UAW Boarding Party?
Talk of the UAW getting a seat on the board of General Motors in return for “concessions,” has Automotive News [sub] executive editor Edward Lapham thrilling at the idea of a UAW-run GM. Read only the title of his latest piece “UAW should get on board,” and you might assume it to be a call for more substantive UAW concessions to match the imminent bondholder haircut. You’d be wrong of course. “Nearly three decades ago, Doug Fraser, who was then president of the UAW, got a seat on the Chrysler board until the union recouped the wages and benefits it gave up so the automaker could get loan guarantees,” writes Lapham. “But this time, the union should do more.” Really? More? “Imagine what would happen if the UAW beat its sword into stock shares and invested its $1 billion strike fund in GM,” challenges Lapham. But there’s no need to imagine, because Lapham breaks it down for you. “It would effectively usher in an era of industrial peace and labor cooperation,” he figures. Not to mention the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. And with GM’s market cap treading water at $3b, the UAW could just snap up nearly a third of the company and get several seats on the board. Not only would this “send a loud, clear message to Congress and America that the UAW believes in GM’s chances to survive and thrive,” figures Lapham, “If you believe in the upside, it could be a spectacularly lucrative investment.” Or not. The relationship between the UAW and its employers has been defined by abuse, parasitism and disregard for the perogatives of competition. And it seems like even Lapham understands this, concluding his piece with the dire-but-fun-loving admonition to: “think of all the fun the UAW directors could have. Especially around contract time.” And you think GM is in bad shape now.
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Seasons Greetings to UAW officers Ron Gettelfinger, General Holiefield, Bob King, Cal Rapson and James Settles …from over 500,000 betrayed UAW retirees. “AUTO RETIREE HEALTH CARE IS THE SACRIFICIAL LEGACY COST AND THEREFORE RETIREES ARE THE PROBLEM! LET THEM DIE AND DECREASE THE SURPLUS POPULATION!” All defenseless auto retirees, both hourly and salary are being treated as underclass. They are targeted, have been sold-out by government, corporate and union politicians. Their critical health care benefits are being used as political pawns. UAW retirees legally owned their health care benefits until UAW officials recently went to court to garner the ability to negotiate them away. These benefits were negotiated and paid for over a working lifetime of earnings deferrals and hourly contributions but union officials betrayed the trust of retirees, refused to vest the negotiated monies and they were frittered away. UAW negotiated 30-year auto pensions are overwhelmingly and unjustly unequal. UAW negotiators refused to keep pension buying power up over the years allowing older retirees pensions to fall seriously further and further behind. These older UAW retirees have become America’s elderly poor. These unappreciated low-income, sacrificial, unionized “legacy-cost retirees”, who have given so much to our nation, are tapped-out with living costs. After a career of struggling on assembly lines, being denied the innovative pension building tools available to today’s retirees and being exposed to physical hazards unique to past auto assembly these deceived older retirees cannot afford to buy healthcare, which they now desperately need. Closely read, copy and share the following links… http://www.speroforum.com/site/print.asp?idarticle=16991 http://unionreview.com/insights-analysis-uaw-betrays-autoworkers http://westfallmike.tripod.com/Page12.htm http://michaelwestfall.tripod.com/id6.html http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2007/08/11/interview-with-whitey-hale/ http://www.uawndm.org/ndmportal/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=157 http://westfallmike.tripod.com/Page14.htm http://michaelwestfall.tripod.com/id17.html http://www.umflint.edu/library/archives/westfall.htm http://michaelwestfall.tripod.com/id50.html http://westfallmike.tripod.com/ http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3A*%3AIE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7GFRD&q=mike+westfall+uaw&btnG=Search
WOW Mike! A lot of rage pent up there, eh? Are you a Big 2.5 retiree? If so, that's fine, but you're missing the big picture. Auto manufacture retirees, like their workers have enjoyed a level of compensation and benefits that far exceed market norms and in short are not sustainable. That bubble is bursting and it hurts. While I'm sure these retirees feel like screwed over victims, they are conveniently forgetting that even with all the economic cram downs, both past and present, they are still some of the best compensated of their demographic.