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"We were disappointed to find out that this was going to be a one-way negotiation," said UAW president Ron Gettelfinger at a news conference after the strike began. "It was going to be GM's way at the expense of the workers. The company walked right up to the deadline like they really didn't care." He said the parties were headed back to the bargaining table on Monday afternoon, but "with the frame of mind we're in right now, we expect the company would move rather expeditiously on the open issues that are in front of us."

There’s a long history of companies resorting to gimmicks to resolve labor issues or just to get out of a sticky spot. Remember when General Motors decided that its parts workers were paid too much? Instead of dealing with the problem, GM spun off the parts business into Delphi, a separate company. It didn’t work. GM has given away many billions of dollars to those same workers. A gimmick. Now we have negotiations between the auto industry and the United Auto Workers, punctuated (at press time, Sept. 24) by the beginning of a strike. The crucial issue has been the $5 billion a year that GM (nyse: GM - news - people ) spends on health care. The gimmick? Create a health care trust, funded by the auto companies but managed by the union, that would pay medical bills for workers once they hit retirement. It’s known as a voluntary employee beneficiary association. Whatever you call it, it’s just a way to hide, cover up and pass on the costs. Here’s what's wrong: 1. It doesn’t reduce any costs. The health care bill would remain the same, whether the UAW or GM is in charge. Don’t think GM would be out of the health care business. You can bet that somewhere there’s an escape clause, something that will allow the UAW to come back and ask for more money. 2. Money needed for new vehicles is still diverted into what wiseacres call the “GM Funeral Society.” Tens of billions into the trust fund handed to the union. Don’t kid yourself. GM doesn’t have enough money to really improve its products. Look at the new Chevy Malibu, on which so much GM hope is laid, and compare it to the new Honda (nyse: HMC - news - people ) Accord. The Accord is bigger, more powerful and more fuel-efficient. Honda has the money to spend on developing such a car. 3. Sooner or later the union won’t be able to cover medical costs. It could then cut the benefits or raise co-payments. But you can be sure that it will instead demand that General Motors chip in the money to “make whole” the medical care. Will GM give in? Well, look at Delphi. 4. There would be a huge fund to be invested (GM has $51 billion in unfunded retiree health costs). There will be billions in medical contracts to be given out. The folks making the decisions will be low-paid union folks. The folks wanting the contracts will be tempted to do what they can to get them. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see the risk of corruption on a grand scale. 5. GM talks about eliminating the medical liability from its balance sheet. What difference will that make if GM fails to make sexier cars? What difference will it make if GM turns itself around and becomes wildly profitable again? Making a success of GM is not an exercise in balance-sheet mathematics; it’s building better cars than the competition, and doing a better job of selling them. A health care trust, if it happens, may look good today, but one day it will come back to haunt GM. Just like the Fiat (nyse: FIA - news - people ) deal. You remember that one: It was so clever of GM to extract itself from its obligations to Fiat that you overlooked the $2 billion price tag. That $2 billion was the money that launched the Fiat turnaround.

seems like they probably did looking at the killer deal they got... Sierra & GP vrs Silverado & Impy

lambda and cts plants already working at maximum production?

haha u stealing all the articles i put in the other board... you got a few more to catch...

your right... but it is possible... if anyone gave a damn about detroit... also if the UAW went hard after toyota, or Hyundai... they could see considerable growth in membership due to many members probably used to be with the big 3

Playing With Fire Joann Muller, 09.24.07, 3:30 PM ET Detroit - The United Auto Workers’ decision to authorize a nationwide strike against General Motors--the first in 37 years--looks like a bargaining ploy to force the automaker to cough up job guarantees and other measures that would offset historic changes in the way retiree health care is funded. But the work stoppage, which began Monday morning after marathon negotiations broke down, is fraught with risks for both sides. A strike at two GM (nyse: GM - news - people ) parts plants in 1998 shut down the entire company for 50 days, costing GM $2.5 billion and two points of market share it never recovered. GM can afford to play hardball for a while. Analysts say the company has $32.8 billion in cash, and plenty of inventory on dealer lots, so it can weather a strike for several weeks without too much pain. It had 950,000 cars and trucks in inventory, or about 65 days’ supply. But the UAW can hold out much longer if it has to. Though smaller and weaker than it used to be, the union still has close to $1 billion in its strike fund--a hoard that could last up to a year, analysts say. Neither side wants the work stoppage to go on indefinitely. “Nobody wins in a strike,” UAW President Ronald Gettelfinger said after 73,000 UAW members walked off the job at GM plants nationwide late Monday morning. GM said in a statement, “The bargaining involves complex, difficult issues that affect the job security of our U.S. work force and the long-term viability of the company. We are fully committed to working with the UAW to develop solutions together to address the competitive challenges facing General Motors.” Morgan Stanley analyst Jonathan Steinmetz said a strike that lasts a few days or weeks would not endanger GM’s liquidity or competitiveness. “We would only start seriously worrying about liquidity if the strike dragged on for more than a month and GM’s payables start to drain cash,” he wrote in a research report. Steinmetz estimated that GM would burn $4 billion in the first month of a strike, and $14 billion in the first three months. As of July, GM had $27.2 billion in cash. Since then, the company sold its Allison Transmission unit for $5.6 billion to further pad its balance sheet. It also has about $8 billion in credit facilities from which it could borrow. GM could make up most of the cash burned during a strike after there is a settlement, Steinmetz said. The UAW had $914 million in its strike fund as of December 2005. It has yet to publish an updated figure, but the fund has been growing 4% to 5% a year, suggesting there’s at least $950 million in the fund today. "Neither side is likely to be strong-armed into a fast solution," says Steinmetz. The two sides said they plan to resume bargaining today. If there's any bright side to be had, Ford Motor (nyse: F - news - people ) and Chrysler are the ones having it. Not only is GM doing the heavy lifting at the table with the UAW, which may benefit them in the long run, but it's also distracting GM away from the most crucial job it has: making better cars and selling them.

america could ratify something along those lines to help the community and encourage all vehicles sold in america be produced with the same benifits...

yea, strikes are the epitome of american arrogance...really there isnt anything more for these people... GM has nothing to give If the union doesnt budge, your pension is history... perhaps you should reconsider your button ma'am

this $h! just keeps getting worse doesnt it...? the bad business decissions were made when all the workers werent working... now we are just trying to rectify the situation... and yet again the workers arent working...

Teamsters honor UAW strike, will not haul GM cars Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:01pm EDT WASHINGTON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The Teamsters union said on Monday it will honor the United Auto Workers strike against General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), saying it would not haul vehicles made by the automaker. "Workers should not solely bear the brunt of decades of bad business decisions by GM management," Teamsters President James Hoffa said in a statement.

Democratic presidential candidate Obama backs UAW strikers By William L. Watts Last Update: 2:50 PM ET Sep 24, 2007Print Subscribe to RSS Disable Live Quotes WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Monday issued a statement supporting striking United Auto Workers union members and urged General Motors Corp. to return to the bargaining table. "The demands the union is fighting for -- job security, the health benefits they were promised -- are things that all workers should expect and that UAW members deserve," the Illinois senator said. UAW members walked off the job at GM factories Monday morning after talks failed to produce a contract agreement by an 11 a.m. deadline.

GM strike costing 760 vehicles per hour-analyst Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:51pm EDT DETROIT, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The strike at General Motors Corp. (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) will cause U.S. production losses of 760 vehicles per hour and could shut the automaker's facilities in Canada and Mexico within three days, a leading industry analyst said on Monday. Michael Robinet, an auto industry analyst with CSM Worldwide, said the United Auto Workers strike called Monday could have a cascading effect on GM production elsewhere. Initially, the shutdown of GM's U.S. plants will cost the automaker production of 12,200 vehicles per day, he said. If the strike continues for more than 36 hours, that would hurt GM production in Canada and cut production of another 4,000 more vehicles per day, he said. If the strike were to last more than 72 hours, it would begin to disrupt GM's supply chain and affect the automaker's production in Mexico, Robinet said. That would mean a total production loss of about 18,100 vehicles per day. "It is our view that this walkout will not be protracted -- past more than one week," Robinet said. As GM's inventory currently totals more than 80 days of sales for key vehicles such as its full-size pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles, the strike will not have much immediate impact on sales, Robinet said. "It's not as though people are standing on their driveways waiting for these vehicles, but if it goes longer that could start to have an effect," he said. Robinet said GM would feel any pinch from the strike first on new "crossover" vehicles such as its Buick Enclave and small cars such as the Chevrolet Cobalt and HHR where it has comparatively lower inventory.

UAW members nervous but stoic over GM strike Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:45pm EDT By Nick Carey DETROIT (Reuters) - Members of the United Auto Workers union at General Motors Corp reacted with a mixture of nervousness, surprise and stoicism on Monday after their union called a strike against the top U.S. automaker. "Right now I don't feel like we need this strike," Bernie Devold, 55, said outside UAW Local 22 headquarters in Detroit. "This is going to hurt us and it's going to hurt GM." UAW Local 22 represents more than 1,800 workers who make a Buick and a Cadillac model. Within minutes of an 11 a.m. EDT strike deadline set by the union, cars streamed into the parking lot of the Local 22 as members came to collect their picket assignments. The union set a deadline late Sunday night when negotiators from both sides failed to reach an agreement on a new contract that would replace a 4-year deal on wages and benefits that expired on September 14. "I'm nervous, man," said Khader Marzouq, 53, a 33-year GM veteran. "I have three kids in college and bills to pay, but if GM is playing hard ball, I guess we have to go out." Aleasa Petross-Smith, 56, a GM worker for 28 years said: "We have given up plenty for GM, now they can give something up for us. I'm behind the union 100 percent." In Lansing, Michigan, about two dozen workers picketed at a gate of GM's Lansing Grand River plant where three Cadillac models are made. Shop committeeman Mike Green said all gates on public property were covered by pickets. "We are here to support the international union and whatever they need," he said. The workers carried plain placards that read "UAW on strike." As in Detroit, they said they were hopeful the strike would be over soon. "I don't think we will be out too long, but you never know," said Benjamin Fomby, 54. He said he would like to work at least until the age of 55. Keith Jackson, a veteran of three strikes after 34 years with GM, said "the stakes are high for both sides. "This is the last thing anyone out here wanted to do." The GM strike was the latest blow for an embattled U.S. industry that has seen Detroit-based automakers -- General Motors, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler LLC -- cut more than 80,000 union jobs after losing a combined $15 billion in 2006. In Michigan, GM's blue-collar home state, unemployment is 7.2 percent, the highest in the nation. Home foreclosures in Detroit, where GM has its headquarters, are running at five times the national average. GUNG-HO PENSIONERS If current workers appeared lacking in enthusiasm for a strike, GM retirees welcomed the news of a walk-out. The last UAW strike against GM was in 1998. That walk-out at two GM parts plants in Flint, Michigan, shut down GM production and caused sales to plummet. One of the key points up for discussion between the UAW and GM is how to fund the health-care costs of 540,000 retired workers and their spouses -- who outnumber GM's active work force of 73,000 more than seven to one. At Local 22, retired worker Vince Badia, 75, punched the air with joy when benefits representative "Huck" Atterberry delivered news of the strike with a shrug of his shoulders. North of Detroit in Bay City, Michigan, at GM's Powertrain engine and component plant, retirees were among two dozen picketers outside the factory gate. These included Bonnie Lauria, 66, who retired five years ago and was using a walker while picketing. She was wearing a button that said "Hands off my pension." Cletus van Snepson, another retiree at the gate, said "a lot of people never thought it (strike) would happen, but they have to do it." A number of current UAW workers, however, said they were worried that a strike would cost them their jobs, especially as a deal with GM looked so close over the weekend. "I feel like I just got laid off," said one silver-haired worker at UAW Local 22 in Detroit, who declined to give his name as he climbed into his car and sped off. (Additional reporting by David Bailey in Lansing and Dave Rogers in Bay City)

so we've got our newest products like the CTS, Enclave, Arcadia, Outlook, 08 Vue, Malibu retooling, and other recently launched vehicles are put on hold? sounds like a problem... those named models, have relitively low inventory...

You have no chance to survive make your time!

like i said... which plants... UAW only accounts for about 20% of NA work force... so obviously, their grip on GM isnt that big... although i know they have a couple engine and transmission plants...

Which products come from UAW plants? IIRC GM employees nearly 330k people in NA... if only 73k are on strike, which models are uneffected?

i beleive so... if your management says to go outside, you go outside... if your buddy is under different management, he goes outside, and your boss says to stay at work... its your ass if u go outside...

it'll only be a few models... shouldnt effect anything it will be interesting to see next year if buick with its new model enclave, will be right on par with lexus?

The UAW need to goto china and asia... cause thats where the employees are going anyway unionize those 100 companies starting up in china... if your concerned about american jobs... perhaps you should make it more expensive else where... protect america by ruining everyone else.. not america

as with most strikes and unions i beleive u forfit your job if you dont walk off...

Walkout may impact GM suppliers Monday September 24, 1:06 pm ET A lengthy strike against General Motors Corp. not only could cause layoffs at GM's Tonawanda engine plant but also lead to layoffs at the automaker's suppliers. Included are Delphi Thermal Systems in Lockport and American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings' three operations in Buffalo, Town of Tonawanda and Cheektowaga. "It might also hinder (Delphi Corp.'s) effort to get out of bankruptcy by the end of this year," said Patrick Heraty, Hilbert College professor of business administration and an auto industry and labor relations expert. "It certainly creates a bit more uncertainty about their future revenue stream," he said. UAW members hit the picket line as of 11 a.m. Monday after talks broke down between the union and carmaker. Delphi Corp., GM's former parts business, relies on GM for a majority of its business. At the Lockport operations, it is an estimated 95 percent. American Axle, as a corporation, relies on GM for about 80 percent of its revenue. "A long-term strike -- if it goes months -- will take a toll on the industry and on suppliers," Heraty said. Vehicle sales at General Motors dealerships also could feel the effect. "A short strike should not have any impact on GM's market share," Heraty said. "But as time goes on, if GM does not have inventory to meet customer demand, those wanting to buy aren't likely to wait for the strike to end. They could well go to another option, which could include foreign automakers." Heraty said the breakdown in collective bargaining, which led to Monday's strike, appears to center on how many jobs General Motors has at its U.S. plants and how many overseas. "Though we can only speculate, they could be far apart," he said. "It seems to have come down to the number of jobs the UAW wants in (GM's) American factories versus the number GM wants to off-shore. "They have competing objectives," he said. "GM is trying to come up with a cost structure that is competitive. and part of that is their labor costs. They are calculating how much of that work they want to offshore to keep costs competitive," he said. "On the other hand, the UAW has taken quite a hit in membership over the last 30 years and doesn't want to see that downward trend continue. I think they will be pretty adamant about retaining those jobs in U.S. auto plants," Heraty said. Only hours before the strike began, negotiations in Detroit on a new national contract seemed to be on track. The key issue - health-care benefits for retirees - looked to have been resolved and talks were believed to have shifted to other issues. Published September 24, 2007 by Business First of Buffalo

2007 2006 2005Total Assets 186,527.00 186,192.00 474,156.00 Total Liabilities 190,085.00 191,633.00 459,503.00 Total Equity -3,558.00 -5,441.00 14,653.00 removing 51 billion only puts liablitys at 140 but the original proposed 95 billion, would definatly help... GM has already backed down quite a bit... now its time to get something back from the union...

i use my palm... but rarely now days... but i remember for a good year or two, i never had to worry about logging in... now i struggle with it?