September 26, 2007

Tenitive Agreement Reached At GM

General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers reached a tentative agreement early this morning on a historic new labor contract, instantly ending a two-day strike and paving the way for GM to pay the union to take over $50 billion in retiree health care obligations.

What are the agreement terms?

Terms of the tentative deal include:

* The creation of a voluntary employees' beneficiary association, or VEBA, that Gettelfinger said will cover retiree health care benefits for the next 80 years.

GM agreed to fund the VEBA near 70 cents on the dollar, sources said. That's significantly more then the 65 cent contribution the company originally pushed for.

*GM will implement a two-tier wage system for workers not doing core manufacturing jobs. The lower tier will be as little as half the current $28-an-hour wage for an hourly worker. The new wage structure would apply to new hires, not current workers.

*The automaker will make 4,100 temporary workers permanent employees paid at the lower rate. A special attrition program offering workers buyouts or early retirement would help clear out senior workers and make room for the new workers.

*Also part of a deal is a trade-off in which workers will give up cost-of-living adjustments in exchange for no increases in medical premiums.

*The agreement would include modifications to the controversial jobs bank program in which laid-off workers receive pay and benefits. The changes will expand the geographic area in which workers would be required to take a new job if one is available. Under current rules, workers are allowed to remain off the job and in the bank unless there's an opening within 50 miles of their old job.

*Signing bonuses, meanwhile, could help win ratification of a contract. The payments would be $3,000 to start, followed by three years of lump-sum payments equal to 3 percent, 4 percent, and 3 percent of their annual pay in the last three years of the contract.

And the union is endorsing the agreement asking that union members vote for it.

And to all those that said that the union is unwilling to negotiate and would refuse to become competitive you all can go fuck yourselves.

Posted by Quality Weenie at September 26, 2007 08:49 AM | TrackBack
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