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Home Front Economy

GM's U.S. Workers Strike After Contract Talks Fail

2007-09-25

General Motors Corp.'s U.S. factory employees staged their first nationwide strike in 37 years after the largest U.S. automaker failed to reach a new labor agreement with the United Auto Workers.

The walkout, at 11 a.m. New York time, came 10 days after the union extended the old contract past its expiration while the two sides negotiated. The latest round of bargaining had run for more than 25 straight hours from yesterday morning until the strike. Talks resumed this afternoon. ``It was a one-way set of negotiations,'' UAW President Ron Gettelfinger told reporters today in Detroit. ``It was going to be General Motors' way at the expense of the workers. The company walked right up the deadline like they really didn't care, and as a result we called a strike.''

Posted by:Fred

#10 The strike is ``a positive development,'' Brett Hoselton, an analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets in Cleveland, wrote in a report today. ``We believe the work stoppage will be short-lived and is being used by the union's leadership as an instrument in pre-conditioning the constituency to accept more concessions, not fewer.''

From what I heard on the radio the union wants job security and a promise from GM to keep US plants open instead of moving them out of the country. I'm somewhat sympathetic with that but to get such a promise they must expect to make some concessions.

My impression throughout the sixties and seventies was that UAW was one of the main causes of inflation in this country. Then came the Japanese and the Germans. Last I heard, Toyota had finally gotten ahead of GM in market share. You'd think they would have learned a lesson from that but it doesn't seem they have.

Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2007-09-25 15:01

#9 GM has a pretty big inventory in most models so a short strike won't hurt them too much (actually might marginally help).

A long strike would, however, be a killer for GM because of their low cash and relatively low credit worthiness. On the other hand, as implied by others, the UAW may have a big strike fund but their long term outlook is dismal.

Posted by: mhw 2007-09-25 12:29

#8 I concur w/bigjim. My errant father did 30 yrs w/GM in Detroit/Toledo etc. Thought GM "owed him" a living wage -- insanity of the highest magnitude. Used to bitch about the corporate execs all the time but I am certain the issues are 50/50. GM/Forde are f'd up org's from the top down but the unions are obsolete imho. There was a time they were sorely needed but that time has been defunct for at least 30 yrs. Guys getting paid "double-bubble" to sit on their ass over the weekends and holidays - total joke & as usual the price gets pushed on to the consumer. They wonder why cars/truck sales decline.

Posted by: Broadhead6 2007-09-25 11:30

#7 The big argument for unionization was always wages. However, the non-union Japanese plants in the US are paying comparable wages. And making better cars. Oh, they are wily devils, them Jappos!

Posted by: SteveS 2007-09-25 11:30

#6 great timing, the USA auto makers are down so why not give them a good 'ol patriotic kick. Unions are a thing of a bygone era and contribute nothing to America.

Posted by: Vespasian Greans8866 2007-09-25 11:11

#5 Notice how successful the UAW has been 'unionizing' Japanese auto plants located in the US. Says volumes. It's the old story of the frog and the scorpion in play again. If the union truly believes in this crap, then they should take all their union retirement investment fund portfolios and use them to buy GM. I'm sure they can get their brother unions to get in on the investment. /sarcasm off

Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-09-25 09:26

#4 I was in the Carpenters and Pile Drivers Union for 10 years, and one thing that the guys there never seemed to understand is that you can make $25 an hour, but if you aren't doing $25 an hour worth of work, you are slowly but surely putting yourself out of a job. These guys sound exactly the same, they just want more $$$, they don't care where it comes from. GM is most likely a greedy corporate piece of shit to work for, but you can't get blood out of a turnip.

Posted by: bigjim-ky 2007-09-25 07:46

#3 The unions will strike until they have forced every industrial job off shore or into the hands of a foreign owner.

Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-09-25 07:29

#2 GM is struggling and financially weak, losing market share--so let's go on strike for job security! Yeah, that'll do it!

Posted by: Mike 2007-09-25 07:23

#1 I was in Toronto this weekend, and ISTM the Canadians were somewhat perplexed by parity with the US dollar, and VERY cheesed about the GM strike, 'cos they make a LOT of the parts that the US factories assemble.

Posted by: Seafarious 2007-09-25 01:29

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