UAW, Chrysler Reach Tentative Agreement
The UAW and Chrysler Group LLC reached a tentative four-year agreement this morning that will create more than 2,000 new jobs and invest $4.5 billion to retool and upgrade plants to produce new and upgraded vehicles.
The agreement with Chrysler follows recent settlements with Ford and General Motors. UAW President Bob King says:
This tentative agreement, coupled with the new agreements at General Motors and Ford, brings more than 20,000 new jobs to communities across America. Together with the jobs created in suppliers and other businesses supported by auto manufacturing, a total of 180,000 jobs will be added to the country’s battered economy. Through collective bargaining and working together with the domestic automakers, we have shown that cooperation and collective bargaining work.
Auto Industry Resurgent After Government Aid
Two years ago, the U.S. auto industry was on the verge of collapse. General Motors Corp. (GM) had filed for bankruptcy and had just begun to reorganize with $30 billion from the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Chrysler, also with TARP support, reached a partnership deal with Fiat and began its climb from bankruptcy.
Just last week, Chrysler repaid the last of its $8.5 billion in loans the Obama administration made to the troubled carmaker and GM posted its biggest profit since 2000. Since both firms emerged from bankruptcy, car companies have added 115,000 jobs.
A new White House report—”The Resurgence of the American Automotive Industry“—highlights the jobs created in the auto industry and its supply chain, the turnaround of the companies that are now profitable and how entire communities have been revitalized by a strengthened auto industry.
The report says that the decision to save Chrysler and GM “was about more than those two companies.”
It was about standing behind the countless workers, communities, and businesses—large and small—that depend on the automotive industry.
Chrysler Repays Bridge Loan, Adds Jobs
Today, six years ahead of schedule, Chrysler Corp. repaid the last of its $8.5 billion in loans the Obama administration made to the troubled carmaker in April 2009 to help keep Chrysler afloat and save the jobs of tens of thousands of Chrysler workers and workers in the supply chain.
In less than two years, the financial aid from the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) helped Chrysler emerge from bankruptcy and keep workers on the line. The loan to Chrysler drew heavy criticism at the time—especially from those who said the government had no business investing in jobs. Said President Obama in a statement today:
Supporting the American auto industry required making some tough decisions, but I was not willing to walk away from the workers at Chrysler and the communities that rely on this iconic American company. I said if Chrysler and all its stakeholders were willing to take the difficult steps necessary to become more competitive, America would stand by them, and we did.
In a conference call this morning with former Democratic governors, Jennifer Granholm (Mich.) and Ted Strickland (Ohio), UAW President Bob King said the Obama administration’s willingness to invest in Chrysler and GM with TARP funds shows a major difference between Democratic and Republican strategies on manufacturing.
We’re bringing many manufacturing jobs into this country because Democrats under the president’s leadership understand the importance of manufacturing to the U.S. The Republican Party is doing nothing for the manufacturing base.
Read more at Talking Points Memo.
Corker Tells Whopper: ‘I Saved the Auto Industry’
Some lies are just tiny fibs, reshading the truth just a little bit, something all of us—except for the purest of heart—have done. Then there is the whopper, the bald-faced lie that completely blots out the truth. Just like what Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said the other day.
Thanks to the 2009 federal loan agreement to help General Motors and Chrysler stay afloat, both companies have dug themselves out of deep financial holes and are restoring jobs.
Last week at a ceremony at GM’s Spring Hill, Tenn., plant to celebrate the rehiring of 483 workers to build a line of fuel-efficient EcoTec engines, Corker, who ranted and railed against the government help to save the auto industry, took credit for the government help to save the auto industry. Here is what he said. Really.
At the end of the day we all have to feel good about what we did, I contributed to strengthening the auto industry in this country.
UAW: U.S. Cars on the Road to Success
Higher profits and new fuel-efficient models have put American-made cars back on the road again—with the help of taxpayers and the workers who have worked closely with the Big Three automakers to ensure their success.
In July, Ford posted a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit of $2.6 billion—some $1 billion more than analysts predicted—with promises of more earnings in 2011. Chrysler, which cut its net loss to $197 million from January through March, expects to announce its second-quarter earnings in mid-August. General Motor’s (GM’s) U.S. sales for June rose 11 percent from the year-ago period and the company is again building popular cars.
AT&T Shareholders Face Crowd of CWA Members, and More Bargaining News
CWA members turned AT&T’s shareholder meeting into a forum on contract negotiations—and more updates from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 900 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
WORK STOPPAGES AND JOB ACTIONS
CWA, AT&T: The San Antonio Express reports that members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) swarmed the AT&T shareholders’ meeting, focusing the meeting on the ongoing contract negotiations. ”We do have a very difficult process we’re going through right now,” AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson said. “I don’t think we’re going to resolve this easily. We’re going to have to sit down and work nose to nose.” Get the facts on bargaining at CWA’s AT&T bargaining website.
UAW Reaches Settlement Agreement with Chrysler, Fiat
Just days before a federally imposed deadline, the UAW announced last night it had reached a settlement agreement with Chrysler, Fiat and the U.S. Treasury Department.
After rejecting Chrysler’s viability plan in February, President Obama gave Chrysler workers and the company a second chance, union officials said. This concessionary agreement, while painful, takes advantage of this opportunity, the union said.
Tell the President: Stand up for Autoworkers
The UAW is calling on all working people to stand up for active and retired U.S. autoworkers. The Obama administration has established tight deadlines for the restructuring of Chrysler and General Motors (GM). For the federal government to provide additional assistance to the automakers, the restructuring of Chrysler must be completed by the end of April, and the General Motors restructuring must be completed by the end of May.
The Chrysler and GM workers need President Obama and his auto task force to stand up for the interests of workers and retirees in these restructuring negotiations.
You can call President Obama at 202-456-1414, or send him an e-mail at: www.whitehouse.gov/contact. The UAW urges allies to tell him that workers and retirees must be treated in a fair and equitable manner in any restructuring plans.
Contracts Can’t Be Broken—Unless They Involve Union Workers
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Contracts can’t be broken. We learned that lesson well over the past few days when AIG honchos swore that despite being bailed out by $173 billion in taxpayer funds, they couldn’t break the sacrosanct contractual bond that guaranteed billions in bonuses to the same top executives who brought the insurance giant to its knees.
But we also were taught another lesson in these months of financial chaos: Contacts can’t be changed—unless they involve unionized autoworkers.
Tim Rutten at the Los Angeles Times really hits the mark today when he writes:
What we’re essentially being asked to believe is that employment contracts involving hardworking men and women on Detroit’s assembly lines are somehow less legally binding—less “sacred” in the current rhetorical argot—than those protecting a bunch of cowboy securities traders living in Connecticut. [snip]
For years, the smart guys on Wall Street have convinced a growing number of Americans that organized labor is an impediment to economic progress, an unacceptable “cost” in a globalized system of production, a quaint social fossil from the era of mills and smokestacks. If there’s a lesson to be gleaned from the current crisis, however, it’s that when the chips are down, organized labor is a far more responsible social actor than the snatch-and-run characters who fancy themselves financiers.
UAW Members at Ford Reach Agreement on Retiree Health, and More Bargaining News
UAW members at Ford reach agreement on retiree health care and more updates here from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 900 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
SETTLEMENTS
UAW, Ford: The UAW reached an agreement with Ford on modifications to its Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA), which is a retiree health care trust fund. The union and Ford previously announced a tentative agreement to modify other aspects of its 2007 labor contract, but Ford had said all agreements were contingent on reaching an agreement to the VEBA.
AFSCME, Ohio: Some 35,000 Ohio state workers, who are represented by the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association (OCSEA-AFSCME), reached a tentative agreement in which workers will maintain their salaries but take 10 days of unpaid leave annually.
