We just reported that a group of Chrysler employees in Toledo are crafting a proposal that would have the automaker's 50,000 UAW workers buy a controlling stake in the automaker. The proposed worker buyout offer is already stirring up a reaction among the major players involved in the potential sale of the Chrysler Group. Buzz Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, told Automotive News this morning that his organization is not interested in the proposal being put together by the Employee Buyout Committee. In his estimation, workers have already hitched their jobs and pensions to Chrysler's wagon, and that's enough. Hargrove admitted, however, he had not read the plan yet.
Though the UAW is getting the cold shoulder from its border brothers, billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian is reportedly interested in meeting with the Employee Buyout Committee to discuss working together to acquire Chrysler. Kerkorian and his investment firm, Tracinda Corp., have already made a low-ball bid of $4.5 billion for the Chrysler Group. Perhaps sensing his reputation is a liability in these matters, Kerkorian may be looking for a partner in the UAW employees that could get him to the negotiating table.
[Source: Automotive News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
naif @ Apr 20th 2007 7:48PM
it makes no sense for the uaw workers to buy into failing companys. the company did not want their money when times were good, so the uaw is going to give money when times are bad. these uaw people had better take some banking and business classes.
as the companys are on a 30+ year downhill slide, why does anyone think the companys are going to have any manufacturing here in the states in the next 10 to 20 years. the same management that ran these companys into the ground are still running them and getting millions of dollars in bonus money. where else in the world besides here does that happen?
if the workers have got any extra cash they should put it in the bank.
david @ Apr 20th 2007 9:33PM
Don't kid yourself Naif, Chrysler has been in much worse condition before. A worker/business buyout could be just the thing to get the ball rolling again if the right business partner is chosen. Kirkorian is not the right guy. IMO he's looking to buy very low and liquidate. He'd make a huge fortune.
bernie @ Apr 20th 2007 10:11PM
The UAW is the pricipal reason all of the Big 1 3/4 are all in trouble. I think it would be poetic justice to see the 9 to 5 goons look over the paperwork and decide that benefit and retirement costs were the problem. I want to attend the meeting when they tell their own illiterate masses to take a pay cut! LOL Priceless.
Barney @ Apr 21st 2007 12:51AM
"...Chrysler has been in much worse condition before."
That's the point isn't it? The ball was rolling before and once again stopped. Chrysler only keeps going with loans and grants. The Canadian government bailed out Chrysler before and then they (Chrysler) shut down a Canadian plant once the debt was repaid. This company is high risk and Kirkorian can afford the loss. He can expect backup from the UAW should the enterprise fail and they could be in his debt. Buzz Hargrove can see the writing on the wall. There is no future for a Company that is either being bought & sold os supported with outside money.
FingerSled @ Apr 21st 2007 7:47AM
Numb-Naif, Im a tax payer! If you think Im gonna pay for your retirement, your wrong! If the CAW/UAW wont negotiate then I say----Let the whole bunch of ya go to heck!
When the people working under the CAW/UAW learn to properly assemble cars so that hard working people might actually want to buy one of your shitty products--- come back to the table and we'll talk! Until then, I have no sympathy for you.
When the public had no choice but to buy your garbage cars, you and your unions REEMED everyone--all the time, and with every product. Now that the public has a choice(Honda, Toyota, Kia, Hyundai)you continue to try and make people buy and pay for your garbage? You and your union sunk yourselves! Live and die with it.
The North American car buyer aint kissin' your unionised azz anymore!----Declining market share proves it.
Gardiner Westbound @ Apr 21st 2007 8:09AM
We just took delivery of our second premium Japanese brand car. Burned several times by poor quality domestic products and reprehensible manufacturer support we didn't even look at them.
Notwithstanding Hargrove is a Neanderthal, he is right. Chrysler is doomed. The CAW would be throwing its members money away by becoming shareholders.
Aki @ Apr 21st 2007 1:51PM
"I think it would be poetic justice to see the 9 to 5 goons look over the paperwork and decide that benefit and retirement costs were the problem. I want to attend the meeting when they tell their own illiterate masses to take a pay cut! LOL Priceless."
LOL, that'd be something eh? But Chrysler would never buy into Kerkorian's slash-and-burn antics.
jamie @ Apr 21st 2007 2:12PM
Keep on buying Japanese products.
Oh, and let's not forget to support China too.
Now that they control half of our money supply, why not let them take it all.
If you wonder why gas costs $3.00 a gallon, you have no one to blame but yourself. You gave your inheritance away to foreigners. Now they are using it to build their own countries while we rot on the vine. China has $1.2 TRILLION (U.S. currency) in the bank. They graciously support our war in Iraq and our hopeless $9 TRILLION debt by buying U.S. Treasury bills. Problem is that we owe China $22 BILLION a month in interest payments alone! The Federal government is fiscally broke. If we miss one payment, it's game over for America. The Fed is financing our future by flipping loans and increasing the money supply...which is just a sneaky way of adding a new "inflation tax" to cover our debt.
No doubt about it, inflation is eating away at our economy. The first sign was rising gas prices. Did you know that we are still paying about $2.00 a gallon at the pump, but the inflation tax has driven it to over $3.00 a gallon? The oil companies aren't receiving this windfall, the U.S. government is. The oil companies are receiving their bigger profits from new customers that we have inadvertantly created for them.
The second sign is the weakening of our dollar overseas. The dollar broke $2.00 per pound sterling this past week. Our dollar is starting to sink rapidly...32% since January 2001. That is why gas costs more at the pump, because our dollar is losing credibility and value. Everybody is dumping dollars now, and if it cannot be stopped then prices across the board will rise dramatically, 50-60%.
Furthermore, you heard it here first, the stock market is crashing! Sure, it looks like the Dow is growing...but it is growing only in price, not value. For example, if you remove the dollar from the equation, one 'share' of the Dow Jones could have bought 800 barrels of oil six years ago; but today that share will buy only 200 barrels of oil. The stock market is losing value, but everybody is deceived into thinking it is growing, when really the Fed is manipulating the economy to make it look healthy by infusing wads of cash into the economy so the suckers will keep lining up to buy T-Bills.
Make no mistake about it, the inflation rate is at 7.82% right now. If you bought a T-Bill that returns 4.82% then you are losing money too...3%, and you are paying the U.S. government to use your money!
GM, Ford and Chrysler made this mistake and are paying for it now. If your investment in the last six years hasn't risen more than 58.5%, then the proverbial s#it has hit the fan already. The hidden 7.82% inflation tax is the culprit and the Fed is the bandit who stole it. This tax is now hidden from the public because the Fed no longer (as of March 2006) publishes the M3 money aggregate. If they did, almost all investors in T-Bills would run for the hills. The U.S. dollar is worthless and we are going to pay for it dearly when the next President takes office.
Donald Hindle @ Apr 21st 2007 8:08PM
Nobody in the bidding is doing this because they want to be in the car business. They intend to make money, almost certainly in a short time horizon. Either Daimler is selling Chrysler well below its true value (Coming soon to TV "flip this automaker") or whatever job "guarantees" are on the table will vanish shortly after the deal closes ("due to unexpectedly difficult market conditions....") as most of the company vanishes leaving Jeep, trucks, and minivans (possibly scattered among several owners).
A few years back Chrysler profits were offsetting bad news at Mercedes and heavy trucks, The poor persecuted German shareholders didn't seem to mind the deal then. The Germans want to punish the ungrateful American workers for not giving concessions on Health, we'll see who the biggest loser is (I'm betting on a close race).
naif @ Apr 21st 2007 9:42PM
mr fingersled, hope your blood pressure is ok. i do not see how what you wrote about what i wrote connects. do not recall involving "taxpayers".
as i do have some experence in a factory setting i can tell you this. the workers in a plant, union or non-union assemble things the way management tells them to. so what auto buyers have been buying is the results of what management dictates.