Posted on 01/12/2009 8:06:33 AM PST by BGHater
General Motors Corp.'s chief operating officer said Monday that the automaker has presented a worst-case scenario to Congress in which it would need more money than the $13.4 billion allocated by the Treasury Department.
But Fritz Henderson would not speculate on whether GM will need all of the $18 billion in government loans it sought from Congress in December.
Speaking to reporters at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Henderson said he is confident GM will work out concessions from the United Auto Workers. GM, Chrysler and the union have been talking about labor cost reductions and other concessions required under the government's loan terms.
The companies have until Feb. 17 to hammer out amendments to their current labor contracts that would bring worker costs in line with those of employees at foreign auto companies' plants in the U.S.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger has said the union will approach President-elect Barack Obama's administration to end what he called unfair requirements in the loan terms for concessions from the union.
U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., has proposed getting rid of a requirement that GM and Chrysler negotiate labor cost parity with foreign-owned automakers that have U.S. factories.
But Henderson said the uncertainty over what concessions are required doesn't mean the company and union aren't talking about labor cost gaps.
"We know what those costs are just like they do," he said.
Hourly wages for UAW workers at GM factories already are about equal to the average of $30 per hour Toyota Motor Corp. pays at its older U.S. factories, according to the companies. But including benefits and the cost of providing health care to retirees, the Detroit automaker says its total labor cost is around $69 per hour, compared with an all-inclusive cost of $53 per hour at Toyota.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Good money after bad. If you do the same thing and expect different results... you must be crazy.
GM needs, absolutely needs to go bankrupt. Renegotiate contracts and throw out the management team. Get some people in there who care, and who are more about building quality cars, and less about building their own empires.
Shock!
One can count on one hand the number of Senior Executives fired or resigned at GM over the last 50 years.
I don’t care if you have a “good ole boys club” but once you make ME subsidize it, I hope you go straight to hell.
Anyone who expected the "tough" part of the bailout to survive the January 20 catastrophe please stand on your head.
Cut ‘em loose and let ‘em fail. Must’ve missed the part of Article I, Section 8 that says the Congress is supposed to take my $$$$$ and hand it over to a business.
Gettlefinger is going to look really stupid when all of his union “peeps” are jobless because GM went out of business.
People better start looking around them and see what is going on in the “real world.”
The Golden Goose is in the ICU on life support and its chances don’t look good yet Gettlefinger wants to pull the plug.
Amazing...
duh
If the government wants to save the American auto industry, if such a thing even exists, then there is one thing they can do:
Give them money for the only purpose of giving out interest free loans for new and used vehicles with up to 80 months to repay, with the only qualification being an address, a job and an American citizenship.
“GM exec says automaker may need more gov’t money”
Dear GM exce,
It is not government money, you numbnutz, but hardworker TAXPAYER money that’s bailing you out.....
Signed
PO’D taxpayer
We own two Saturns. We will never buy a GM product again. So scream for the money, but you will not be able to restore consumer confidence. These companies won’t be able to regain the consumers who are po’d at their bailouts.
No more GM cars/trucks/suvs/greenBS for me. Not ever. Period.
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