General Motors Kicks Back Latest UAW Offer - Who Is Being The Most Unrealistic In This Feud?

Contract negotiations between the UAW and General Motors suffered a setback after the union said the company essentially rejected its latest offer, providing little hope a national strike, now entering its fourth week, will end soon.

Terry Dittes, vice president of the UAW-GM department, said Sunday in a letter to members that GM this morning turned down an "extensive package" that addressed all of the union's demands, ranging from wages to profit sharing. He said the company instead fell back on a previous offer the union already rejected.

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dumpsty - 10/7/2019 1:53:48 PM

+2 Boost

I am all for union support to help keep these types of jobs more "secure". However, it seems like some union demands are still (unreasonable) due to the current industry & global economic climate.

Old GM was near corporate dissolution 10 years ago. Why? Slow-selling product across all brands & decades-old pension debt responsibilities. New GM won't allow union concessions of the past be made again. Won't make sense - business-wise.

GM-UAW union members should research how union strikes were handled by other automakers with facilities in the US...M-B, BMW, Toyota, VW, Honda, Hyundai/Kia.

Vette71 - 10/7/2019 2:12:57 PM

+2 Boost

Most of the woes that plagued GM in the 80s and 90s came out of the rich settlement they gave the UAW in the 1970 strike. Both thought the USA post WWII growth was going to last forever, just as Japan and Europe had recovered from their destruction and were ready to attack. GM was saddled with a very costly labor arrangement which led to focusing on covering those costs at the expense of investment in products. Plants were fixed costs that meant churning out product and selling it for whatever they could get. Faced with another big change coming to the industry they cannot afford to give the UAW what it wants. To survive GM has to change, whether the UAW likes it or not.

MDarringer - 10/7/2019 6:28:35 PM

+1 Boost

The UAW is being utterly unrealistic.

TomM - 10/8/2019 12:54:36 AM

+1 Boost

How do we know?

Give us all the particulars of the contract - they have not been published anywhere.

MDarringer - 10/8/2019 8:47:38 AM

+2 Boost

I realize clear thinking is NOT what you do, but the UAW is asking for higher wages when it is obvious that GM will soon experience a size implosion. The UAW should be offering wage and benefit cuts to maintain jobs.