Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

With GM's Wagoner Ousted, Should Union Head Have Met the Same Fate?
Fox News ^ | March 31, 2009

Posted on 03/31/2009 1:35:11 PM PDT by Zakeet

In forcing the resignation of General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner, President Obama said he was seeking a fresh start, a "new vision and new direction," for the beleaguered automaker.

But some critics are questioning why the president of the United Auto Workers union didn't meet the same fate, to signal a fresh start on the other side of the bargaining table.

Even though UAW President Ron Gettelfinger argues that his workers have made significant concessions in recent years, critics say Gettelfinger should have gone the way of Wagoner -- whose ouster could be seen as the final judgment for GM's pursuit of gas-guzzling SUVs at a time when foreign manufacturers were winning over their customers with fuel-efficient cars.

"Every bad thing you can think a union can do, the United Auto Workers did," said Kevin Hassett, the director of Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute.

Hassett said Gettelfinger presided over negotiations that kept the auto giant burdened with costly benefits programs and protected higher-paid, long-term employees from the cutbacks set in place for new workers.

In December testimony before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Gettelfinger defended the concessions made to date by the UAW. He pointed to a move in the 2007 contract to slash wages by half, to about $14 per hour, for new workers, and to exclude such workers from the traditional health care and pension plans.

He said recent contracts held base wages for workers through 2011, and that they accepted reductions in cost-of-living increases. Plus he noted that the jobs bank, a program that provided up to 95 percent pay for laid-off workers, had been mostly eliminated.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: automakers; detroit; economy; fired; generalmotors; gettelfinger; governmentmotors; uaw; union; wagoner

Should Gettelfinger get the finger? Will he?

1 posted on 03/31/2009 1:35:11 PM PDT by Zakeet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

No. Unless he gets $20M also.


2 posted on 03/31/2009 1:39:46 PM PDT by ex-snook ( "Above all things, truth beareth away the victory.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

Is there any doubt what the problem with GM is?

I predict GM will turn into the “new Volga Motors”.


3 posted on 03/31/2009 1:39:58 PM PDT by Tarpon (You abolish your responsibilities, your surrender your rights.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

Does anyone really need to ask why? I mean, they’re not even pretending to hide the power grab anymore.


4 posted on 03/31/2009 1:41:29 PM PDT by Poison Pill (Help, I've voted Republican and I can't get up!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

No, GM should fire Obama. Or at least kick him off their board.


5 posted on 03/31/2009 1:42:46 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

The unions have done more to ruin the competitive position of Detroit than any other single factor. COSTS! — but of course, we must note that the management of the Big Three was complicit in the decisions and arrangements with the unions that allowed them so much POWER AND COST in the business picture.

When the automotive market became a WORLD MARKET, Detroit did not respond appropriately. They met the same fate as IBM did in the PC market.

Yes, the unions should be just as responsible as Wagoner, yet I am not convinced just HOW RESPONSIBLE Wagoner should be held, since he did do many good things for GM and was responsible for much of their profitability. They are all players in the same game. Early bankruptcy and cost-effective restructuring could have saved the Big Three from their fate -— but they made some very bad choices, generated an “internal” welfare state that cost them their competitive edge in the world auto market.

And now the socialist government that a slim margin of the American electorate wanted and got, will just finish off the job and turn Detroit into the “green” golf cart manufacturing capitol of the world. Such a tragedy that did not have to happen.


6 posted on 03/31/2009 1:46:24 PM PDT by EagleUSA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet
GM's pursuit of gas-guzzling SUVs at a time when foreign manufacturers were winning over their customers with fuel-efficient cars

This is utter B.S. There was a relatively brief period of time when GM was at a competitive disadvantage due to a lack of attractive small cars.

GM's problems have a lot more to do with the fact that it is a health-care operation which makes cars on the side, at a loss.

Probably the best solution is bankruptcy and reorganization in a right-to-work state.

7 posted on 03/31/2009 1:47:10 PM PDT by B Knotts (Worst economy since the Third Punic War)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

REPLACING A UNION THUG WITH ANOTHER UNION THUG GETS YOU NOWHERE......................


8 posted on 03/31/2009 1:47:44 PM PDT by Red Badger (If Keynesian economics worked, Zimbabwe would be a superpower.......................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

HE’S A HUGE DEMOCRAT!!!


9 posted on 03/31/2009 1:48:55 PM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion....the Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

Should Gettelfinger get the finger?

I’d be concerned about who loses their fingers if he did.


10 posted on 03/31/2009 1:57:13 PM PDT by hoe_cake (" 'We the people' tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us." Ronald Reagan)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

Unions are Demonrat, therefore they can do no wrong. Untouchable.


11 posted on 03/31/2009 2:03:39 PM PDT by RoadTest (The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? - Jer.17:9)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet
Should Gettelfinger get the finger? Will he?

Hell, I'll give him the finger!

A bit more informatively, I have a brother-in-law who worked as an economist for GM. He commented that most people don't realize that the union leadership is actually more MODERATE than the rank and file. He says many of the union guys want to strike at the drop of a hat, even though the strike "pay" is not all that great and it costs them money. I found that, well, amazing.

12 posted on 03/31/2009 2:48:27 PM PDT by Pearls Before Swine (Is /sarc really necessary?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hoe_cake

Saw this on another thread yesterday - UAW President Ron “Givemthefinger”! LOL!


13 posted on 03/31/2009 5:15:26 PM PDT by REPANDPROUDOFIT
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson