UAW Says Deal Reached With GM, U.S.

Union Announces Tentative Agreement To Cut Costs In Effort To Stave Off GM Bankruptcy

(AP)  The United Auto Workers union has reached a tentative deal with the government and General Motors Corp. that offers to cut labor costs and fund a union-run trust that will take over retiree health care costs next year.

The union announced the deal in a short statement issued Thursday that gave no details, which were withheld pending meetings with members to explain the terms.

The move is a key step toward GM's efforts to restructure outside of bankruptcy court. The company, which has received $15.4 billion in federal loans, faces a June 1 government-imposed deadline to restructure or be forced into bankruptcy protection.

Union members still have to vote on the deal, according to the statement. It makes no mention of factory closures or production of vehicles outside the U.S., items that the union has protested in Detroit and Washington as the deadline approaches.

GM plans to close 16 more factories, costing 21,000 hourly workers their jobs, as it tries to cut labor costs and shrink its manufacturing footprint to match lower demand for its products.

The Treasury Department, which has been overseeing GM's restructuring efforts, had no immediate comment.

GM has about 61,000 hourly workers in the U.S., but plans to take that number down to 40,000 by 2010.

[sjc_1]

It comes down to sharing the wealth. Who gets the wealth, the people that created it or the people that claim to own it. The people that want money for nothing are the capitalists that don't do a day of work and talk about lazy welfare cheats. Then there are those that work hard every day and never have enough to live a decent life. It is about abuse of power and exploitation.

[sjc_1]

"...business is only good for paying taxes..."

40 years ago, business paid more than 40% of the federal budget, today they pay less than 7%. They threatened to fired people if they were not given tax breaks, they got them and then they fired the people anyway.

[golfered2]

skyk-2009 Talk about STUPID your it. I'm not talking about people who bought cars in the past but whose going to buy cars in the future. The UAW and the US Auto task force have pissed off so many people in the last couple of months that we are unwilling to buy a car manufactured by the UAW. I personally think that it's a crime that the UAW get any ownership in either GM or Chrysler and you get that ownership with my tax money. I WILL NOT BUY A UAW PRODUCED CAR EVER AGAIN!!!!!!!

[Patriot_0311]

Socialization, I'm saying that there exists in this country by the white collar sector, the flawed notion that those who "labor" with their hands, don't deserve a "living" wage. And that their white collar position in life entitles them to a wage not just a little, but "well" above their blue collar counterparts. I'm not saying that the UAW doesn't deserve some of the blame, but I strongly maintain that most of the problems lie elsewhere, there's plenty of blame to go around. My position is, that the UAW worker is being made the scape goat because of the wages involved, when in "fact" wages for the average American have "not" kept up with the cost of living. When the UAW worker is let go after all the bankruptcy motions have been filed, where will he go to work? When the guys at the top get the axe, their connections in the corporate world usually afford them a soft landing, we've all seen it. I wonder if Rick Waggoner is worried about his next house payment?

[skyk-2009]

Sorry to say the only ones willing to buy a car from UAW owned Chrysler or GM are the UAW employees and they get employee pricing. Don't think that's going to give either company a profit. I've had a GM vehicle for the last 15 yrs but will NEVER buy a UAW made car again!!!!!!
Posted by golfered2 at 3:55 AM : May 22, 2009

LOL What grade did you actually get too? I'm banking on the 6th! LOL Good grief Chrysler ALONE even in these worst of times sold more vehicles that the number of members in the ENTIRE UAW... now that doesn't count the Union in Canada! Come on, confess! You are just an ignorant member of the Fringe Right who wants someone to blame and this Union is your latest attempt to find a hate target! LOL

[golfered2]

Sorry to say the only ones willing to buy a car from UAW owned Chrysler or GM are the UAW employees and they get employee pricing. Don't think that's going to give either company a profit. I've had a GM vehicle for the last 15 yrs but will NEVER buy a UAW made car again!!!!!!

[didserve]

UAW greed has killed the American Auto Industry!

Combined with Automakers Senior Managements Ignorance!

[whitemale08]

...at least Obama looked out for labor in this country over the Wall Street parasite bondholders.

However he wouldn't have had to do anything and just put GM through bankruptcy and re-tool the plants to start building the mag-leve transportation this country needs to get all of these cars and trucks off the highways.

That would cut down on road-construction and bridge maintenance and we would've had a mass transit system to transport goods and people accross the country.

But again Wall Street/City of London can't make money that way, they need insurance companies to profit off you driving on the highways and turn your policy into a worthless derivative and credit-default swap for speculation scams.

[unionguy]

Good- night everyone. That was fun.

[npkppprc]

now they will call it GM (Government Motors)