United Auto Workers contract talks could reshape Midwest

[OhioChick]

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Ford Motor Co. doesn't pull punches when it talks with its workers about the future.

"Change or die."

It's more than an internal slogan. It's an acknowledgment that the way Detroit has done business doesn't work anymore. If Ford, General Motors and Chrysler can't change their ways, they will continue to see their share of the U.S. market fall, continue to lag their competitors in fuel economy and technology and continue to shed plants and workers.

That's a tough backdrop for union contract talks.

The United Auto Workers' latest four-year contract will expire Friday, and union leaders, company executives and workers say more is at stake this time than in any previous negotiations.

How they settle their differences will determine not only the work of UAW members but also the state of our region's economy and the future of auto production in much of the Midwest.

Automakers want to drastically lower costs - from about $75 an hour in wages and benefits to closer to $50 an hour.

The lower figure is what economists estimate Toyota pays its workers in wages and benefits. While wages are typically close to UAW scale, benefits at Honda, Toyota and Nissan are much less generous.

In an age when foreign-owned competitors sell more than half the cars purchased in the United States each year, when Toyota outsold Ford for the first seven months of this year, Detroit's Big Three say costs have to come down.

The most contentious part of that fight will be the stellar health-care coverage the companies have traditionally offered their workers. Wages and work rules are also being discussed.

http://www.cleveland.com/autonews/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/business-3/118932743113970.xml&coll=2

[Fierce]

1. Three words:

Single-payer health care. If the big companies don't lobby for it, they will die.

[FreakinDJ]

2. It would work

Health benefits are sinking companies and pensions alike. To remain competitive we need to dump the current profit driven system and move towards single payer.

THAT AND.....

Meaningful trade negotiations. "No more throwing out the Baby with the bath water". Worker's rights, Environmental safe guards, a Universal Standard of Living. In no way in Hell should the US consumer base be used to prop up phony dictatorships using slave labor.

Any country who can't comply can simply enjoy the 25% tariff

[Omaha Steve]

3. Hillary's plan in the 90's was just ahead of it's time

Most of us seem to know these days something has to change in health care for the better of all American's.