Second judge recuses self in UAW/Ford health care case

The district court case between the United Auto Workers and the Ford Motor Co. will have to go without Judge Anna Diggs Taylor. The judge has excused herself from the health care paring case, citing the fact that’s on the Henry Ford Health System’s board. The case has been handed over to Judge Paul Borman, who will be the third magistrate assigned to the matter. The move comes after Mark Baumkel, who is a lawyer for the plaintiffs opposed to the deal had called for Taylor to remove herself from the case.

The lawsuit centers upon a December vote by the UAW that culls some $850 million from Ford’s yearly health care outlay, as well as a whopping $5 billion from retiree long-term health care… the latter of which evidently upset more than a few of the UAW’s retired workers.

[Source: Associated Press via Miami Herald]

Category: Government/Legal, Ford

Tags: Blue Oval, BlueOval, District Court, DistrictCourt, Health Care, HealthCare, Henry Ford Health System, HenryFordHealthSystem, Judge Paul Borman, JudgePaulBorman, Lawsuit, Mark Baumkel, MarkBaumkel, Retire, Retiree, UAW

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Gardiner Westbound

The legacy costs the domestic automakers claim are crippling their efforts to produce attractive, reliable, quality cars the market will buy at a price that yields a profit are a phony issue. Instead of putting funds into employee pension and welfare plans at the time they were due, GM and the others deferred their obligations and used the money to pay shareholder dividends and astronomical executive salaries. The same faulty logic saw them defer designing new engines and transmissions. GM’s mainstay V8 was introduced over 50 years ago, its 4-speed automatic transmission in 1957. GM V6 engines date from the 1960s. In my view it is wrong to load this on the back of pensioners who paid their full share for 30 or 40 years and are counting on those pensions and benefit plans and. It’s stealing.

The real legacy cost bankrupting the domestic automakers is the deep opprobrium held by their customer base. Is there anybody without a horror story about the callous treatment meted out by a domestic manufacturer? GM, Ford and Chrysler squandered their 50-year head start on the Japanese automakers, who are beating them with superior designs and outstanding quality. Better designs, excellent quality and liberal warranties helped Korean car manufacturers recover from their initial stumbles of 20-years ago. The domestic automakers claim their cars are the equal of competing products. Accordingly, they should have no hesitation improving consumer confidence by applying comprehensive 10-year warranties.

May 05 2006 at 5:14 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

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