UAW Overwhelmingly Backs GM Concessions

GM vetoes deal involving Chinese company

(NEWSER) - Saab finally threw in the towel today, after former owner General Motors once again vetoed a rescue plan involving China’s Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile. Saab’s current owner, Swedish Automobile, filed for its bankruptcy, saying that "the company, without further funding, will be insolvent, and that filing bankruptcy is in the best interests of its creditors." Saab hasn’t made any cars since April, thanks to growing debts, Reuters reports. More»

Healthy companies use bankruptcy to cut labor costs: Stephen Gandel

(NEWSER) - American Airlines has $4 billion in the bank, doesn’t need emergency financing, and feels quite confident it can keep paying its vendors, business partners, and creditors in full. So where was the crisis that pushed it into bankruptcy ? “It doesn’t appear there was any,” writes Stephen Gandel at Time . Well, according to its press release it was to “address our cost structure, including labor costs.” Translation: American is trying to force its union, which it’s been unsuccessfully negotiating with, to take pay and benefit cuts. More»

Workers win $5,000 signing bonus in 4-year pact

(NEWSER) - Details are emerging from the deal for a four-year contract struck last night by GM and the UAW. Both sides seemed pleased with the deal, the first since the government bailout and one that will serve as a model for the UAW's talks with Ford and Chrysler, notes the Wall Street Journal . Some highlights of the pact, which is expected to be ratified by the UAW rank and file in the next week or so:

• Hourly workers get a signing bonus of $5,000 if they approve the deal, reports the Detroit News .
• GM will reopen an idled assembly plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee.
• GM will improve profit-sharing for employees, basing the checks on all North American operations, not just those in the US, reports the Tennessean . (Last year's checks would have been $5,000 to $6,000, instead of $4,000.)

The company's 45K hourly workers to get around $4K each

(NEWSER) - General Motors will hand out profit-sharing checks totaling $189 million this year, or more than $4,000 per worker, the company announced today. That more than doubles the automaker’s previous record of $1,775, set in 2000, according to the New York Times . The payout will be less than the $5,000 Ford’s workers are getting, but the Ford figure includes a bonus, while the GM figure is “strictly what it would have generated under the agreement” it has with the UAW, a spokesman said. As one worker said, “Just the fact that we’re seeing a profit-sharing check, that’s great stuff.” More»

Ford highest-ranked carmaker overall, Toyota falls

(NEWSER) - American automakers scored higher marks on quality than their foreign rivals for the first time since the JD Power survey began in 1986, the Detroit Free Press reports. A dozen Ford models ranked in the top three in their segments, making it the highest-ranked automaker overall. Ford's namesake brand ranked fifth, and General Motors had 10 brands in the top vehicle rankings. More»