Signing bonuses may get GM and UAW over hump
Although labor talks between GM and the UAW have been going on since the union's contract expired last Friday at 11:59 PM EST, we've been following the late-night negotiations from afar, waiting for something that amounted to more than the mainstream media's perpetually boring status updates. That finally came today in an article in the Detroit News, which reports GM may be considering signing bonuses for current works in an effort to win the hearts and minds of the proletariat if the automaker drops billions of dollars in retiree health care costs.It's estimated that of the 270,000 retired workers and their 70,000 surviving spouses, GM will need to pay over $50 billion in health care costs – but it doesn't have the funds. The move to offer signing bonuses to current workers was devised so that GM could lose the insurmountable health care costs that will likely go up in the coming years, and replace them with lump sums now, when the General can afford it.
The plan is to set up union-controlled trust funds that would receive stocks and cash, and would negate the need for GM to foot the bill. However, negotiations, which have been in constant turmoil, have broken down again, with the two parties conflicted on how much money to throw into the assets and what happens if health care costs exceed the amount of money stored up by the UAW.
[Source: Detroit News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
whofan 7:56PM (9/18/2007)
The UAW has got to realise whats good for GM is good for the Uaw and vice versa. Now the CEOs` don`t need to give them selves a big bonus and raise right after a new contract is signed. They need to show the UAW that they are willing to give too. Then both need to act more like partners than adversarys.
We all need to get out and vote during the next Presidental election. In hopes of getting an administration
that will have a good domestic policy and fix the health care crisis.
The UAW should also look at Ford and Chrysler`s current situation and maybe modify plans to suit each.
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Barney 9:05PM (9/18/2007)
Good points whofan. Both have a large stake in this and it should be/has to be a joint venture..
len simpson 9:18PM (9/18/2007)
Henry J Kaiser solved his health care costs problem by building his own
hospitals & cut out a few greedy middlemen . Why can,t other large, international companies do the same? ----& delete shop stewards while their at it.
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johnz 11:14PM (9/18/2007)
Where is Kaiser now?
len simpson 11:24PM (9/18/2007)
nobody lives forever. He was Kaiser shipbuilding(libertyships, during WW2 & then Kaiser cars & Kaiser Permanente cement etc,etc.
Mallory 9:14AM (9/19/2007)
I'm not sure having every company build their own hospital is the fix here. Actually in every other industrialized country on the planet they have universal healthcare (and still pay half what we in the U.S. do) so it's not a concern for them. Maybe someday the citizens of the U.S. will wake up and get with the program too. If we did then GM, Ford, etc. wouldn't be in the godforsaken mess that they're in and they could get on with building cars.
len simpson 10:31AM (9/19/2007)
I,m no expert,but from what I read, univ health ain,t all it,s cracked up to be.long waits & low quality. Just like the rest of Life, no easy solutions.
Mr. Negative 1:27PM (9/19/2007)
Many (most?) in the U.S. clamor for a healthcare system similar to what other industrialized countries have. As bad as the shaggy dog stories are, nobody there wants a system like the one we have in the U.S. Heck, if it's good enough for the U.S. government then it's good enough for the rest of us.
len simpson 2:11PM (9/19/2007)
OK, but inorder to qualify,each applicant would first have to cease & desist their self-abusive health habits. That would reduce program costs by 50% right up front. "We are each our own worst enemy"
Tim T 11:58AM (9/19/2007)
Len, Learn how to write. Comma (,) is used as a break between words. Use (') when you are writing a contraction of two words or using as plural. i.e., ('s) Also, two spaces between sentances and one space bewteen comma's. I'm no English teacher but gee wiz people, try and remember your thrid grade writing skills.
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len simpson 2:22PM (9/19/2007)
2 questions: u don,t ever text message, do u? & what has my 76 yr old seemingly apparent lack of education have to do with nat,l health care? bye!
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James 5:13PM (9/19/2007)
We shouldn't pick on Len. It looks like he has a learning disability.
I can't wait to have lines at the doctors office like we have at the DMV. What a joy that will be.
Freezin 8:35AM (9/21/2007)
Here we go with the good ol' health care debate.
We don't have a health care crisis. We have a funding crisis. If you need care, it is available to you at any emergency room or urgent care center. By federal law, any facility that receives Medicare funding has to give you care regardless of your ability to pay. If they don't they risk losing medicare funding.
If any reform is going to happen, we have to address lawsuit reform. Doctors spend tens of thousands per year in malpractice insurance premiums. Hospitals spend MILLIONS in all sorts of needless compliance issues that rest of the industrialized world doesn't. Until you take the personal injury lawyers out of the picture, NOTHING is going to change.
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