automaker and consumers. The company has sufficient stocks of just about every product to withstand a short strike, according to Tom Libby, senior director of industry analysis for J.D. Power and Associates.
Worker Anita Ahrens burst into tears as hundreds of United Auto Workers streamed out of a GM plant in Janesville, Wis.
"Oh my God, here they come," said Ahrens, 39. "This is unreal."
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said the union launched the strike after "one-sided negotiations" failed to reach an agreement.
"It was going to be General Motors' way at the expense of the workers," Gettelfinger said. "The company walked right up to the deadline like they really didn't care."
Workers walked off the job and began picketing Monday outside GM plants after the 11 a.m. UAW strike deadline passed. The UAW has 73,000 members who work for GM at 82 U.S. facilities, including assembly and parts plants and warehouses.
If you're looking to buy a car, you're not going to notice this strike, reports CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason. GM has a two-month backlog of inventory that will keep it in business for a while.
But if the strike drags on, the whole economy could feel it.
For all the downsizing Detroit has endured, it's still a power engine in the U.S. economy. Nearly 4 percent of our GDP comes from the sale and production of new cars and trucks, adds Mason.
As GM workers filed out of a big Cadillac plant just a few miles from GM's headquarters in Detroit, most were surprised, reports Jeff Gilbert of CBS News affiliate WWL. Many expected a settlement.
Pay and job security are the big issues. Both sides say they want to keep talking, adds Gilbert.
Bargaining broke off Monday morning, and then resumed in the afternoon at an office building in Detroit.
Included in the negotiations was a groundbreaking provision establishing a UAW-managed trust that will administer GM's retiree health care obligations. GM pushed hard for the trust - known as a Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association, or VEBA - so it could move $51 billion in unfunded retiree health costs off its books. GM has nearly 339,000 retirees and surviving spouses.
"This strike is not about the VEBA in any way shape or form," Gettelfinger said at an afternoon news conference in Detroit.
"The No. 1 issue here is job security," Gettelfinger later said, adding that the union also was fighting to preserve workers' benefits.
GM spokesman Dan Flores said the automaker was disappointed in the UAW's decision to call a national strike.
"The bargaining involves complex, difficult issues that affect the job security of our U.S. work force and the long-term viability of the company," he said. "We remain fully committed to working with the UAW to develop solutions together to address the competitive challenges facing GM."
It remained to be seen what effect the strike would have on the automaker and consumers. The company has sufficient stocks of just about every product to withstand a short strike, according to Tom Libby, senior director of industry analysis for J.D. Power and Associates.
Worker Anita Ahrens burst into tears as hundreds of United Auto Workers streamed out of a GM plant in Janesville, Wis.
"Oh my God, here they come," said Ahrens, 39. "This is unreal."
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