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GM workers walk off the job
GREG KEENAN
Globe and Mail Update
September 24, 2007 at 1:08 PM EDT
Members of the United Auto Workers have gone on strike against General Motors Corp.
The strike, confirmed by GM shortly before noon Monday, puts 73,000 workers on the street, which means production will stop at all the auto maker's U.S. plants.
"We're on strike. It's too late to call us back now," UAW local 652 president Chris "Tiny" Sherwood in Lansing, Mich., told Reuters as a union-imposed strike deadline passed at 11 a.m.
GM issued a statement saying it's disappointed by the UAW's move but "the bargaining involves complex, difficult issues that affect the job security of our U.S. work force and the long-term viability of the company."
United Auto Workers members picket the General Motors Powertrain Plant after a union imposed strike deadline passed Monday morning in Warren, Mich. The UAW has been negotiating with GM on a new contract, with health care issues being of primary importance.
It's the first national strike by the UAW against GM since 1970.
The action will spill over into Canada and the company's 19,000 employees here within hours because GM's engine plant in St. Catharines, Ont. and transmission plant in Windsor, Ont., ship their products to U.S. factories that turn out cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles.
GM's two car assembly plants and truck factory in Oshawa also use components that arrive hourly from south of the border.
Oshawa car plant no. 1 receives engines from Tonawanda, N.Y., and will run out of engines by the third shift tonight.
Car plant no. 2 in Oshawa will run out of engines around mid-day tomorrow.
The talks fell apart after the UAW extended its original strike deadline of Sept. 14 because the two sides were making progress on the biggest issue.
That issue is shifting the company's health care burden of more than $50-billion (U.S.) for those 73,000 employees and another 339,000 retirees and their spouses from GM to a trust fund that would be administered by the union.
GM has sought to move those costs off its books, which would make a major contribution to reducing its average hourly labour costs of $73, which are more than $25 an hour higher than labour costs at Asian-based auto makers that produce cars and trucks in the southern United States.
UAW members already agreed in 2005 to increase their share of health care payments.
"We're shocked and disappointed that General Motors has failed to recognize and appreciate what our membership has contributed during the past four years," UAW president Ron Gettelfinger said in a statement earlier Monday, referring to the 2005 health care deal, as well as the elimination of 34,000 GM jobs in North America and the closing of 12 plants by next year.
GM lost $12.3-billion over the past two years, but is regarded as the healthiest of the Detroit Three.
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One has to wonder if this is one of the death-throws of General Motors, once the world's largest industrial company. The UAW may soon discover there is little left to get from the company, and maybe not much left of the company if things keep going the way they have been over the least few years.
GREG KEENAN
Globe and Mail Update
September 24, 2007 at 1:08 PM EDT
Members of the United Auto Workers have gone on strike against General Motors Corp.
The strike, confirmed by GM shortly before noon Monday, puts 73,000 workers on the street, which means production will stop at all the auto maker's U.S. plants.
"We're on strike. It's too late to call us back now," UAW local 652 president Chris "Tiny" Sherwood in Lansing, Mich., told Reuters as a union-imposed strike deadline passed at 11 a.m.
GM issued a statement saying it's disappointed by the UAW's move but "the bargaining involves complex, difficult issues that affect the job security of our U.S. work force and the long-term viability of the company."
United Auto Workers members picket the General Motors Powertrain Plant after a union imposed strike deadline passed Monday morning in Warren, Mich. The UAW has been negotiating with GM on a new contract, with health care issues being of primary importance.
It's the first national strike by the UAW against GM since 1970.
The action will spill over into Canada and the company's 19,000 employees here within hours because GM's engine plant in St. Catharines, Ont. and transmission plant in Windsor, Ont., ship their products to U.S. factories that turn out cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles.
GM's two car assembly plants and truck factory in Oshawa also use components that arrive hourly from south of the border.
Oshawa car plant no. 1 receives engines from Tonawanda, N.Y., and will run out of engines by the third shift tonight.
Car plant no. 2 in Oshawa will run out of engines around mid-day tomorrow.
The talks fell apart after the UAW extended its original strike deadline of Sept. 14 because the two sides were making progress on the biggest issue.
That issue is shifting the company's health care burden of more than $50-billion (U.S.) for those 73,000 employees and another 339,000 retirees and their spouses from GM to a trust fund that would be administered by the union.
GM has sought to move those costs off its books, which would make a major contribution to reducing its average hourly labour costs of $73, which are more than $25 an hour higher than labour costs at Asian-based auto makers that produce cars and trucks in the southern United States.
UAW members already agreed in 2005 to increase their share of health care payments.
"We're shocked and disappointed that General Motors has failed to recognize and appreciate what our membership has contributed during the past four years," UAW president Ron Gettelfinger said in a statement earlier Monday, referring to the 2005 health care deal, as well as the elimination of 34,000 GM jobs in North America and the closing of 12 plants by next year.
GM lost $12.3-billion over the past two years, but is regarded as the healthiest of the Detroit Three.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
One has to wonder if this is one of the death-throws of General Motors, once the world's largest industrial company. The UAW may soon discover there is little left to get from the company, and maybe not much left of the company if things keep going the way they have been over the least few years.
