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...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...
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...
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...