Changing Tactics to Survive

In most Big Three negotiations, the UAW picks one of GM, Chrysler or Ford to negotiate a model contract with, and then works to apply it to talks with the other two companies. But with the talks so dire, and the companies in such different places, the UAW leadership is popping in the Everything but the Girl remix album "Adapt or Die", and heeding its message on both its own negotiators and those representing the automakers (okay, maybe they aren't listening to the English alt-pop-dance duo, but the message certainly applies).

This time, in order to get the most out of the richer companies without destroying the poorest, they're changing tactics:

The United Auto Workers union appears to be simultaneously crafting new labor contracts with each of the three Detroit automakers, a break from traditional tactics but one motivated by a desire to keep the financially strapped American companies alive.

Detroit automakers in the past have competed for the position of lead company in the contract talks, viewing it as an opportunity to fashion an agreement that put crosstown rivals on the defensive. With this year's contract talks heading into a final two-week stretch, sources close to the talks say the UAW is being careful to complete a deal that doesn't worsen the problems of any one company, especially Ford.

One thing all three automakers agree with (especially GM), however, is that the key to any deal is the union taking on responsibility for health benefits in what is called a Voluntary Employee Benefit Association, or VEBA, in which each of the big three dumping a lump sum portion of owed benefit payments into a trust fund operated by the union; this was the basis of the Delphi and Goodyear agreements. Which has members worried, and leaders releasing statements like this:

The United Auto Workers' top negotiator on its General Motors Corp.'s bargaining team vowed that retirees won't have to pay more for their health care in the next national contract.

"I can tell you one thing, we are determined not to put any more costs on retirees for their health care," said Cal Rapson, UAW vice-president, during a Saturday afternoon speech given to hundreds of UAW members, retirees and their supporters, at the Sloan Museum. Rapson, and UAW president Ron Gettelfinger attended the opening of a labor exhibit at the Flint museum.

Now, a lot of the talk coming from big three corporate headquarters is that the labor costs, ie. pay and benefits, for its long-term unionized workforce, is sky-high compared to those of the non-unionized Japanese automakers, and is irrevocably hurting their bottom lines.

Put aside the superior for this expensive gasoline era product that Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Hyundai put out, there is merit to this complaint. And in an attempt to bolster their ranks, assist the lower paid workers at those plants and get a piece of what have become the world's largest and most profitable automakers, the UAW is also working to even the playing the field for the big three that they must help drag to viability by re-starting with new energy organizing drives at Toyota, etc..

Recently, the company has taken a harder line on wages and labor costs, giving union organizers what they perceive as an opening. Just last week, Toyota told workers in Kentucky they would have to start paying a premium for health insurance for family members.

And over the last few months, Toyota management has summoned small groups of workers here to attend a presentation described by executives as a routine update for workers.

They are shown a map with the locations of shuttered Big Three auto plants and a breakdown of auto workers' average wages, from Thailand to Mexico. While no Toyota executive explicitly says it, the theme of the presentation, according to workers who have seen it, is that Toyota will end up in the same troubled waters as GM if something does not change.

"That doesn't sit well," said Charles Hite, who works on the loading dock at the Georgetown plant and has been with Toyota for 15 years. "They want people to fear losing their jobs."

Hite said that before one of the presentations recently, he gave to his colleagues copies of a news article about the millions of dollars in bonuses Toyota executives received this year. A Toyota supervisor asked him to stop, he said.

Hmm. Sounds like Employee Free Choice Act could have been of some assistance there. T-Minus 8 days until the UAW contract with the big three expires. This weekend should be crunch time.