Detroit Free Press: As condition of loan, UAW cannot strike against GM.

[muntrv]

As a condition of loan, UAW cannot strike against General Motors
By Justin Hyde • Free Press Washington Staff • January 8, 2009

WASHINGTON – The UAW and its local unions are barred from striking General Motors Corp. as long as GM has loans from the federal government, according to the agreement GM signed with the Bush administration last month.

The U.S. Treasury set myriad conditions on GM as part of the plan to loan the company $13.4 billion for survival. Those terms had not been fully disclosed until GM filed the documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission.


As part of the loan, the U.S. Treasury defined several conditions that would trigger a default, including that “any labor union or collective bargaining unit shall engage in a strike or other work stoppage.” If the loans are in default, the Treasury has the power to call them back immediately and force GM into bankruptcy.


The deal requires the UAW to accept by Feb. 17 a plan to lower wages and benefits for workers to match those of employees at foreign-owned U.S. plants by Dec. 31. It also requires the union to take two-thirds of the money its due for a retiree health-care trust fund in company stock rather than cash or company debt.


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http://www.freep.com/article/20090108/BUSINESS01/90108111/As+condition+of+loan++UAW+can+t+strike+against+GM

[Kurt Remarque]

1. whoa - major fouls here

total bullshit demands. i hope that this can and will be corrected by obama et.al.

[JDPriestly]

2. Strange thing: the government can't condition giving money to

the banks on limits on CEO salaries because the Constitution supposedly does not allow the government to interfere with contracts. (The Constitution prohibits the STATES from interfering in contracts.) But, the government can condition giving money to the automobile companies not only on the parties' changing contracts that exist between the unions and the automobile companies, but on requiring the unions to give up the right to strike. That is pretty bad. If things get really bad in terms of heavy handed conduct by management in the auto companies, the only choice the automobile union members will have is to quite their jobs. Workers don't just strike over wages and benefits. -- And who is to enforce promises regarding wages, benefits, working conditions, etc. that the companies arbitrarily refuse to keep if the unions can't strike. This is not right.