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UAW wants bigger cut of Detroit’s new profits
The United Auto Workers union kicked off labor contract talks with Detroit’s three automakers on Monday. Here’s what both sides want in a new four-year contract:
THE UNION
UAW wants a piece of the companies’ profits and will talk profit-sharing instead of pay raises. Some members want raises and other concessions back. The union also wants to increase its ranks with more U.S. jobs
THE COMPANIES
Even with concessions, Ford and GM have higher labor costs than foreign automakers with U.S. plants. Ford and GM want cuts in wages and benefits, while Chrysler wants to stay even. UAW President Bob King says no more concessions.
Associated Press
AUBURN HILLS, Mich.
To help American carmakers stay in business, autoworkers grudgingly gave up pay raises and some benefits four years ago.
Now that General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are making money again, workers want compensation for their sacrifice. Just how much they get is the central question hanging over contract talks that start this week between Detroit and one of the nation’s largest and most powerful unions.
The negotiations, the first since Chrysler and GM took government aid and emerged from bankruptcy, will set wages and benefits for 111,000 members of the United Auto Workers, including those at Ford, which avoided bankruptcy by taking out massive private loans. The UAW’s four-year contracts with the Detroit Three expire Sept. 14.
There’s more at stake than pay. After the industry’s brush with financial ruin in 2008 and 2009, both sides know how quickly Detroit’s sales and profitability could vanish. Sales are on pace to reach nearly 13 million cars and trucks this year, better than the 10 million in 2009, but still below the 17 million peak in 2005. Americans are worried about buying cars when wages and the job market are weak. The workers and Detroit companies can’t leave themselves vulnerable to rivals.
“Management’s not the enemy at this point,” says Jim Graham, a longtime local union president in Lordstown, where workers make the Chevrolet Cruze car. “The enemy is the competition.”
Even so, the talks won’t be easy. Chrysler, which is run by Italian automaker Fiat, wants to hold the line on wages and benefits, while GM and Ford want to cut labor costs even more. There’s friction inside the union, too. Many workers are eager to get a share of company profits and restore pay raises and some benefits given up during the financial crisis.
“You want to get something back,” says Hans Smith, a worker at GM’s pickup plant in Flint, Mich., who knows they won’t get back all the concessions.
That could create problems for the UAW’s new leader, Bob King, who preaches cooperation over confrontation.
King wants to “make sure our members get their fair share of the upside” but also keep the companies competitive.