Is Obama's Car Czar Plotting to Crush the Auto Unions?

[Orwellian_Ghost]

Is Obama's Car Czar Plotting to Crush the Auto Unions?

By David Sirota, Blog for Our Future. Posted March 1, 2009.

Obama put corporate raider Steve Rattner in charge of overseeing the auto industry and his "plan" seems to be to crush the autoworkers.


Remember Gordon Gekko from the movie Wall Street? Specifically, remember how Gekko's entire scheme for the airline industry was based on crushing the blue-collar union that Bud Fox's dad (Martin Sheen) was part of? Welcome to a real life version of that story, starring corporate raider Steve Rattner, who President Obama appointed to head the White House team now overseeing the auto industry (and don't say you weren't warned).

As the Wall Street Journal reports, Rattner's strategy is to use the government's leverage to try to specifically crush auto workers and force them to accept even more contract concessions than they've already agreed to:

DETROIT -- President Barack Obama's recovery plan for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC appears to take aim at union retirees, a usually reliable Democratic constituency. After studying the plight of the companies, the president's auto task force concluded GM and Chrysler's survival is dependent on greater concessions from the United Auto Workers union.

The White House has total leverage over the situation because the UAW knows that if the industry doesn't get the loans it needs, it will be forced into bankruptcy court, where judges will shred labor contracts (somehow, AIG bonus contracts are sacrosanct, but union worker contracts can be shredded in a heartbeat). Indeed, many analysts believe this is the administration's ultimate goal.

<snip>

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/134389/is_obama%27s_car_czar_plotting_to_crush_the_auto_unions/

[liberal N proud]

1. Obama could be a one term President if that happens

He will lose a very large contingent of organized support.

[natrat]

9. yea and like whackamole another just like him will pop up

carter was the last good man in that job

[dmallind]

2. Ultimate goal? What tosh

If the ultimate goal were bankruptcy the much cheaper option would have been to simply stand by and let it happen, since that's where GM for one would already be without billions in bailouts.

They can't compete with the cost structure they have. Pure and simple.

[blindpig]

7. It might be simple but

doing it this way allows for 'plausible deniability'. This way the administration can say, 'See, we tried, but we had no choice."

[Kalyke]

12. But why can't they compete?

They're the top-selling car company in the world. Their sales are down, but so are Ford's, Toyota's, Honda's, etc.

They can't compete because, unlike Japan, American automobile companies are NOT subsidized by the government and their workers are not give single-payer and/or universal health care.

I say we level the playing field by providing single-payer health insurance NOW.

[blindpig]

13. Geez, that makes too much sense.

Always ask, "who profits?"

[harun]

3. Good story on NPR this morning about what sort of options GM

and Chrysler have.

Next few months should paint a very clear picture of where the administration stands.

[madrchsod]

4. we`ll see when the union bill comes up for the vote...

where obama stands on the future of the unions in america.

[lonestarnot]

5. Sad sichiation for all concerned. I wish they could fix it in spite of the shredder.

[pampango]

6. More likely, he is playing hardball and "chicken" with GM's bondholders.

Bondholders know that bankruptcy means their bonds will be worthless. He can't come out and say this. He is a tough, smart negotiator.

Nothing about President Obama indicates to me that he is out to get unions. He would go against his beliefs (not to mention that he is a smart politician who knows which side his bread is buttered on).

[Orwellian_Ghost]

11. Why the appointment of Rattner?

In the same story, of course, we get hedge fund shark Steve Rattner -- a huge Democratic fundraiser on Wall Street -- bashing Hindery for backing populist Democratic candidates for local and national office.

And that's the big story here: Leo Hindery, one of the few business leaders to use his wealth to challenge deregulation, corporate trade deals and anti-worker policies was blacklisted by the Obama administration well before the Daschle flap ever happened -- and he was blacklisted because he dared to clash with the same Wall Street Democrats whose corporate-backed policies destroyed the economy.

You can say this is just theory -- just a single example. But that's willful ignorance, as the Hindery scalping is only one chapter in what has been one long narrative arc whereby economic progressives have been deliberately shut out of top administration jobs. Just step back and think about it for a minute: Amid a stable of eminently qualified and well-respected progressives like James Galbraith, Joseph Stiglitz, Robert Reich, Paul Krugman and Larry Mishel, Obama has chosen Rubin sycophants like Larry Summers and Tim Geithner to run the economy -- the same Larry Summers who pushed the repeal of the Glass-Steagal Act, the same Geithner who masterminded the kleptocratic bank bailout, the same duo whose claim to fame is their personal connections to Rubin, a disgraced Citigroup executive at the center of the current meltdown. And the list of Rubin sycophants keeps getting longer, from Peter Orszag to Jason Furman.

<snip>

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/the-untold-daschle-story_b_163685.html

Steven "Steve" Lawrence Rattner is an American financier and private equity investor. He is one of the four founding partners of the private investment firm Quadrangle Group, which invests media and communications companies globally.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Rattner

[TBF]

8. That's exactly what they are doing - here is the update from Reuters

this morning:

GM said the automaker was focused on restructuring more quickly and would use the next two months to seek cost-cutting deals with bondholders and the United Auto Workers union.

"Our focus is on accelerating the speed of our operational restructuring and reducing liabilities and debt on the balance sheet," said GM spokeswoman Renee Rashid-Merem. "During the next 60 days, we will work aggressively on restructuring our financial obligations."

cite: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE53003A20090401





UAW is one of the largest and most diverse unions in North America, with members in virtually every sector of the economy... The UAW has about 513,000 active members and more than 575,000 retired members in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. cite: http://www.uaw.org/about/uawmembership.html]

[corruptmewithpower]

10. If Obama was anti-auto unions they'd be in bankrupcy court now.