Word: gm
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...world's largest automaker is desperately trying to hammer out a new contract that would shift the burden to the United Auto Workers (UAW), the union that represents 73,000 of GM's employees and nearly 270,000 retirees. The company wants to fund a health-care trust, administered by the UAW, to pay for retirees' medical needs. The union's old contract expired Sept. 14, and the creation of that trust has emerged as the principal stumbling block to a new one. An eventual deal looks likely; the two sides are haggling furiously over exactly how much GM will...
...trust that GM has in mind, called a voluntary employees' beneficiary association (VEBA) according to the 1928 tax law that governs such trusts, would create an independent body, run by the UAW, with the sole responsibility of paying for the health care of GM's retirees and their spouses. It won't come cheap. Analysts estimate that GM could end up paying 60 to 70 cents on the dollar of its $50 billion obligation to establish the trust. But investors have been pushing for a VEBA since Goodyear set up a similar plan with the United Steelworkers last year. Wall...
Could this deal save the U.S. auto industry? It would certainly help. Once GM sets up a VEBA, Ford will probably follow. Chrysler, which became a privately held company in August and has far fewer retirees, has so far balked. "It's not our issue," says a Chrysler official. The companies can use the freed-up cash to spend on developing and selling better cars to take on Toyota, which this year surpassed GM in sales. But that's in the long run. In the short run, funding the trust could put carmakers in a tighter cash squeeze unless they...
...pretty. "Look what happened in New Jersey," says Stuart Altman, an economist and professor of national health policy at Brandeis and a longtime policy adviser on health care. The state recently revealed that it faces a $58 billion shortfall in funding for retiree health care, even larger than GM's. To meet that gap, New Jersey has asked retirees to pay more in premiums, but the state may eventually have to scale back spending on services like public colleges and mass transportation. Some cities, such as New York and Duluth, Minn., have already set up health-care trust funds. Others...
...constant battle to win licenses - for example, he needed a special license to sell soap on Sundays - a small conglomerate bloomed. By the mid-1970s, Maponya's businesses included a chain of general stores, a butcher shop, a restaurant, a Coca-Cola plant, filling stations and a GM and BMW car dealership. "Richard Maponya is the real deal," says Michael Spicer, ceo of South Africa's Business Leadership forum, which advises government and big business on policy. "He cut his teeth at a time when it was exceptionally difficult for black Africans...