Word: chrysler
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Despite the pressure of Chrysler's April 30 deadline to pull off a rescue package - or face potential bankruptcy - the United Auto Workers has been in no rush to make concessions. "As I see it, the United Auto Workers union has a choice. They can [shed] some jobs or they can take a pay cut," says a financial consultant based in Detroit. "Naturally when you're faced with two bad choices, there is a natural tendency to procrastinate...
...assemble a rescue package that in addition to any UAW givebacks will have to include closing more plants and getting big help from Italian carmaker Fiat, which would contribute its own small-car designs and technology. Failure would saddle major banks with $7 billion in new losses, leave Chrysler's former owner, Daimler AG on the hook for more than $1 billion in additional pension costs and wipe out the health care for thousands of Chrysler retirees...
...foot dragging on Chrysler is affecting GM, too. In a Friday conference call with the media, GM chairman Fritz Henderson lamented that GM's own union negotiations are being slowed because the UAW won't move forward until the Chrysler/Fiat negotiations are resolved. That makes sense: Whatever terms Chrysler gets will be a precedent for GM, too. GM faces a June 1 deadline from the U.S. government to produce sufficient cuts to ensure viability...
...agreement. According to Harley Shaiken, a labor expert at the University of California at Berkley and occasional consultant to the UAW, the union and its Canadian counterpart are grappling with demands for big cuts in their wages and benefits - on the order of 25% to 30% - by Chrysler and Fiat. The demanded rollbacks could reduce wages and benefits, presently pegged at $29 per hour, by $6 to $8 per hour. "There is no doubt these are very serious cuts and they're being made under very tight deadlines and under very serious pressure," Shaiken says. "That will be a bitter...
...retailers do have is employees, and at this point way too many of them. Dillard's (DDS), which is not one of the largest retailers, lost 19% of its same-store sales last month. The company has 33,000 employees which means that it is not much smaller than Chrysler's US car operation. Rite Aid has 4,900 stores and it is in real trouble. If Rite Aid faced bankruptcy it would cause unemployment problems, but it could also trigger a destructive chain of events in the real estate industry by defaulting on store leases at locations all over...