Original article, by Jerry White, via World Socialist Web Site:
The United Auto Workers reached an agreement with General Motors and the US Treasury yesterday to impose a new round of concessions on GM workers while sanctioning the shutdown of a third of the automaker’s US plants and the wiping out of 23,000 of the company’s remaining 62,000 UAW workers’ jobs.
It'll be interesting to see what the vote on this is. I wonder if the 39,000 jobs are worth not fighting over. It appears that the UAW doesn't think the 23,000 are.
The deal is expected to reduce labor costs by $1 billion by freezing wages, cutting holidays and break time and ending income protections for laid-off workers. It will put UAW workers at or below the wage and benefit rates of non-union workers at US plants operated by Toyota and other Japanese-owned companies.
And, of course, the argument will then become "Look at what the Union's done for you! Why even have one if your compensation isn't any better than that of workers at non-union plants?" Gosh, it's as if a corporate wet dream has come true.
The UAW also agreed to let GM forgo $10 billion of the $20 billion it owes to a union-controlled retiree healthcare trust fund, known as a VEBA. It will pay the rest in virtually worthless shares, making it all but certain that the UAW will sharply reduce benefits to hundreds of thousands of retirees and dependents.
Well, OK, the stock may end up worth something should GM come back. I mean, a nice bubble wouldn't hurt, now would it? Stock instead of cash: Gods the bosses must be having a good laugh at that one.
From the beginning, the UAW has marched in lock step with the White House in the restructuring of the auto industry. In return for its collaboration, Obama is handing the UAW a 39 percent ownership stake in GM, 55 percent of Chrysler and seats on the boards of directors of both companies.
From this position, UAW executives will have a direct financial incentive to impose ever more brutal conditions in the factories in order to boost the value of their shareholdings. As the Wall Street Journal noted Thursday, the UAW-appointed member on Chrysler’s board of directors will have "a duty to protect the [VEBA] fund’s financial interests," not defend workers.
Here's the kicker, isn't it? When the Union becomes part of the ownership class, does it change it's fundamental relationship with the workers it represents? In other words, does the Union morph into a Boss? Only time will tell on this one.
I'll let you read the rest of the article. White points out that the UAW is sitting on over $1.2 billion in assets, of which $871 million are held by the strike fund. With the waiving of a right to strike until 2015, that strike pot will be huge. Of course, one might ask why the $871 million has been growing while UAW workers have been being laid off right and left for the past decade plus. White also points out that the bureaucracy of the UAW is finding the monetary rewards to be quite nice. Keep in mind, Union ownership does not equal worker ownership. It'll be interesting to see how much of the pot the UAW is sitting on ends up going into the pockets of investors.
The author (White) also recommends:
The economic crisis and the resurgence of class conflict in the United States