Negotiations between the Detroit Three and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union are officially underway, and the stakes are pretty darn high. UAW president Ron Gettelfinger is looking to secure another four-year contract that would grant UAW-represented workers a modicum of job security at a very insecure time for the US car industry.
On the other side of the table, GM, Ford, and Chrysler hope to wring cost reductions from the negotiations, primarily in the area of health care and pension benefits. The Detroit Three claim the US manufacturing operations of its Japanese rivals pay about $25 less per hour for labor, a notion Gettelfinger refutes, sort of. According to the reporting of an AP staff writer, Gettelfinger said he doubts the presence of a labor cost gap, but then conceded that such a gap is possible. Let the gamesmanship begin!
Gettelfinger is playing it coy when it comes to Ford, the member of the Detroit Three most agree is in the worst shape. When talks kicked off at Ford last week, Gettelfinger said he wouldn’t comment on how Ford’s financial predicament would affect the UAW’s approach at the bargaining table. But he did say “… they’ve got a lot of cash, by the way.” What Gettelfinger didn’t say is that much of Ford’s cash was borrowed — and most of Ford’s factories and subsidiaries like Volvo and Ford Motor Credit were put up as collateral. Nice try, Ron.
Of course what would UAW bargaining be without vague threats of a strike? To make the threat appear, well, threatening, about 100 protestors, mostly retirees, gathered outside GM HQ to wave signs and engage the media. Protestors pointed to excessive executive bonuses and overseas plant construction as proof belying the disingenuous claim of, “We’re flat broke!” coming from the Detroit Three.
Unfortunately for UAW workers, the Detroit Three’s balance sheets tell a competing story.
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