Auto union asks Obama to reverse 'unfair' bailout terms

[sabra]

Source: AFP

DETROIT, Michigan (AFP) — The United Auto Workers union said Friday it would try to reverse "unfair conditions" imposed in a government bailout package when president-elect Barack Obama takes office in January.

"While we appreciate that President Bush has taken the emergency action needed to help America's auto companies weather the current financial crisis, we are disappointed that he has added unfair conditions singling out workers," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said in a statement.

"We will work with the Obama administration and the new Congress to ensure that these unfair conditions are removed as we join in the coming months with all stakeholders to create a viable future for the US auto industry."

GM and Chrysler, facing a threat of imminent bankruptcy, were offered a 13.4 billion dollar rescue loan which requires tough reforms including more flexible work rules and cuts in wages to make the companies competitive with foreign manufacturers established on US soil.

"These conditions were not included in the bipartisan legislation endorsed by the White House, which passed the House of Representatives and which won support from a majority of senators," Gettelfinger said.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j_TvLIfiu54aJUmWkgOaWG6gjwtg

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

1. Good!

It's time the point was pounded homw that the Unions do not manage the company, therefore, why should they be asked to shoulder the brunt of the changes and actions to correct the situation? I suggest management be cut by 25%, the remaining take a 20% pay cut and see what that does to the bottom line......

[Sex Pistol]

21. What you suggest should definitely be done,

but the unions hold the keys to putting these companies back in the black.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

23. The bonus of GM's CEO last year= 300 full time jobs @ $60K

[navarth]

2. I was watching a presser with GM and Chrysler earlier

..and I didn't see Gettelfinger anywhere. Was he present? There were some egregious questions asked about the union.

[safeinOhio]

4. Dear Creditor

As my work contract that was signed and agreed to has been modified, without my consent, I am now changing my interest rate to that paid by those in Japan. I hope this causes you fewer problems than this situation has caused me.

[madrchsod]

3. the moment that obama is sworn in the deal changes

it will be up to obama`s team to hammer out a deal that is fair to all involved. it`s going to take time and it is going to be tough but it will get done.

it took 3 months for the first chrysler loan to be struck and it produced the mini van and a new generation of small cars.

[navarth]

5. and that loan was paid back, with interest

those small K Cars are still around.. I see one here in Detroit from time to time, and I marvel at how small they are.

Imagine this: what if they had continued making them, against all conventional wisdom, and improving them, making them less ugly, appealing to young people to make the car appear hip...

Remember when Volkswagen Beetles started making their big push? They used creative advertising, appealed to 'counter-culture' values, etc. It was a huge success for a looooong time.

One of the problems with our Big 3 has been VISION. In my opinion anyway.

[jetphixer]

6. Not holding my breath

I wouldn't hold my breath for this Especially after the FAT PIG WARREN got his seat at the table.In fact he has my seat I have given up on Obama now. I am retired union worker But i don't see any future without getting out an organize Need to get to the southern states an just ma bay some OLD Fashioned Union organizing might be needed Who knows Ive admitted defeat an just don't care anymore!!! Especialy after the warren the great Christos Nazi.

[maseman]

13. Oh please

One doesn't have anything to do with the other. I am not happy about Warren but jesus get ahold of yourself. That is one issue amongst many that need addressed.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

18. Huh?

Enjoy your visit here..........

[Truth Teller]

7. The "conditions" are window dressing to pacify repug senators

They'll be zapped in a heartbeat by Obama.

[ananda]

8. The deregulators, privatizers, fraudsters, looters, and Ponzi schemers say..

Dear American workers:

Welcome to unemployment or permanent
and enduring serfdom.

We do appreciate all your labor, and
we often drink toasts to your
backbreaking work and willingness
to work long hours at rates that
afford us the American Dream that
can only be achieved in this great
and wonderful country!

Cheers!

[BrklynLiberal]

9. I thought I heard prez shit-for-brains say something about pay equality being a

condition for this "bridge loan".

Obama had better do something about this after he is sworn in, after all that the unions did for him!!!!!!
One of the most inspiring Obama support speeches I ever heard was from a union leader. It was AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka speaking against racism at a steel mill.

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. If the worker's salaries have to stay in line with foreign competion,

why isn't the CEO's salary/bonus situations doing the same? Isn't it a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment - Equal Protection Under the law - to set up two different classes of people and treat them differently?

[fjc]

11. Didn't those guys say they'd work for a dollar a year?

Sounds a bit on the high side for what we're getting from them.

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. It's the bonus money where they make the real money.

[annabanana]

14. yeah.. and why don't our workers have a National Health Plan?

[dipsydoodle]

16. If you mean like ours in the UK

then allow for the fact that 11% of your own earnings would be deducted at source and you employer pay 12.8% on top of that. Broadly speaking that's the way it works - just another tax.

[booksenkatz]

12. Can't live on Alabammy wages in Michigan.

Hard enough to live on MICHIGAN wages in Michigan these days.

So now we're going to allow foreign interests to dictate our labor policies. This crew won't be happy until everyone is working for 50 cents a day.x(

[Sex Pistol]

22. Toyota workers actually make more than UAW workers make.

http://www.aftermarketnews.com/Item/28594/uaw_losing_pay_edge_foreign_automakers_bonuses_boost_wages_in_us_plants_as_detroit_car_companies_struggle.aspx

[mikehiggins]

15. NOW can the unions agree on who the enemy is?

Maybe its just me--a union guy from a family of union guys--but it seems to me that the US Labor Movement has spent decades "going along to get along."

Demands? ARe you kidding? Strikes? Yeah, once in a while but, after all, the leadership was always pointing out that we lose during strikes because we never make up the lost wages, and so on and so forth.

And so the powers that be have more or less tolerated our existence for years since Raygun but unions have become more and more of a joke.

Now we see the steel fist beneath the iron glove. Tax-payer money paid out to break the UAW and other car-related unions.

I know how unfair the hand-wringers among the leadership claim this is. After all, nobody required the banks to cut the wages of their workers, or execs, and they got way more help than the big three. Yada, yada, yade.

What I want to hear is some labor leader saying that this is the last straw and that all labor has to unite to elect our own people and defeat anyone who alleges to be a GOPuke. Go to the members and tell them the facts; that without unions they have nothing except "promises" from the people with real power, and that the only way to get real power is to take it. Most will continue to hope that if they just keep their heads down and their mouths shut the massa will let them keep their mule and 40 acres but its just possible that enough will wake up during this ongoing economic disaster to make a real Labor Party as possible as it is necessary.

No more triangulation. If you aren't with us, as the GOPukes say so clearly, then screw you. Redirect money and volunteers away from those who have let us down and what do you lose?

When you ain't got nothing, as the philosopher says, you got nothing to lose. Maybe now working people will begin to realise how little they really have.

Cat food cassaroles sometimes have that effect.

[unkachuck]

19. you're absolutely right!

....and I love how Washington GIVES $700 billion of our tax-dollars to banking and wall street so they can give themselves bonus'....they sure ain't making loans with that 'much-need money'; hope they have a Merry Christmas....

....then Washington LOANS $15 billion to GM and Chrysler and we, the hourly workers, have to take a pay-cut....Ho, Ho, Ho

....and better still, this is $750 billion worth of borrowed money we, the American workers, will to pay back with interest; pay back to whom?

....to the same fuckin' interests, jagoffs and institutions that received the $700 billion to clean up the fuckin' mess they created in the first place....they fuck us coming and going, they never lose....

....why do we put up with a system like this?....surely there must be a better way....

[Kolesar]

20. Foreign automakers found an opportunity to exploit the world's largest market

...by moving into America with a different business model. They realized that they could make huge profits and keep growing because they were not hobbled with legacy costs.

All enabled by the highway system that our income taxes and fuel taxes funded years ago.

[WriteDown]

24. So now we basically have a choice....

Impose tariffs and fees on those foreignn manufacturers to bring their per vehicle costs more in line with US manufacturers or eliminate legacy costs for the US manufacturers. Of course none of this will make any difference until Americans start taking pride in buying American like the Japanese take pride in their countrymen's products.