Word: uaw
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Bloom argued Fiat's case, Chrysler's case and ultimately the UAW's case. Gangly and soft-spoken, Rattner's co-chairman is passionately pro-union - an unusual trait among investment bankers. He helped guide the steelworkers' union through the collapse and restructuring of its industry, and this time he came to the aid of Chrysler's workforce. Gene Sperling, a veteran of the Clinton Administration, added his weight to Bloom's, speaking movingly of the human devastation that would follow should Chrysler collapse at such a weak moment for the overall economy...
...Over the next month, the task force rammed through an odd-looking arrangement: The government would put up the money. The UAW's Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA) - a trust set up at Chrysler and other U.S. carmakers to shift retiree health-care obligations off company books - would own a majority of the shares. Fiat would run the place. And some sort of entity called Chrysler would survive. Despite the protests of some bondholders, the deal was sent to receive the blessing of a bankruptcy judge...
...UAW, meanwhile, has been asked to take a deal similar to the one struck with Chrysler. Autoworkers would give up some holidays and bonuses. Their wages would not automatically rise in the future as they had in the past. Some 20,000 jobs would be cut, and future hires would earn wages comparable to those paid in Toyota's U.S. factories. When those givebacks are added to an earlier surrender of the notorious "jobs bank" - which paid laid-off autoworkers for doing nothing - clearly the UAW's once heavenly bed has lost much of its fluff. What remains...
...first in line for any proceeds if the company is liquidated. In between lie the unsecured claims. For a carmaker, this creditor class includes suppliers who haven't been paid, car owners whose repairs ought to be covered by warranty, dealers seeking reimbursement for manufacturers' rebates - and the UAW seeking a VEBA payment...
...Some lenders have been galled to see the Democratic Administration, whose party receives millions from the UAW each election cycle, giving a sweeter deal to the union than was offered them. Task-force members counter that other unsecured claims have received even better deals than the union's. Warranties, for example, have been 100% guaranteed - no haircut at all. "We're trying to avoid liquidation, and so these claims have to be classified according to their importance to the future viability of the company," a task-force official explained. "Obviously you can't sell cars without warranties...