UAW Kicks Off Talks With GM, Ford
July 23, 2007

They’re all smiles now, but we likely won’t see many grins come September.

United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger performed the ceremonial handshake with GM Chairman Rick Wagoner and Ford Chairman Alan Mulally today as the union kicked off talks with both companies. A similar ceremony at Chrysler was held Friday.

While all parties are amiable now, this round of contract talks is predicted to be the most contentious and high stakes of any undertaken in recent memory. The viability of the domestic manufacturers –- particularly Ford –- hangs in the balance in these talks, which could continue on after the mid-September deadline.

What remains to be seen is if these negotiations will result in either the sweeping transformation the Big Three and outside experts need to be globally competitive or incremental changes.

All three companies are seeking to reduce costs of wages, benefits and health care to be more in line with labor costs of Japanese transplants operating in the U.S.

The union is trying to protect jobs (thus its membership numbers), retiree benefits and health-care coverage. It also wants to limit the hiring of temporary workers.

Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:27 AM under Ford , GM , News | Comments (0) | digg this | Seed Newsvine