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UAW Condemns GOP for Scuttling Bailout
Union President Says Wage Cuts Won't Prevent Collapse of Auto Industry

By Sholnn Freeman
Washington Post Staff Writer 
Saturday, December 13, 2008; Page A07 


United Auto Workers President Ronald A. Gettelfinger lashed out against Senate Republicans a day after a congressional compromise on an auto industry bailout failed, accusing the lawmakers of trying to "pierce the heart of organized labor." 

Gettelfinger, at a news conference yesterday in Detroit, welcomed a statement from the White House that said the administration was willing to use funds targeted for bailing out the financial system to help the autoworkers. But he repeated his insistence that bankruptcy isn't an option, saying failure at any one automaker would force firms across the industry to collapse. 

The Republican Senate proposal sought to cut UAW wages, bringing them in line -- or at "parity" -- with what workers earn at foreign-owned, non-unionized plants in the United States. A failure in Congress to reach an agreement on the wage-cut proposal Thursday night doomed the $14 billion industry rescue package. 

"They believe workers are expendable and wages mean nothing," Gettelfinger said. 

But tough talk isn't winning over the American public, said Gary N. Chaison, professor of industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. 

"Congress sees which way the wind is blowing and they see that autoworkers are not popular with the public," he said. 

Auto executives drew the ire of many Americans when they came to Washington on private jets seeking aid for the industry. Workers, with their extensive retiree benefits, salary and job protections, have not fared much better. 
"They use taxpayer dollars to subsidize the competition," he said. "We can't compete like this as a country."
Gettelfinger said the "parity" the Republican senators were seeking is difficult to calculate given the differing wage rates among the foreign vehicles manufacturers in the United States. Furthermore, he said, the pay cut wouldn't do much to lift Detroit. 

"If we work for nothing, it wouldn't help them limp into January," he said. 

He said the union already had worked to cut health-care payments for retirees and job protections that try to ensure workers an income when plants close. 

Gettelfinger blamed the Republican senators who represent states with foreign-auto plants of trying to put the American companies at a disadvantage. He said lawmakers were allowing Southern states to subsidize foreign automakers with hundreds of millions of dollars to build factories, while turning their backs on Detroit. 

Detroit auto executives have complained for years that foreign competitors such as Toyota and Hyundai are gaining ground in the U.S. market partly because they operate lower-cost, non-union factories in this country. In contrast, they say, the Detroit companies have buckled under the billions of dollars in health costs for thousands of retirees and their families. Adding to their troubles, Detroit also has steadily lost market share with poor-performing vehicles. 

Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said the move to push down UAW pay could put pressure on wages across industrial America. 

"If we back up a moment and look at what's at stake, it isn't two automakers and a union," Shaiken said. "It's the long-term viability of manufacturing and the future of the middle class." 

Historically, the wage levels of Detroit's auto industry have set the pattern for manufacturing work in the United States. The power has been fading in recent years as the Detroit auto companies and suppliers have shed tens of thousands of workers. 

Shaiken said the risks to the industry and the nation's economy in the bailout debate remain. 

"You could be paralyzing key industries at the worst possible time," he said. "I don't think those who voted on the bill are fully aware what Flint and Saginaw and Detroit looked like before this potential collapse. You are really playing with fire in an oil refinery." 

Gettelfinger reiterated that bankruptcy isn't an option for the auto companies, even though General Motors and Chrysler have hired lawyers to assess filings. He said financial collapse of any one of the companies would ricochet across the industry and the nation's economy. 

He has presided over an era of unprecedented concession to the Detroit automakers, telling his members that the alternative is for the companies and the union to go down together. He has been outspoken at auto and union conferences about his view that job losses from globalization are the "result of conscious choices by government and corporate policymakers."