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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: i-node who wrote (258752)	11/7/2005 3:01:27 PM
From: Alighieri	Respond to of 1573222

And you can't buy a decent car from a Detroit automaker as a result. This part I really disagree with. You never could buy a decent car fron Detroit...what Detroit gives its workers at the edge of a knife, Japanese manufacturers give pro-actively... Al

To: i-node who wrote (258752)	11/7/2005 3:10:54 PM
From: Alighieri	Respond to of 1573222

GM, UAW Make Deal on Benefits Listen to this story... by Frank Langfitt Morning Edition, October 18, 2005 · General Motors has persuaded the United Auto Workers to give up billions of dollars in health care benefits so that the company can better compete. The concessions should go a long way towards helping GM cut costs. But analysts say the automotive giant has to do a lot more if it wants to start making money again. npr.org =========================================== UAW leaders OK cut in benefits By Sharon Silke Carty, USA TODAY DETROIT — Top leaders of the United Auto Workers union Thursday unanimously agreed to cut retiree health care benefits in an attempt to help ailing automaker General Motors (GM). Under the plan, which needs to be ratified by rank-and-file members, retirees would make monthly contributions and pay an annual deductible. Currently, they do neither. GM, which posted a $1.6 billion loss in the third quarter, says health care costs have become unmanageable. The automaker expects to spend $5.6 billion on health care this year. If passed, the union agreement would save GM $1 billion. The proposed changes include: •Monthly premium. Single retirees or widowed spouses would pay $10 a month; families, $21. •Yearly deductible. Single retirees would pay $150, and families $300. Out-of-pocket payments would be capped at $370 for individuals, $752 for families. •Wage deductions for active workers. Employees would forgo $1 an hour of future cost-of-living increases. They also would pay $5 more for prescription drugs. Low-income retirees, those who make less than $8,000 annually from their pensions, won't be affected by the changes. The UAW hired auditors to comb through GM's finances to see if health care was burdensome. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger declined to say what the auditors found, but he said the agreement should help ensure "that GM is a competitive and financially sound corporation that can continue to provide good wages and benefits for decades." Gettelfinger said he doesn't know how the general membership will vote. The UAW still has some issues to iron out with GM before that happens, he said. Union-represented autoworkers and retirees have some of the best benefits in the USA. The average union worker pays no insurance premium but about 7% of the total cost of health costs through co-payments and deductibles. The Kaiser Family Foundation says the average person pays 26% of health care. The agreement comes as companies around the USA grapple with four years of health insurance premiums rising several times the rate of inflation. Many employers have raised costs to workers. "Workers are making sacrifices, whether in non-union situations or, increasingly, in collectively bargained situations," says Paul Ginsburg of the Center for Studying Health System Change, a research group. "This is monumental that GM is joining the rest of America."