Friday, 20 July 2007

UAW's Gettelfinger Stuck Between Reuther's Legacy, `Crashing' Car Industr

(Bloomberg) -- Ron Gettelfinger, chief of the United
Auto Workers, will sit at the bargaining table with the Big
Three automakers while holding one of the weakest hands in the
72-year-old union's history. He'll also have the shadow of union
icon Walter Reuther looming over him.

Gettelfinger starts negotiating today with companies that
lost a combined $15 billion last year -- a far cry from the era
when Reuther won health insurance and pensions for the rank-and-
file during two decades running the UAW until his death in 1970.
General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler now are
looking to roll back those so-called legacy costs, which include
retiree health-care liabilities of $114 billion.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

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