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Thread: UAW’s Chrysler Equity Is Small Comfort as Union’s Power Wanes

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[quote=MARRIE,365543]By John Lippert

May 1 (Bloomberg) -- The United Auto Workers’ equity in Chrysler LLC is small comfort compared with the damage the automaker’s bankruptcy inflicted on the union’s bargaining power, labor analysts said.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said in a statement the union’s retiree health-care fund had accepted a 55 percent stake in Chrysler in return for cutting in half the automaker’s $10.6 billion cash obligation to the fund.

The UAW now has 26,800 members at Chrysler, one-fourth as many as in 1979. Its Chrysler equity could turn out to be worthless, leaving retirees with curtailed health insurance, if the company’s fortunes don’t turn around quickly, said Harley Shaiken, a labor analyst at the University of California at Berkeley.

“What’s at stake is auto being the pre-eminent industry generating middle-class jobs in the country,” Shaiken said. “The union will have a tough fight in the future to make sure competitiveness results in high-wage jobs rather than coming at their expense.”

While the UAW gained representation on the Chrysler board through the agreement, its power will be limited because shares owned by the trust fund will be voted by independent trustees, Shaiken said.

Separately, General Motors Corp. said Tuesday it will be at least half owned by the U.S. government under a plan to slash its debt and reduce dealer ranks by 42 percent.

39 Percent 
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