Putting America back to work
Putting America back to work
Autoworkers ready to ‘build a bridge to better days’
With nearly 14 years at General Motors, UAW Local 602 member Phil Desper is considered a low-seniority employee. And these days, that’s cause for concern. The Lansing/Delta Township (Mich.) assembly plant where he works recently eliminated a shift.
"We’re all rotating on one shift right now," said Desper. "But in March the highest seniority people will stay and the lower seniority ones will be on the street."
The shift reduction came as UAW negotiators worked around the clock to modify the union’s 2007 contracts with General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC to help meet restructuring targets set by the Bush administration when it granted loans to the companies in December. In keeping with the union’s historical pattern bargaining approach, UAW representatives also negotiated with Ford Motor Co.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger announced Feb. 17 that the union had reached tentative understandings with all three companies, but said issues about the Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association – the union’s retiree health care trust known as VEBA – had yet to be resolved. Details on changes to the contracts will be presented to the membership for ratification.
In 2005, 2007 and again this year, Gettelfinger said, active and retired members agreed to painful sacrifices to help auto companies restructure. These include: higher health care costs for retirees, elimination of wage increases and deferral of cost-of-living adjustments for active workers, lower wages for newly hired workers, and changes in job and income security protections.
Union workers, he said, operate the most productive and efficient auto plants in North America and should not be asked to shoulder a disproportionate share of the automakers’ financial troubles.
"We know that additional sacrifices will be required to get these companies back on track," Gettelfinger said. "All stakeholders – the bondholders, management, dealers and suppliers – will have to step up as well."
Don’t single out workers
Local 602 member Desper agrees workers should not be singled out in the restructuring process. He believes the automakers’ problems are a direct result of the economic crisis that began when the housing bubble burst.
"It’s kind of hard listening to people outside the auto companies giving us a hard time about the loans," he said, "when the auto companies took a huge hit because of the economy and bad loans by lending institutions."
The father of two boys, Daniel, 16, and Evan, 11, worries more for his kids than himself. "My biggest worry is being off work longer than funds will provide me to keep things going for my family. It’s scary," said Desper, whose wife is a self-employed hair stylist.
And he knows his worries have become commonplace. "It’s a terrible thing to go through," he said. "And we’re not alone; we’re just a small part of it. A lot more people in other sectors will also suffer if GM and Chrysler have to file bankruptcy."
With restructuring plans and requests for additional loans submitted to the Obama administration on Feb. 17, GM and Chrysler are working to avoid a costly and disruptive bankruptcy. Just a few days earlier, President Obama announced a Presidential Task Force on Autos, headed by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers.
Gettelfinger welcomed the announcement, calling it the "right approach" for grappling with the industry’s complex issues.
"We will work with the Obama administration to find responsible solutions that involve all parties so we can rebuild a great industry," Gettelfinger said.
New times, new challenges
UAW Local 685 member Bonita Hatchett, a team leader at Chrysler’s Kokomo (Ind.) Transmission Plant, knows the industry she entered 21 years ago will never be the same. Both her parents worked at the facility, as do two of her siblings, but she is steering her 16-year-old son, JaMichael, toward a different line of work.
"As you look around at how things are changing, you see they don’t need as much labor. We already have 300 people on indefinite layoff," said Hatchett. "I don’t want him to work at the plant – not that I’m ashamed of it, but I want him to do something that’s more technologically advanced."
She also attributes the problems in the industry to the economy. "I’m a realist. In the auto industry our livelihood is based on how the economy is doing. If no one is buying cars, that’s my job."
Confidence in Obama
Hatchett, who is active in her local church, the Strait Gate House of Prayer, said strong faith, and confidence in the new administration, keep her from fretting too much about the future.
"I’m hopeful that the stimulus will help," she said of the economic recovery plan Obama signed into law Feb. 17.
"Still, we didn’t get in it overnight, and we’re not going to come out of it overnight," she said. "But it’s a beginning; we can build a bridge to better days."
