Gettelfinger: Detroit 3 quiet on helping retiree funds
Gettelfinger: Detroit 3 quiet on helping retiree funds
Automotive News | October 7, 2008 - 4:48 pm EST
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UAW President Ron Gettelfinger |
DETROIT — UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said today that he hasn’t been approached by the Detroit 3 to allow additional delays in funding payments to the union’s voluntary employee beneficiary associations.
Gettelfinger said here that the UAW would do nothing to risk the integrity of the funds, promised by the union chief to last at least 80 years. The funds, which are to cover future UAW retiree health care costs, were established as a key part of the UAW’s 2007 national contracts with General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC.
The union already has done enough to help the automakers, Gettelfinger said.
This summer, the UAW agreed to let GM delay paying about $1.7 billion to the funds owed for 2008 and 2009. The deferral recognized GM’s cash burn of about $1 billion a month. GM posted a net loss of about $15.5 billion in the second quarter, which ended June 30.
All told, GM, Ford and Chrysler are removing about $100 billion in UAW retiree health care liability for about 56 cents on the dollar. GM’s portion of the payout to the UAW trusts is about $26.5 billion.
Gettelfinger also said that any federal money from the recently enacted $25 billion automaker loan package be invested only in the U.S. While the rules haven’t been written clarifying that issue, Gettelfinger said automakers are obligated to use U.S. taxpayer money in this country rather than abroad.
Gettelfinger commented on the funds after an introduction of new UAW advertisements promoting Barack Obama for president. The ads will run throughout the Midwest on TV, radio and the Internet. The cost: $3 million.
PRESS RELEASE ON UAW POLITICAL CAMPAIGN
For immediate release
October 7, 2008
UAW ads to run in key industrial states
Union members Joel and Nicole tell viewers: ‘We can’t afford John
McCain’
A television, radio and Internet advertising campaign sponsored by the
UAW Voluntary Community Action Program (V-CAP) will run this month in
four key industrial states: Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The ads, which discuss GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain’s
proposal for a tax on health care benefits and his support for failed
policies which have cost millions of good-paying U.S. manufacturing
jobs, feature Nicole Lowe, a member of UAW Local 140, and Joel
Blatchford, a member of Local 5960.
Joel and Nicole have a straightforward message for their co-workers,
friends and neighbors: “We can’t afford John McCain.”
Joel and Nicole – unlike “Harry and Louise,” who made TV ads
against health care reform until they recently resurfaced advocating in
favor of it – are not paid actors.
“We’re very fortunate to have members of our union like Nicole Lowe
and Joel Blatchford who can speak to the concerns of working people all
across America,” UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said.
“In these uncertain times, everyone is concerned about jobs, wages,
health care and pensions. These are the issues that will decide this
election – and nobody can talk about these issues better than people
like Joel and Nicole, who go to work every day and do their best to
support their families.”
Lowe, an assembler at Chrysler’s Warren (Mich.) Truck plant, has a
5-year old son with asthma. “We’ve had many scares,” said Lowe,
“taking him to the hospital at two or three in the morning, because
the medications at home just aren’t working.”
Lowe said she is deeply concerned about the tax on her union-negotiated
health care benefits proposed by McCain. “We get taxed enough and a
tax on health care on top of that just doesn’t make sense to me.”
According to an analysis by the Center for American Progress Action
Fund, McCain’s health care tax could cost a typical two-wage earner
family $1,119 in higher taxes by 2013 and $2,809 in higher taxes by
2018.
In addition, independent evaluations have found that by eliminating tax
incentives, McCain’s health care plan could cause millions of
Americans to lose their employer-sponsored health care coverage, forcing
them into the individual insurance market.
As a result, families like Lowe’s could lose their health care
coverage altogether, because many insurance companies will not sell
individual policies to anyone with a pre-existing condition, such as the
asthma suffered by her son. Under the McCain plan, the Center for
American Progress Action Fund has estimated that as many as 56 million
people with chronic diseases could completely lose health care coverage.
Joel Blatchford, who recently became a grandfather, is concerned about
the future prospects for his children and grandchildren. The United
States has lost nearly 4 million good-paying manufacturing jobs since
President Bush took office in 2001, and McCain intends to continue the
same failed policies.
“Just like Bush,” said Blatchford, “McCain has no ideas for
getting new jobs here. He’s supporting more bad trade deals, and more
tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas.
“My friends are losing their jobs; his friends are getting bigger tax
breaks.”
The UAW has endorsed Barack Obama and Joe Biden for president and vice
president, describing the two senators from auto-producing states as
“proven leaders who have a track record of support for working
families, and fighting for the good-paying jobs that keep our country
strong.”
“When our union endorses a candidate, we pull out all the stops,”
said Gettelfinger. “We’ve got an active grassroots program going on
in workplaces and communities across the country, with our active and
retired members talking to friends and co-workers about why Barack Obama
and Joe Biden represent the change we need for working families.
“Having Joel and Nicole tell real stories about real families on the
airwaves and on the Internet is going to be a great complement to our
volunteer efforts,” Gettelfinger said.
More than half of the UAW’s 1 million active and retired members live
in the four states where the TV, radio and Internet ads will appear. The
ad campaign will cost about $3 million, and will be paid for by UAW
V-CAP, which is independent of any candidate or candidate committee. UAW
V-CAP is funded by voluntary donations made by UAW members and families
to help give working people a voice in the political process.
The UAW ads are viewable on www.uaw.org at
http://www.uaw.org/e08/av/spots.php and on YouTube at
www.YouTube.com/uaw.
