DaimlerChrysler and the UAW were unable to reach an agreement on cutting health care costs as talks broke down today, the automaker has announced. Chrysler originally hoped to strike a deal with the union that would give it similar health care cuts as GM and Ford. “We were advised by the UAW that based on its financial analysis, it did not believe its members would ratify an agreement that achieved economic parity with deals reached at General Motors and Ford,” Chrysler said in a statement to the press. “The company was prepared to accept a proposal that did not reach full economic parity, however, the UAW was not willing to move forward with that proposal.” Chrysler says it spends $2.3 billion a year on health care. “In this era of global competitiveness, health care relief is as important to DaimlerChrysler as it is to Ford and GM,” the company said. Chrysler says the labor cost disadvantage to automakers in the U.S. is $1,000 per vehicle. “Sooner or later, we — including the UAW — are going to have to deal with this greater issue.”
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09/08, 2:35 PM
posted by:
Toy Yoda
My healthcare sucks. I have no retirement pension. I don’t have a matching 401k plan. My job has been outsourced before. I think my current job will be outsourced at the end of this year. I don’t get compensated for all the overtime I put in and the weekends I’ve worked. Gone are the days of job security. I don’t understand why DaimlerChrysler just doesn’t ship all it’s jobs overseas. Being unemployed sucks, but you adapt because you are forced too. If UAW can hold out as long as they can, more power to them. I understand management position, even if I don’t like their decisions. I know if I’m manager, I’d try to get of the UAW as fast and discreetly as possible.
09/08, 2:47 PM
posted by:
YourNameHere
let the union strike. hire non-union works. give him good wages/healthcare (not ridiculous like it is now) problem solved.
09/08, 3:07 PM
posted by:
Fatstrat
The fact that you feel the need to ‘discreetly’ leave the union says it all.
In their current iteration they are crooked money sucking political machines that must be eliminated as they now exist if any of these corporations are to survive and produce the quality products that they are capable of.
09/08, 3:46 PM
posted by:
Stuart
They are a bunch of money hungry brats who stop before they kill the american companies.
09/08, 4:27 PM
posted by:
TimG
I’m so tired of the unions. They were great for the workers 100 years ago. Now, they are a corporation inside of a corporation. The union bosses are there only to protect their own power and interests.
Unions have put many businesses OUT of business. And that’s a shame for the MFG’rs AND the workers, both. Look at Delta. They are in such a precarious situation, they’ll either go belly-up, or slash pension benefits. While the pilots have certainly been rewarded for their time, it’s certainly not right to take away their pensions (or cut them drastically) now that they are ready to retire-they’ve planned on this income for years.
It’s a lose-lose situation all around and the consumer is who ends up paying.
09/08, 5:00 PM
posted by:
nwmike
I was going to post, but you all covered it well enough. ^^^^
09/08, 8:49 PM
posted by:
Renton
UAW,
Get your own health care, just like I have to do.
Stop ruining auto-companies UAW. If you were really smart you would have found a way to keep yourself alive and your employer profitable. You did not.
I will not miss you when you are gone.
09/08, 10:46 PM
posted by:
Veda
Well said Renton. The fact of the matter is these guys have to wake up to the reality that most workers out there don’t have the easy life of a “mafia”. The good days are ending and once they go to the real world, let’s see how well they fare against the competition.
09/10, 1:28 PM
posted by:
Jon Luc
Renton, that is one time I whole-heartedly agree with your statements.