Word: unionizers
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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...
...this case it's the unions that will have to bear the risk of hikes in health-care costs. The UAW will have to face the same hard choices the automakers do: balancing rising expenses with limited funds and a promise to cover everyone. "They cannot control it. They can't," says Uwe Reinhardt, an economist at Princeton University and an expert on health policy. "The union will just lose that deal." And before long, he says, the UAW will find itself having to limit choices, reduce costs and ask members to contribute money to keep the plan afloat...
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...
Another such problematic comment came in 2004, when he pointed out that many borrowers could save money by taking out adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMS). Many borrowers did save money with ARMs, and the idea that a few words from Greenspan at a credit-union meeting persuaded millions of others to take out teaser-rate loans they couldn't afford stretches belief. But with ARM-related defaults on the rise, it doesn't look good...
Peskov ascribed the West's unease to both a historical chauvinism against Russia and a rigid desire to see Russia do exactly as the West does. "Some people don't understand that the Soviet Union is over. They face a completely different state, with different attitude," he said. "We are a country that shares the heart of international European values, but that is not going to repeat everything from A to Z." And Putin's vision for Russia? "I think what is wanted is that Russia is a powerful state," said Peskov, "with a prosperous population, being able to compete...