I'm paraphrasing. In fact, Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union president Buzz Hargrove told Autoweek [sub] he'll play hardball when it's his union's turn to talk contracts next summer. There'll be no concessions from the CAW. As in none. Hargrove's fuming over the speed with which GM and Chryslerberus announced shutdowns and layoffs after the UAW approved their contracts. "This just reinforces my thinking that you can't change a situation with two-tier wages, VEBAs and concessions." Then in the "DUH!" statement of the year, Hargrove observed if Chrysler's workers had known what was coming they wouldn't have approved the contract. "You'd have to be blind not to see that it was hidden," he added. So… uh… did he just say the UAW was stupid for ratifing the agreement?

As common sense suggests, GM's new "two-tier" contract with the United Auto Workers (UAW) works best (at least for the automaker) if the majority of their employees are on the lower tier. The Detroit Free Press reports that GM is using its corporate wiles to move its workforce's wage structure in a decidedly downwards direction. To that end, the automaker is dropping an entire shift at their Pontiac pickup truck assembly plant beginning in May. It's just one of three layoffs GM's planning under the new UAW contract that will eventually divest the domestic of several thousand jobs. GM claims the cuts are "to keep production in line with demand" and deny it's part of a plan to prime high paid hourly workers for a buyout– so they can hire cheaper "second-tier" replacements. Credit Suisse's Chris Cearso suspects "GM will be back before too long with an announcement of an attrition program geared to induce current noncore workers to retire so they can be replaced with new Tier Two workers at about one-third the cost." RN auto analyst Erich Merkle agrees. "I think GM wants to put as many people as possible into retirement and get young hungry workers, that are still treating their acne, in there at the lower rate." GM has responded to talk of buyouts or other attrition programs by labeling it "absolutely wild speculation." The UAW can't claim they didn't see this coming. And if they didn't, they sure as Hell should have. 

Even though he says he's not surprised by the outcome, Canadian Auto Workers union (CAW) president Buzz Hargrove is disappointed with the contract agreement signed by his American comrades at GM and Chrysler. The London Free Press reports the union leader feels the agreement "worsens things in the sense that one more time the U.S. government is let off the hook in terms of dealing with the [closed foreign markets] trade issue." In a more piercing glimpse into the obvious, Hargrove says the Chrysler contract's narrow margin of victory "shows there's an enormous amount of dissent among the rank and file members." When the CAW starts their contract talks in July of next year, Hargrove vows the CAW won't follow the same path as the UAW. Considering Canada's national health care program obviates retiree health care discussions, negotiations can't follow the same path. However, it'll be fun to see what Buzz has to say when the automakers try to lower Canadian wages to match the UAW's new two-tiered structure.

Speaking to Automotive News [sub], GM CEO Rick Wagoner promised his employer will plow the money saved by its new contract with the United Auto Workers (UAW) into "green products."  Specifically, in the next four to ten years, GM will build  more [some?] low-emitting diesels, hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles running on lithium ion batteries. "If we have a significantly profitable and cash-generating enterprise, that really opens up the opportunity to be more aggressive and take more risks." Never one to miss an opportunity not to ask GM's jeffe the hard questions surrounding the details of a major announcement, Automotive News doesn't reveal GM's strategy in the event that GM isn't "significantly profitable" and the company's cash conflagration continues. (By GM's own admission, they won't realize any major savings from the new contract for another four years.) Right. That's it. I'm going to the Detroit Auto Show to find this guy. Who's with me? 

Much to the dismay of the Soldiers of Solidarity and World Socialist Web Site, the United Auto Workers (UAW) rank and file were railroaded into narrowly approved the new four-year contract with Chrysler. The Detroit Free Press cited the results from a UAW statement: 56 percent of production workers, 51 percent of skilled-trade workers, 94 percent of office and clerical workers, and 79 percent of engineering workers voted in favor of the new labor pact. (Again with the percentages, rather than raw numbers. Hmmm.) Although the UAW leadership is crowing about their victory, eight locals that represent over 16K workers rejected the deal. They won't be too happy working under its provisions– especially if Ford workers win the job guarantees missing from the Chrysler agreement. Speaking of which, Chrysler is now free to announce its long-awaited product cull and close the plants making the duff products. Or did the UAW get them to agree to wait until Ford's sorted, before the full betrayal can be revealed? 

The apocalypse is at hand, at least according to the World Socialist Web Site. Apparently, after the United Auto Workers (UAW) ratify their contract with Chrysler, Cerberus "will accelerate their plans to carve up the number three US automaker by shutting down or selling off dozens of factories." Fair enough (or not). The Socialists go on to prognosticate that the "Chrysler deal condemns the next generation of auto workers to near poverty" and "workers will face a campaign of harassment by management, which is eager to replace higher-paid veteran workers with low-paid new hires." And just when you think things couldn't get any worse, "with wages frozen and Cost-of-Living Adjustments diverted, workers will be ravaged by higher housing, food, fuel, education and health-care costs." Then they equate the "economic destitution" this will cause with the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. They didn't predict human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together or mass hysteria, but Ford's contract is still under negotiation, so stay tuned.

Does the UAW have its own version of a hanging chad? After telling TTAC they weren't concerned about union votes being reported in percentages rather than absolute numbers, the Detroit Free Press reports some United Auto Workers (UAW) members are questioning the lack of oversight in the voting on the new Chrysler contract. Chrysler retiree and union activist Larry Christensen summed up their fears: "I know that the people that run the balloting process are the same people whose fundamental interest is for this to pass. Because of that you can't help but wonder if it wouldn't be different if there were independent oversight of the process by the membership." The UAW declined to discuss the union's efforts (if any) to ensure the accuracy and security of the contract ratification process. With the fate of the UAW and Chrysler hanging in the balance, you can bet there will be a lot of questions about the outcome, regardless of which way it goes. Perhaps the union should enlist the services of former president Jimmy Carter to monitor their next "democratic vote" over at Ford. 

The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. Senate voted yesterday to cut $2m from the Office of Labor Management Standards' (OLMS) budget. That's the federal agency in charge of collecting and checking LM-2 forms, which force unions to disclose their income and expenditures. Amongst the revelations contained therein: the Food and Commercial Workers Local Union 1 spent $26k on golf, another (unnamed) union forked-out $3m on hotel bills and Don Hunsucker, President of Local 1288 of The United Food and Commercial Workers Union, pocketed a $679,949 annual paycheck. The OLMS also flags corruption; with their help, the Labor Department announced 13 indictments and seven convictions last month (raising their yearly total to 97 indictments and 115 convictions). With over $30b heading for a United Auto Workers-controlled VEBA health care superfund– that's GM alone– you'd think that our representatives would want to beef-up enforcement, rather than pull the rug from under the watchdog's feet. The Senate's 47 to 46 vote to trim the OLMS' budget was almost entirely along party lines; 45 Democrats voted to cut the funding. Make of that what you will.

Even as Chrysler workers consider rejecting the contract their union is shoving down their throats negotiated on their behalf, reports of a secret deal between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and Chrysler have emerged. Reuters says that the UAW VP General Holiefield is telling Local leaders that he's made a secret deal with Chrysler to keep certain U.S. plants open if they'll ratify the contract. One of the plants mentioned: Chrysler's enormous Sterling Heights, Michigan assembly plant. Curiously, Chrysler declines to comment on the mysterious agreement– which would virtually guarantee ratification of the current contract. The big question remains whether the membership trusts the union enough to believe it can deliver on a handshake deal that isn't written into their contract.

"Oh, the poor unions!" says Max Fraser, a "2006 Intern" now scribing full time at The Nation. The budding curmudgeon supposes that The Big 2.8 will be the death of the unions (not the more likely murder-suicide). That's because Detroit's robber barons just keep squeezing those wages and benefits. Unfortunately, his explanation of how this is happening, and why we all should be worried is… well, let's just say Mr. Fraser has penned the Chrysler Sebring of rants. In a sweeping example of internally-inconsistent analysis, Fraser manages to blame Toyota and Honda for paying their workers more than UAW guys make– and then urges the UAW, for the good of the workers, to get into Toyota and Honda's factories as soon as possible. Fraser also manages to insult and put down outsourcing, insourcing, rural areas, and the "Third Worldization of the American South." Gee, with all those corporate headquarters in the South (Coca Cola, Nissan, Wal-Mart, Saks Department Stores, Home Depot, UPS, Bank of America, Lowe's, Wachovia, Sprint-Nextel, just to name a few), a $3b biotech industry in North Carolina's world-class research triangle, and the busiest airport in the world, the "Third World American South" sounds like a pretty productive place to me.

We've been highlighting the dangers of placing the United Auto Workers (UAW) members' multi-billion dollar health care provision into the hands of union bosses since the idea was first mooted. The Tribune Chronicle (Warren, OH) reports that one of the nation's longest running union-controlled VEBAs (Voluntary Employees' Benefits Association) is about to run dry. After twelve years doling-out health care payments for Copperweld Steel retirees, the VEBA will be out of cash in "a few more years"– some 15 or so years shy of its goal. Cooperweld's VEBA ran into trouble when the company filed for bankruptcy. Hamlin Holdings purchased Copperweld in 1995 and renamed it CSC. In 2001, Hamlin stopped making payments. In 2007, CSC went Chapter 7 and that was that. "No one imagined that CSC would go bankrupt," says VEBA trust committee chairman Earl Thomas. "If we were doing it differently, we would have made sure we had secured promissory notes." The Trib article also characterizes the template for the VEBA movement, the U.S. Steel's agreement, as something of a mixed blessing. "Many of our members are not satisfied,’’ Bill Luoma, president of Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees, told the paper. "[Health care] is a high cost item for many individual retirees, especially when compared to what they were responsible to financially contribute before the company relinquished its responsibilities for retiree health care.’’

"At one point, Aaron Taylor, a top regional UAW representative, took to a loudspeaker system. 'Don't listen to these outsiders!' Taylor yelled at employees of the Jefferson North assembly plant. 'This is the best deal. Just listen and read the facts and you will know.'" The Detroit News reports that the United Auto Workers (UAW) workers in a fourth large assembly plant were unmoved by Mr. Taylor's entreaties. According to "local officials," 56.7 percent of 1,100 production workers and 79.5 percent of 195 skilled trades workers rejected the contract. The numbers are instructive: the production workers are the employees least likely to suffer from the proposal's "two tier" wage structure. Reading between the lines, the new contract's lack of iron-clad job guarantees has these workers spooked. This weekend's no vote comes hot on the heels of a similar snub by UAW members at Chrysler's St. Louis and Newark, Delaware plant (which is scheduled for closure). And now… "The fate of the deal may rest in the hands of workers who will vote this week at several large Metro Detroit factories: Warren Truck, Sterling Heights Assembly and stamping operations in each city. Collectively the four facilities employ 9,500 UAW members. Locals at the Belvidere, Ill., assembly plant and four factories in Kokomo, Ind., also vote this week." Look for the UAW to re-double their efforts to "convince" members of the deal's wisdom, and stand by for our take on what might happen next.

In the blog concerning the United Auto Workers' (UAW) efforts to force encourage their Locals leaders to sign the new, proposed contract with Chrysler, we asked if a reader could provide a copy of the letter from the union's central office to the front lines. And here it is. In the missive, UAW Chrysler VP and Director General Holiefield instructs Local leadership to sell the contract. "All appointed union representatives" must show their support by returning the document with their signatures. The number of lines provided indicate that the letter is intended to be circulated by the Local President and Bargaining Chair to all appointees under their purview. Since the Local president and Bargaining Chair decide who gets the union's plum appointments, and the International gives final approval, if your signature ain't on this letter, you ain't getting squat (at the very least). Could this be what Gettelfinger was talking about when he told the press after the Chrysler Council meeting last Monday that "we have a democratic union?"

I love the smell of desperation in the morning. Even as workers at the St. Louis plant decided Chrysler couldn't Ram a new contract down their throats, UAW officials are stepping up their efforts to rally support. The Wall Street Journal reports the UAW's leaders (those who haven't already come out against the new contract, that is) are telephoning their representatives looking for support for the contract in a lobbying effort that the union's chief bargainer, General Holiefield, described as "unusual" (i.e. urgent). Holiefield also sent a letter to local officials asking for their support as that the UAW feels the contract provides "gains and protections for all UAW Chrysler workers." If any of our readers have seen one of these letters or know what was discussed in those phone calls, we'd love to hear from you. We're dying to know what strongarm tactics incentives the UAW's offering for its members' support.