Word: gm
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Chrysler LLC also have large pools of untapped cash reserved specifically to cover retiree health care under the terms of contracts signed in the fall of 2007 that were supposed to remove the retiree-health-care burden from company balance sheets. Meanwhile, new workers eventually hired to replace GM's, Ford's and Chrysler's current employees will no longer be eligible for postretirement health benefits. For the automakers, the costly transition is worth it, because it eliminates one of the major uncertainties they have faced over the years - the soaring cost of health care. GM's combined pension...
However, transition from the old benefit system to the new one isn't cheap and is stretching the financial reserves of the domestic companies. By 2020, GM, which has the largest number of retired employees, will have transferred some $23 billion to the new Voluntary Employee Benefit Association (VEBA), created by the contract. (That amount includes the $13.5 billion GM has already injected into the trust, plus another $9.5 billion yet to be contributed.) Ford owes $13.6 billion to its VEBA, and Chrysler, which doesn't make its finances public, owes between $6 billion and $9 billion...
From the union's perspective, the health-care benefits always represented deferred wages, says Jerry Tucker, a former member of the UAW board. In addition, as GM, Ford and Chrysler have cut their blue-collar payrolls in half, from 300,000 to 150,000, over the past three years, the health-care benefits have become more important, he says. "More than two-thirds of workers taking early retirement aren't eligible for Medicare. A lot of them didn't even want to retire," he says. UAW president Ron Gettelfinger said in the fall of 2007 that the VEBA trusts would...
...what becomes of the trusts should Washington say no to a bailout? Assets already paid into the VEBA trust would probably be safe if GM filed for bankruptcy, says Diamond. But chances of getting the deferred $1.7 billion back in a bankruptcy court are virtually nil. It's also unlikely that the assets in the trust will last 80 years, since bankrupt automakers would be unlikely to make all the future trust contributions. "My guess is the trust would last 20 years," says Diamond. "It's a very difficult situation. Autoworkers were sold a pile of goods by the union...
...Read "As GM and Ford Report Big Losses, Pressure for a New Bailout Grows...