GM Offer Gets the Cold Shoulder From UAW
As the GM-UAW strike enters its 17th day, it seems the union representing 48,000 of the automaker’s U.S. workers isn’t about to agree to any concessions.
Earlier this week, the General Motors bargaining team slid an offer across the table, hoping to restore labor peace and flip the switches at its darkened plants. The UAW promptly slid it back.
According to UAW Vice President Terry Dittes, the “comprehensive proposal” floated late Monday night fell far short of what the union’s bargaining team had in mind, claiming it failed to address issues “like health care, wages, temporary employees, skilled trades and job security to name a few.”
Since the outset, the union has repelled any attempt to roll back health insurance coverage while demanding what they see as a fair piece of GM’s loot. At the 11th hour, before pre-strike bargaining talks broke down, the UAW rejected a follow-up proposal after an earlier offer significantly cut back what GM would pay for health coverage.
In his Tuesday letter to members, Dittes said the UAW countered GM’s offer with one of its own.
“We have responded today with a counterproposal and are awaiting GM’s next proposal to the Union. Regardless of what is publicized in print or social media, etc., there are still many important issues that remain unresolved,” Dittes said, alluding to recent media reports that claimed the two sides were drawing close to a deal.
GM has remained tight-lipped on the negotiations and strike, with the last word from the company coming after talks restarted on September 16th. In addition to placing the company’s vast U.S. workforce on $250-per-week strike pay, the walkout has idled some 10,000 workers in Mexico and Canada and left dealers struggling to find replacement parts. Just yesterday, J.P. Morgan estimated the cost to GM at $1 billion.
[Image: General Motors]
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When you have a good union, you trust the union negotiators' decisions, and you can feel pretty sure that if you are on strike then you really needed to strike. That makes it easier to hold out without pay. But if you were a UAW member, would you trust the strike call? IMO leadership of this particular union is too corrupt to justify that kind of faith.
What happened to the old Charles "Engine" Wilson's dictum: What is good for GM is good for America?