Word: gm
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...first time since 1970, the United Auto Workers has launched a nationwide strike against General Motors Corp. The labor stoppage, involving more than 73,000 union members, began at 11 a.m. on Monday after GM and the UAW failed to reach an accord on a contract that could potentially lead to sweeping changes in the financing of health care for retired workers...
...health care did not appear to be the immediate cause of the snag in negotiations. The strike was prompted by GM's prospective production plans, particularly the construction of a new assembly plant in Mexico that could be ready to export vehicles to the U.S. in about one year. Surprised union members cited job security as the key issue as they walked out of GM assembly plants around Detroit. "They just told us we were going on strike and it was about job security," said one member of UAW Local 594 in Pontiac, Mich. only moments after the strike began...
Alan Baum, an analyst with the Planning Edge in Birmingham, Mich., said, that a strike over job security is likely to be the UAW's attempt to win concessions from GM in exchange for the union's acquiescence to parts of the health care financing agreement, embodied in the so-called Voluntary Employment Benefit Association (VEBA). "If the UAW its going to take the VEBA to its members," says Baum, "it has to have something to show for it. The issue then becomes, 'We gave here but this is what we got.'" Baum said the strike could well serve...
...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." He added, "You can only be pushed so far. There comes a point where you have to draw the line." GM officials, meanwhile, said the talks involved complex issues and the company planned to "continue focusing our efforts on reaching an agreement as soon as possible." Union members said they were prepared for a long slog. "You can't look at it just for today," said another member as she signed...
Perhaps the greatest significance of the coming GM-UAW deal is that it's another step in the decline of employer-sponsored health care. UAW president Ron Gettelfinger says he would prefer a single-payer system, which would relieve the burden for both GM and the union. That won't fly, but presidential candidates will offer other ideas. The crisis in Detroit shows, in the extreme, that corporate paternalism in the form of health insurance has outlived its usefulness. GM's biggest mistake may have been to assume that it would always be strong enough to handle the promises...