Posted by
Always To The Right on Thursday, December 25, 2008 3:27:14 AM
The government gave the Big Three a $17.3 billion bailout based on
the idea that both management and the unions would make concessions.
Now the UAW says no thanks. Can we have our money back?
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Last week's deal was supposed to hold both the managers' and unions'
feet to the fire. In handing out the taxpayer money, the White House
insisted the auto union cut worker pay roughly to the levels of their
successful competitors, Toyota, Honda and Nissan.
For $17 billion in emergency bailout cash and possibly much more
later, it was a reasonable request. As President Bush said, "The time
to make the hard decisions to become viable is now — or the only option
will be bankruptcy." He added that a deadline of March 31 for the
industry to prove its "viability" and other limits "send a clear signal
to everyone involved."
Well, if so, the United Auto Workers didn't get it.
Just days before Christmas, the UAW let it be known it'll fight any
concessions on wages and benefits. "An undue tax on the workers" is how
union boss Ron Gettelfinger described it as the UAW reneged on the deal
almost before the ink was dry.
This will go down as one of the most cynical acts of political
manipulation ever. The UAW agreed to one thing with President Bush,
knowing full well President-elect Barack Obama and congressional
Democrats were big recipients of union largesse and would let them
slide. They read the situation correctly.
Democratic Rep. Barney Frank this week called union concessions an
"unfair assault on working men and women" — a not-accidental echo of
Gettelfinger's comments.
But the only real assault on "working men and women" here is the
enormous cost this bailout will entail — a cost that all working
taxpayers will have to bear and which some analysts think will
ultimately total $75 billion to $125 billion.
And the UAW hopes you'll pony it up and give them a free ride.
Simply put, unless the UAW makes concessions, a bailout can't work.
It will be a financial impossibility. The U.S. automakers' high labor
costs, coupled with the 2,000-plus pages of work rules and union
requirements under the most recent labor deal, will keep them from
achieving the productivity they need to compete.
The U.S. automakers are bleeding $6 billion a month. Better to pull
the plug now and force them into bankruptcy, where radical
restructuring — including cuts in union pay and benefits — wouldn't be
optional but mandatory. That's the industry's only hope.