AUTO TALKS: Binding arbitration only solution...

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Detroit is all abuzz about the UAW contract talks with the Big Three auto makers because the deadlines have passed and still no deal and something is starting to smell…

The UAW extended the contract with Ford and the talks came to a stop there. It intensified the talks with GM and Chrysler but had to also extend the contract deadline and this morning we learn that Sergio Marchionne, head of Chrysler, released a letter to Bob King of the UAW saying basically, we had a deal so why are you fuckin’ around with this contract.

Marchionne is not from Detroit, he is from Fiat/Italy and he does not know or give a shit, how things work in Detroit, he knows what he wants and he doesn’t mince words talking about what he wants and expects…love this guy.

The usual in Detroit, is that the UAW picks a “strike target” and negotiates a contract with that strike target only (not all three at once as it is trying to do now). Once it gets its contract with the strike target it takes the same contract to the other two and tells them to sign on the dotted line.

This year it is totally different and historic. The UAW can only strike Ford and have put those talks on hold while it gets a contract signed by Chrysler and GM which they will then take to Ford who must sign it or it will be struck.

But Marchionne doesn’t care about Ford or GM, he only cares about Chrysler and I think he wants a “custom” deal with Chrysler. He has already said what he will agree to offer and that is that. He is offering bigger profit-sharing checks, investing in existing plants which will create more second tier union jobs but no additions to fixed costs which means no raises, no bonuses but job security.

The workers want raises, they want a $10,000 per worker contract signing bonus and they want all their benefits back, the ones they gave up to save their jobs during the bankruptcy crisis. They obviously have not learned anything from the time the all were nearly out on the street.

If they two sides do not come to terms they go into “binding arbitration”; a stranger tells them what to do and that is that. I feel the UAW will come out with the short end of the stick if talks go into binding arbitration.

Bob King but not his workers, knows the world is watching. If the auto makers give in to the UAW’s exorbitant demands, Wall Street will crush their stock prices, Obama will definitely be thrown out of office and his Republican replacement will kick both the auto makers and the UAW’s asses, the UAW will not be able to unionize another auto company and the nation will be so anti-union that the union’s demise will be greatly accelerated.

Bob King is between a rock and a hard place with no wiggle room…it must go to binding arbitration because only when that happens he will be off the hook with his UAW members and with the auto makers; it will be out of his hands.

Related articles

• UAW extends Chrysler, GM contracts after deadline (usatoday.com)
• GM, Chrysler: No deal reached yet with UAW (money.cnn.com)
• Detroit Three, UAW extend contract, keep talking (seattletimes.nwsource.com)