| Auto firms seek more concessions |
| Last Updated(Beijing Time):2007-07-24 14:49 |
|
General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co, recipients of United Auto Workers givebacks two years ago, were headed back to the union yesterday to seek more help in reviving their money-losing North American businesses.
The union granted health-care concessions after concluding the auto makers were in genuine financial difficulty. Union President Ron Gettelfinger has called the move the hardest thing he has done since becoming the UAW's leader five years ago.
Those concessions came in the middle of a contract. Yesterday, GM and Ford formally begin negotiations with the UAW on new agreements to replace the four-year accords that expire on September 14. Both companies have said they need to reduce labor costs to become profitable again.
Gettelfinger "has a profound understanding of the difficulties the industry faces, of the challenges that the management faces and the needs of his membership," said John Casesa, managing partner of auto consulting firm Casesa Strategic Advisors LLC in New York.
GM was to start its negotiations at the UAW-GM Center for Human Resources in Detroit, near the auto maker's downtown headquarters. Ford's talks began at the company's Dearborn, Michigan, home office.
Gettelfinger refused to discuss his bargaining strategy three days ago, when the UAW opened negotiations with Chrysler. That company's parent, Germany's DaimlerChrysler AG, is selling the US unit to Cerberus Capital Management LP after the auto maker began losing money again last year.
"We are going into these negotiations like we always do, and that's to look out for the best interests of our members," Gettelfinger said at a news conference at Chrysler. "We're not going to get into the specifics of any negotiations."
GM, Ford and Chrysler pay US$25 to US$30 more an hour in wages and benefits to US factory workers than Asian rivals such as Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co pay at their American plants.
The Detroit auto makers' US market-share declines against Toyota, Honda and other overseas companies contributed to a combined US$15 billion in losses at the three auto makers last year. Most of the deficit has been in North America, Bloomberg News reported.
Industry leaders such as GM Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner say the health-care gap puts his products at a cost disadvantage against the Japanese.
|
|
|
|
|
