Posted on 12/15/2008 5:44:50 AM PST by SJackson
United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger holds up a document during a news conference in Detroit, Friday, Dec. 12, 2008. A relieved Gettelfinger said he's happy that the White House appears poised to step in and rescue the beleaguered auto industry, and he accused GOP senators who blocked emergency loans of trying to "pierce the heart" of organized labor. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)(CNSNews.com) - The United Auto Workers (UAW) union is “solely” to blame for the collapse of negotiations on a $14-billion auto bailout deal that stalled in the Senate Thursday, Sen. Tom Colburn (R-Okla.) told CNSNews.com on Friday.
But UAW President Ron Gettelfinger in a press conference Friday morning blamed Republican senators, who he said resented his organization.
The auto bailout bill, which passed the House in a 237-170 vote on Wednesday, was defeated in a 52-35 procedural vote in the Senate late Thursday night after negotiations between automakers, the UAW, and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) fell apart.
“As far as the failure of last night, it solely lies on UAW,” Coburn told CNSNews.com. “All we asked was, ‘Just give us a date at which you will have competitive wage rates. We will put it in and that’s what you will have to meet.’ They would not move. They would not renegotiate their contract with GM as far as wage rates.”
Coburn was referring to an amendment crafted by Corker that would have required the auto makers to reduce their labor costs to a level equal to the salaries paid by non-unionized foreign auto companies operating in the United States, firms such as Nissan, Toyota and Honda.
Gettelfinger, however, blamed senators like Coburn who opposed the bailout.
“Corker admitted to our people on the ground that they [concerns about pay] were largely about politics within the GOP caucus,” said Gettelfinger. “There is no question that the UAW has demonstrated leadership in this process. There were some in the Senate, who, we felt, resented that.”
Gettelfinger also said that since financial workers were not asked to make concessions in the $700 billion bailout, senators were applying a double standard to the UAW.
Before Thursday’s vote, Coburn told CNSNews.com that he thought the domestic auto companies would never be viable without the kind of sacrifices called for in Corker’s amendment.
Coburn, however, also said that he does not blame unionized labor for the financial difficulties of the automakers.
“I don’t put the blame of their long-term troubles on the UAW,” Coburn told CNSNews.com. “I put it on the management of the auto companies who signed ridiculously expensive contracts with the UAW.”
But Dan Griswold, director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the free market Cato Institute, told CNSNews.com on Friday that the UAW is, in part, to blame.
“UAW contracts have played a big role in pulling automakers into the crisis they now face,” said Griswold. “Those contracts are the single biggest difference between domestic and foreign-owned competitors operating on U.S. soil.”
Griswold also said that it was the UAW’s “adversarial attitude” in the bailout negotiations that caused the talks to collapse.
In Thursday’s Senate vote, three Democrats sided with 31 Republicans in opposing the bailout.
Bankruptcy and restructuring will not necessarily lead to the demise of the domestic automakers. It will give them a chance to actually be competitive afterward. Perhaps ineffective management will be thrown out as a result?
Subsidies can occur for any big company, if they move into an area that wants them, so that isn’t considered a bailout.
It’s considered by some to be a smart strategy for the locality, which will bring in more jobs to the area.
It was the UAW and management at the big 3 that brought this about, and they can handle it the same way other companies who are not smart with their money can handle it, through bankruptcy.
It’s against the law for a union to agree to re-open a contract? Oh, please.
I would like to see our senators and representatives with brains and balls hold a press conference and explain to the country that folks making big bucks and big benefits are unwilling to take a pay cut to help keep their jobs and would prefer to fleece their fellow Americans instead.
Speak for yourself Bailout Boy.
L
The bailout was never about saving the auto industry, it was about saving the Unions hide.
The auto industry if it wanted to save itself would have simply said this to the government:
We need to file Chapter 11, we are concerned however if we do, people will stop buying our products. So, can you please do the following.
As part of our Chap 11 filings, guarantee our warantees, so if we go out of business (which if we restructure we really should not have to, but just in case we do, to assure consumer confidnence) you will guarantee our warrantees.
If we don’t go out of business it costs the government nothing and if we do wind up out of business, the cost will be minimal to the government for trying to help.
Game, Set, Match. Of course that option doesn’t preserve UAW contracts, which was what this bailout was about from the get go.
LOL.
After reading your silly ramblings, it is obvious why GM is in trouble. If you are representative of the management of GM, then I can see there is NO hope for GM.
I just looked up how many total union members there are in the U.S.
16 million workers, all of whom we're told have great pay, benefits, etc. So why don't THEY come to the aid of their union "brothers and sisters"?
Let's assume just half the $14B is for labor costs. If each of those union members contributed a measly $450...VOILA!...problem solved. I might even support the other half coming from taxpayers if I saw such a move by unions.
Whatever happened to SOLIDARITY?
Got a quick question. As a GM employee would you and your fellow workers be willing to work for minimum wage right now to get the company back on it’s feet with the promise that the company would repay you the difference in wages in the future?
If yes then I will support the bailout, if not then hell no.
I’d be happy to just as soon as Citi, Aig, Goldman employees do this. We have already taken a pay cut by the way. You know your statement is a nasty one...God don’t like ugly as my dear sainted Mother used to say. You might just end up working for minimum. We all might if the big three collapse.
After your silly name calling ramblings, it is obvious why you can not muster a decent argument...no brains.
I speak for some of my neighbors...who have stated this. I also heard it on the radio and in every newspaper so we’ll see. Tennessee has many tourist attractions. My kids enjoyed it very much. We won’t be going back anytime soon if ever. As for speaking, the voters will speak in 2010 and more importantly 2012. You won’t like what they have to say...I fear.
THAT is going to change...my next car will NOT be made with UAW labor.
That is my choice and I hope the democratic minions at the UAW end up in bread lines!
Won't ever go to that cesspool called Detroit.
Losing our last large manufacturing sector puts us at risk economically and in terms of national security. It is a grave loss and only people suffering from Union Derangement Syndrome would want this to happen...it’s always the unions blah blah. Try to remember when the words ‘country first’ meant more than a campaign slogan at a McCain rally.
As for it being a good thing for conservatives, this is absolutely not true. It would mean the election of Democratic presidents for years and lead to socialism...if you stop with the union hatred and look at the electoral map, you would notice that we can not win without the Mid West.
You are free to buy any car you want...If the big three went away, I doubt you or anyone else could afford a car. Of course you don’t need a car to stand in bread lines or eat in makeshift soup kitchens.
It against the law for the head of the union to agree to changes in the contract without a vote...this takes time to arrange. The good Senator from Tennessee did not ask the union to reopen the contract, he wanted to change it without any sort of authority to do so. This was their way of killing the bill.
You need a better class of neighbors.
Tennessee has many tourist attractions. My kids enjoyed it very much. As for speaking, the voters will speak in 2010
Seems to me they spoke just last month, too. How did that whole John McCain "bailout" thing work out for the Republicans again? How many Congressional seats did they pick up?
You won’t like what they have to say...I fear.
It won't matter. You and your bunch of UAW thugs will threaten riots again no matter which Party is running things. Nice negotiating technique you got there. "Give us money or we bust the joint up."
Tell me just how you differ from your standard issue Mafia extortionist again because from where I'm standing I don't see much difference.
L
IF the big 3 had anything worthwhile, they would be bought by a foreign manufacturer...no buyer=no value.
Bankruptcy does not work for manufacturers because of supplier issues (they would all go bankrupt;many would not survive) and the stigma attached to this sort of thing. If it could be quickly handled perhaps...but this would take by conservative estimates three to four years. Chapter 11 could become chapter 7 in a matter of days-best case scenario weeks. We need an auto manufacturing sector...unless you really believe a financial sector that chops up mortgages and leverages themselves 40-1, and never caught on when one of their own stole 50 billion can really pull us out this whole. The service/consumer economy is a failure and should be relegated to the dustbins of history. We need to bring back more manufacturing-not kill the last remaining sector.
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