Health care, jobs and pensions are top issues in ‘Big Three’ talks

Health care, job security and pensions were the big issues as the United Auto Workers opened contract talks with Detroit’s ‘Big Three’ automakers.

Bargaining began July 16 with DaimlerChrysler, July 17 with General Motors and July 18 with Ford and two auto parts “spinoffs,” Delphi and Visteon.

New contracts would cover 128,000 active UAW members at GM, 98,000 at Ford and 65,510 combined at Chrysler, Delphi and Visteon, plus 486,220 retirees and surviving spouses. The UAW has yet to choose a lead company to bargain with, spokeswoman Sandra Davis said.

“Our challenge is to craft an agreement that protects our members’ job and income security,” UAW Vice President Richard Shoemaker, lead negotiator with GM, said in an interview with the union’s magazine, Solidarity.

“We’ll focus on all the issues that are important to our membership, including job and income security, pensions and health care,” he added.

Pensions may be a tough issue at GM in particular. GM said last month it would sell $10 billion in bonds to help reduce its unfunded pension liability, now $19.3 billion.

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And the Bush administration proposed pension rules in early July that would boost costs for industries–like autos–with many older workers and huge numbers of retirees, labor analysts add.

On the other hand, UAW reports individual pensions often are small. “A UAW pension is about $17,000 a year for a member of the Big Three, Delphi or Visteon who retired after 1999, and who reached Social Security eligibility,” it said.

Health care will be another top issue, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger says. That includes retiree health care, which the union calls “a key focus” in the talks.

Gettelfinger also said the UAW would adamantly oppose company efforts to shift health care costs to workers. “It does nothing to contain the cost, and it does not improve the quality of health care,” he said on June 17.

The UAW won’t yield or, as Gettelfinger put it, “go backwards” on health care. “The only time I’m going backward is when I’m in my car backing out of a parking spot,” he commented.

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This article was written by Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.

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