UAW strikes at GM over lack of job guarantees
The walkout comes as labor and management were reported close to a historic deal over healthcare for retirees.
By Mark Trumbull | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitorposted September 25, 2007 at 4:35 p.m. EDT
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Behind Monday's decision to go on strike against General Motors, one issue loomed large for the United Auto Workers: job security.
That's the case even though another question – the large and uncertain cost of retiree healthcare – has been at the core of automotive labor negotiations for several months.
Both sides were willing to discuss an innovative way to put a cap on carmakers' retiree medical obligations.
But workers want some significant job guarantees in return. Now those workers, representing one of the nation's most powerful labor unions, have walked off the job and set up picket lines – the UAW's first national strike during contract talks since 1976.
It's easy to see why protecting employment is of such concern for the UAW. The production workforce at General Motors has fallen roughly in half since 1999, cutting the union's active membership there to just 73,000.
That same trend reveals why the company doesn't want to budge very far. It's been cutting jobs for years and is still losing money. So who's to say that more job cuts won't be needed in the future?
"The union leadership fully understands the seriousness of the situation," says John Wolkonowicz, an auto analyst at the consulting firm Global Insight in Lexington, Mass. "They're out to preserve jobs and preserve salaries for their members. They'll do whatever they can to achieve that."
The union knows that the fate of its members is linked inevitably to the health of GM and the other domestic automakers, Ford and Chrysler. Union leaders know that some significant concessions, such as on retiree healthcare, are necessary to help these companies prosper.
But they – and especially the union workers they serve – worry that concessions alone aren't enough. At a time of relentless global competition, they also want some assurances that GM and the others will invest in US plants and maintain US jobs.
"Obviously we're very concerned about this company," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said Monday in announcing the nationwide strike against GM.
"But look," he added, "there comes a point in time where you've got to draw a line in the sand."
He said that as the talks wound down toward the Monday deadline, GM showed little flexibility when discussing job security or "economic" issues such as wages and bonuses.
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