GM - UAW news...

[RJB]

It has been very quiet in the world of the GM - UAW talks, especially here at work lately. The union guys seem unusually strange, there seems to be a calm before the storm effect. Alot of the union guys almost are acting a little afraid to me and most of the time they are very upbeat. So I was surfing along today and found this bit of news at AUTOBLOG, maybe someone else on here knows whats going on.

Stocking up: GM and Ford want to fund health care account with shares

Posted Sep 5th 2007 1:01PM by Jonathon Ramsey

Filed under: Chrysler, Ford, GM, UAW/Unions

The Big Three automakers' massive pension liabilities are well known. To remove that burden, a fund called VEBA -- voluntary employee beneficiary association -- has been mooted. Automakers would put an agreed upon sum into the VEBA, after which they would be free from further pension obligations. The UAW would be responsible for administering the fund. Goodyear used that exact setup last year to end a strike with the United Steel Workers.

Goodyear, though, put $1 billion cash into the fund. The automakers have suggested using cash and stock. It's been speculated that GM could need to throw $30 billion into a VEBA to be free and clear, and that's a burden that would be more easily handled with cash and stock. Goodyear's stock increased by 25% after the steel workers agreed to the VEBA, but there are no guarantees that that would happen again with GM, Ford, or Chrysler stock.

To get any of this to work, the UAW will have to agree to the VEBA at all, and then convince members to take the cash and stock option, which would require getting everyone to believe that the stock will appreciate quickly enough and steadily enough to keep pace with disbursements. It is the automakers, however, that are really under the gun. To avoid any chance of a strike, automakers need to come to an agreement with the UAW by September 14. That's the date the current agreement expires, and a strike could occur any time afterward.

Edited September 5, 2007 by RJB

[ellives]

I dare them to strike.

[ZL-1]

If part of it is stock, then there will be a clear long-term incentive built in the plan.

[Windy-57]

To avoid any chance of a strike, automakers need to come to an agreement with the UAW by September 14. That's the date the current agreement expires, and a strike could occur any time afterward.

These talks will go on for long after that.

I like the idea of a VEBA and think it would give workers the incentive to think about company performance on a whole. I just wonder if GM could take a $30B hit? I imagine it wouldn't be all at once, but still.

[VenSeattle]

Goodyear's stock increased by 25% after the steel workers agreed to the VEBA, but there are no guarantees that that would happen again with GM, Ford, or Chrysler stock.

I must have missed something... Chrysler has stock?

[plane]

Burn them in effigy.

Whip up the masses.

Stones, pile up the stones.

Get out your shotgun men, it's hunting season.

Bring those AR-15s if you've got 'em.

As a friend used to say, "These guys are a total waste of skin."

Tar and Feather would be too good a fate.

Buy the aluminum baseball bats by the dozens.

Throw in a couple dozen tasers while we're at it.

It's time to show that this has gone on long enough.

And we're not going to take it any more.

psssswwwdsddf......(muffled whisper).....

Wha?

Huh?

Oooooh.

....

....

....

....

....

....

This thread isn't about Toyota dealers?

....

Nevermind.

Edited September 6, 2007 by plane

[bowtie_dude]

God, I hope UAW gets taken to the cleaners.

[CARBIZ]

OOHHHHHHHHHHH GOOOOODY! My favorite Let's Bash the Unions Thread!

[ZL-1]

Chrysler has stock?

Yes, but it's not traded in a stock exchange.

[RJB]

Everyone has a side to take on the Unions, its either love them or hate them. I for one see both sides, there are Union guys I work with that are some of the nicest guys you'll ever work with, and then there are the diehards who are complete jerks and won't even talk to you. So in those cases I give them the same silent treatment right back, but the guys that say hi I have no problem with. Part of it is that there alot of young guys coming in working here and they completely hate that and feel threatened. Oh well, I still think GM will be better off without them but it is nothing personal.