Late Edition: UAW President Gettlefinger Pushes Back Against Romney's Anti Union Screed
On Late Edition, host Wolf Blitzer asks UAW President Ron Gettlefinger for his take on Mitt Romney's heartless and callously Republican "solution" to the auto industry crisis: take away health benefits and pensions for the laborers, otherwise known as "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."
It's curious to me that CNN, the NY Times or basically, anyone cares what Romney thinks on the Detroit bailout. His apparent bona fides being that he was the son of George Romney, while completely ignoring George's legacy at AMC, which was to successfully compete against the Big 3 by making more economic and efficient cars to their larger gas guzzlers. Does Romney urge the Big 3 to innovate and stop making cars Americans don't want to buy? Of course not. Does he urge them to make sensible changes to their lending arms? Uh uh. No, this is all the fault of those pesky blue collar employees who have the nerve to expect the auto industry to uphold their pension and healthcare commitments. The nerve!
Gettlefinger deftly charges that it's not surprising that the Republican would point the finger at workers, and it, like most Republican tenets, is not based in reality. But when he tries to bring up that this is a worldwide economic issue (because the lending arms of these automakers do have tentacles all over the globe), and it bears little difference from the financial bailout for which the Republicans were only too happy to pony up funds, Blitzer interrupts him to bring up yet another inane and irrelevant talking point: whether the CEOs will arrive in Washington DC via personal jet again.
I forget, was this an issue for BearStearns and AIG when they put their hand out? Way to get to the heart of such a critical issue for so many Americans, Wolfie.
Full transcripts below the fold
BLITZER: You heard Mitt Romney, the former Republican presidential candidate, the son himself of theauto industry, is father George Romney, the Governor of Michigan, was a leader in the US auto industry in his day. This is what Mitt Romney said on this program exactly one week ago.
VIDEO (ROMNEY) And, of course, the labor element is a big part of the burden that this industry faces. The U.S. automobile companies are subject to about a $2,000 per cost disadvantage relative to foreign companies that come here and build cars. You can't compete if the cars you make have $2,000 less value in them at the same price point. That is going to have to change. That's pension benefits. It's health care costs for pensioners and current employees.
BLITZER: You want to respond to Gov. Romney?
GETTLEFINGER: Well, first of all, Gov. Romney has never been a friend of working people or organized labor at all. Secondly, based on the changes that we made in our contracts, we are competitive. And I would challenge Mitt Romney on that. If we want to throw our retirees our on the street, if that’s what Mitt Romney wants to do, let him do it. We’re not prepared to do that. And it’s hard for us to compete when we subsidize state by state the foreign brands to come in here. But Wolf, I’m telling you, that based on the changes we made in our contract the hard sacrifices that were made by the men and women of the UAW, we have put these companies in a competitive position. And I didn’t hear him talking about the safety records that we have, I didn’t hear him talking about the quality, where we set the benchmark in many areas or the productivity. And it’s wrong for people like that, who really has no experience in the industry, to come out here and to point the blame at organized labor. In this case, to point the blame at management. This is a downturn being felt around the world and 4% of our Gross Domestic Product goes right to the automobile industry. We cannot afford to let these companies fail. And it’s just incumbent on this Congress, when they come back together, the week of December the 8th to vote in favor of this low interest bridge loan. And that’s what it is. It’s a bridge loan that’s going to be paid back by these companies. And you know, Wolf, we’re…
BLITZER: We’re out of time, Mr. Gettlefinger, because we’re limited. One quick final question…it’s a sensitive issue, probably in the scheme of things--financially, not that significant--but in terms of public relations, very important. The CEOs of the big three auto companies, when they come to Washington in the coming days, you want them to fly commercial or you want them to fly on their private jets?
GETTLEFINGER: Well, there’s no question they’re going to come in different ways. But the sad thing about that is, it became a distraction. It became a soundbyte, and look, I’m one to be critical of management, I’ll do that privately. But I would say this, let’s get focused back on the issue. And that’s our economy. This economic downturn that we’re in , that was not created by the industry and again, it’s being felt around the world. Other countries, other governments are given consideration to helping the auto industry; our government should be no different. By the way, you know, we’re no different that Citigroup, AIG, BearStearns. We will bring a plan, they didn’t have to. But we’re prepared to bring a plan to get this loan.
BLITZER: Well, good luck, Mr. Gettlefinger, good luck to the auto industry.
Thank goodness for chyrons, lest I mistake the UAW head for a banker.
Big business and big labor both suck ass.
that the UAW heads make 16 milliona year plus bonuses? How do you make the comparison?
...need to be paid well, they gotta dance with the devils themseves and a good wage helps keep em on their toes...
I think big union guy presidents make at least 1/2 mil yr.
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
I'd be pretty happy if all company executive compensation were limited to $500 000 per year. Of course, they'd whine that you couldn't get anybody who was any good to run a company for $500 K per year, and I guess if you take the current President of the United States as an example, they'd have a point.
Incidentally, though, if the union leaders make $500 K per year, that's about ten times what their members make. While I wish they'd set a better example, and keep it to two or three times at most, they are essentially doing what Japanese executives do. The average Japanese executive only makes about 11 times what the average worker makes. Contrast that to the average American executive who is paid around 475 times what the average factory worker is paid. You can see how much all that money increased their performance.
Check out the other CEO vs worker statistics in this PBS NOW article.
The president of Toyota only makes about $1 million a year. While his company posts billions in profits.
Moving up in the company is not just about money, it's about prestige, respect and power.
The Detroit 3 bail-out will avert imminent economic catastrophe, but ass-clown management and hidebound labor practices make long-term success doubtful.
Its our fault cuz we dont make enough to keep up the mortgage payments
...or we make too much for the auto companies to compete.
but either way were gonna pay for it with taxes and inflation
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
The Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 requires all unions, local and international, to report all cash flow. After 2005, I believe, this is done electronically. The forms are due within 90 days of the end of the fiscal year. The reports are done in cash basis.
The IRS also requires all non profits to file a form 990, unions are 501(c)5. These are not available online but can gotten from the organization or the IRS.
For the UAW this would be in accrual basis, I suspect. Between the two reports you have a very detailed look into the financial affairs of the union. No corporation offers any sort of comparable look into their affairs.
Here is the UAW International 2007 report, the latest available. You will need to fill in (drop down menus) the form for Union abbreviation and type (International). You will find tremendous detail.
Here is the UAW President, his base pay and additions.
RONALD GETTELFINGER PRESIDENT Compensation $150,763 $7,854 $4,458 $0 $163,075
$163,075 a year for a union of 464,910 members in 2007. That is a very low ratio. As far as organizations this size, he is working for peanuts.
Unions like all human organizations, are not perfect. But they are and must be democratic. In fact, the union is its members.
The American Dream is for people not born into privilege to advance into middle class though they have no special skill or training to start.
The UAW has done more than any institution to advance that cause.
Without the unions, you take what they give you, one on one.
When the unions go down, the American Dream is over.
We will be like the Chinese workers, living in management provided dormitories twenty to a room.
I mistakenly thought this was a liberal blog. Why should anyone but the Corporatists and their buddies complain about the success of the UAW. Their success has influenced and improved every sector.
Is not their fault that the companies lobbied so successfully for thirty years against the very regulations that would make them competitive today.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
I am so damned sick of these scum sucking pigs like Romney who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths, and then have the gall to go on national television promoting bankruptcy for the big three so that the union contracts can be broken.
Here is a multi-millionaire who believes that it is great to see millions of working people lose their retirement, their health care, and work for Mexican wages so HIS class of people can continue to reap the bonus's and golden parachutes they have become accustomed to. Romney words aren't worth one drop of sweat off the UAW's brow, and that is a fact.
Additionally, Wolf Blitzer should be ashamed of himself for cutting Mr. Gettlefingers remarks short. Bet he didn't cut Romney off! There isn't an issue more important than this one, and CNN needs to start letting the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth get out to the American public. They are a 24 hour TV News station, and he could have let Mr. Gettlefinger finish his presentation and the American people would have watched, listened, and learned ... but no, most likely CNN had something more important to report like say, oh the latest BS that Sarah Palin had to say. This is absolutely unforgiveable by my estimation, and Blitzer should be forced to apologize to Mr. Gettlefinger and the American public for his rudeness.
I have to disagree with one comment he made about quality. You can run a foreign made car into the ground and still get another 100,000 miles out if it.
This is part of the problem in Detroit. The quality of it's vehicles and the warranties. It is in no way the workers fault. But it's true.
It's up to the designers of the vehicles to give us the quality. It's up to the Corporates to compete with the warranties. Not the workers. They bust their ass day in and day out and deserve their pension and health care. It has nothing to do with with their wages and benefits. It's about a vehicle people can trust enough to buy.
Prices are competitive but quality and warranties are not. If they were, the corporates would be making less money. They cut corners to increase their million dollar salaries.
I'm sorry, I support our workers 100% but I support my wallet even more. I don't make a great living and I buy what's gonna save ME money and I wont buy an from the Big Three. Their vehicles are crap and chances are they're made in Canada or Mexico anyway. Look at the VIN number, it'll tell you.
is intended to be a factual statement
My solidarity with auto workers absolutely does not extend to buying an inferior product. Which is management's fault and not theirs. Which makes it doubly infuriating when the union rep spews management talking points...
You are repeating the republican talking points. I own an American made vehicle that I'll put it's quality up against all Foreign mades. Quit complaining about something that you admit you won't buy.
I rent cars all the time and have requested that they never give me an Impala again. The only American car I have driven that has a modicum of quality in it is the Ford Edge.
The quality is awful.
On which?
Which what?
Impala or Edge.
was a decent car. It has reasonable fit and finish and it drove well.
The Impala is downright dangerous.
Chrysler, in general, was mediocre across the board with some design flaws that would make me run fast and far. Chevy would be completely out of any consideration after driving their Impala's. Ford seems to be the best of the big three. But I would still hesitate.
Toyota was recently removed from the automatic top quality rating class, which it enjoyed with Honda. Only Honda remains on that list which never looks into quality because their cars are pretty turnkey and always reliable...thus far.
I fully support buying American...with the caveat that American has to be well made, as it once was. I don't think it has been since the mid to late 70s.
Saying Quality is Job One is meaningless if it isn't.
Who makes your TV?
is intended to be a factual statement
Who makes your toaster? Microwave? Vacumm? Your computer? Everything you own is American made right?
is intended to be a factual statement
I drive a 1999 Camry, built in Kentucky. Still a great car. Only "mechanical" problem I had was the timing belt broke after only 28,000 miles, which they fixed for free as it was under the (much longer) Powertrain Warranty.
While GM spends more on "health care" than they do on steel, a Kentucky-made Camry has that same issue to contend with.
But U.S. made "Japanese" automakers don't pay their CEO 50 million dollars a year even if they run the company into the ground.
The "Big 3" will build a tin can on wheels to maximize their profit margin, and then they wonder how they get such a bad rap.
* There are two types of Republicans: millionaires and suckers.
"Mugsy's Rap Sheet": Recording history for those who seek to rewrite it.
The Japanese were first out of the box to keep executive salaries low, for the sake of worker morale. The average Japanese CEO makes 11 times what the average worker makes. By contrast, the average U.S. CEO makes 475 times what the average worker makes.
According to conservative mythology, paying the business leadership that much makes them work harder and work smarter, especially when topped up with performance bonus's. However, considering that the Japanese car manufacturers are wiping their asses with the American ones while their CEOs are being less than a piffling million dollars a year, I'd say that myth has been exploded. There are PLENTY of talented executives who can run a car company for less than a million dollars a year, and probably run it BETTER than the current gang of clowns. Thus, leaving the remainder of the $200 odd million per year that they pay their executives for R&D and efficiency increases.
Check out the statistics on executive compensation for executives in different countries at PBS NOW. The United States is the only country in the world that pays it's executives such INSANE salaries, and you can see how much good it's done.
"I’m one to be critical of management, I’ll do that privately." WTF? Umm, you represent a UNION, Mr. Gettlefinger, which is theoretically not exactly the same as management.... He's gotten a bit more focused than the last time I saw him (on Rachel) but he is still a lousy spokesperson for the UAW its members and workers... I really feel for the rank and file caught between him as their leader, the imbeciles who decided on SUV uber alles, and the GOP nasties in congress.
And why has no one called Mitt on the incredible ignorance of saying that if you put more money into labor, it means there is that much less value in the car at the same price point? There are factors like skill, experience, efficiency, motivation (urr, design? which is an variable largely independent of production labor costs and at which the big 3s management has learned to totally suck over the years). All these things determine the final "value" of the car. The relationship between this (perceived) value and the price is what makes cars by one manufacturer more or less competitive relative to another. This inanity of Mitt's has been quoted again and again on TV and no one call him on it...
Japandrew, once again you have crystallized my thoughts precisely.
Let the big 3 go bankrupt. Then let the Japanese car manufacturers buy their equipment and real estate and set up business in their stead.
We get rid of the arrogant ass-hat incompetents running the companies, and get job security and wages nearly the same as they had in the unions (Toyota high wages prove that unions "overpaying" is a farce).
And then these blabbermouths condemning the unions would have no say either way in the matter.
It would be stupid to let the "Big 3" die just to save a few billion in a "bailout". The cost to the economy would be much bigger. No guarantee other foreign makers would setup shop here. Thanks to "Free Trade", they'll just build them in Mexico.
Foreign own companies also means a mountain of cash (and tax revenue) flowing out of the country. (Think of how rich the Middle East is with all the oil they sell us. The gas stations and refineries are all in the U.S., but hundreds of billions more leave the country, making them rich and us poor.)
* There are two types of Republicans: millionaires and suckers.
"Mugsy's Rap Sheet": Recording history for those who seek to rewrite it.
Set up shop in Mexico? You mean like Toyota has been doing with their Avalon, Camry, Corolla, Matrix, Sequoia, Sienna, Solara, Tacoma, Tundra, and Lexus RX330? Building them in places like Kentucky Mexico?
Detroit is an ideal place to build cars, with capital, real estate, shipping, steel-making, lake transportation, river transportation, energy ores for smelting and qualified workers.
Toyota, for one, would be happy to buy the big 3 capital and start making cars in Detroit. And they would, because the demand for cars would not go away if the big 3 went away.
And they know we have to bail them out.
So make sure the bail-out is really a temporary life extension program. This will extend the recession.
But it may help avoid a depression.
Fine, let's give them a temporary loan with the provision that they have to sell their assets if they don't shape up within (let's say) 5 years.
Then when they fail, they have to sell to the Japanese.
One thing is for sure. To survive, the big 3 have to get rid of their management culture. And that won't happen if we artificially keep them alive.
Right?
We're already at a level where it's not clear how many trillions of government spending it will take to help pull us out. I'm just afraid that a Detroit 3 bankruptcy could tip us over the edge, with the worst case being that we print so much money and have to offer such a high price on T-bills that we can't pay our debts, and the unthinkable (U.S. sovereign default) could occur.
Definitely not intended as a defense of "FrankenMormon", but I believe Mitt is the founder of the "Staples" office supply chain, so he does have some "business background" to justify asking him what he thinks (as worthless as any other Republican opinion on business).
Staples pays its workers minimum wage and, I suspect, no health insurance, so what qualifies him to comment on the UAW is beyond me.
* There are two types of Republicans: millionaires and suckers.
"Mugsy's Rap Sheet": Recording history for those who seek to rewrite it.
I have never had a foreign car rust out so much as an American made car. Why is that?
you never had an early Toyota. :-) I used to have a SR5 pick em up truck (gosh, what year was it...80 something?) and you could see through the bed floor and out of both sides of the rear quarter panels. That truck was meant to be driven by Fred Flintstone. Granted, it ran great, but it got to where you had to look for non rust areas.
I did own a Toyota pickup. The doors fell off but they could be tied on with rope. Hee hee. I don't remember what happened to it but it didn't last too long after one of the doors fell off on my now husband's foot.
I drive a Chevy HHR and a Mini Cooper now. Both great cars in their own ways.
I did have a couple of HHR's and liked them. They seemed pretty solid. Perhaps it is the cars they are making that suck and they make sure the SUV type vehicles are better. I know that is the market they pushed onto the US market (and of course, what we wanted, too), so maybe they put more into the trucks and SUVs than into cars themselves.
I have a 1999 Escort, bought new in '99; wife still drives it; not a spot of rust on it; still runs great w/ about 75K miles on it; gets about 33mpg.
Do they salt the roads in winter?
The rust buckets I was talking about were made in the 70's and 80's. The newer cars don't rust out like those did after 5 years or so.
And IL uses corrosives (salt) during the winter.
I always wash my cars every week I drive them in the winter. (I am not around so much these days, but whenever I get gas, the car gets washed in the winter.) Because I can go a month or more without getting gas sometimes, in the winter, if I drive it and it's snowing or the roads are salted it's wet (where salt gets on the car), I wash it before it goes into the garage.
I had a '88 Grand Am that looked almost new 11 years later. By the time I sold it (with 156k miles on it), it had one tiny rust spot on the door. Other than that, it shined like new.
and we wash all the time, especially the wheel wells. Too bad they can't make cars with lightweight non-corrosive stuff.
Pontiac was a good car.
But they won't. I love the SMART car (made by Benz) which has interchangeable panels. Change your mood, change the color of your car. (And, as girlie as that sounds, it appeals to men who own them, too.)
That would be a great way to use recycled plastics, too.
The ZX2 model... still consistently gets between 35 and 38 mpg on the highway and has never used a drop of oil in $100k plus miles. No rust, body's still tight, not a rattle in it.
Ford knew how to make a small car 12 years ago which was the last time I could afford to buy one.
Thanks for posting this, Nicole. I'm a 23-year UAW employee of Ford. Just my .02 on this:
1) Ron Gettlefinger, current UAW prez, does NOT make "1/2 mil/yr." as "Milquetoast" suggests. Not even close. UAW pres base pay is in our constitution, and I don't recall exactly what it is, but it's only a little more than what I make in skilled trades.
2) As for Mitt Romney: anyone named after a baseball glove is an asshole.
3) Bridge loans from Congress to the D3 should come with strings attached---such as requiring the D3 to keep plants open, keep people working, keep pensions fully funded, and build more fuel-efficient vehicles.
4) Fact: if all D3 fail, @ least 3 million jobs will be lost: D3, suppliers, R & D, etc. Entire U.S. economy will take a huge hit.
5) Total cost of all wages & benefits in the price of a UAW-made vehicle: about 11% of sticker.
.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
Labor costs are not the issue, period.
Maybe it is time for the American business establishment to SHUT THE F*CK UP.
These are the same luminaries that ran the most prosperous economy at the turn of the century into the ground. They can't manage their way out of a wet paper bag, yet they think they are all luminaries.
The American worker has increased their productivity linearly while wages have stagnated, this is... we work more for less.
It used to be you could tell the difference between cars. Now they all look the same. And the colors! Why am I always reminded of a funeral?
Nice of Romney to admit that American cars cost an average of $2000 more than import cars BECAUSE foreign car manufacturers don't have to pay for their employees HEALTH INSURANCE. I'll expect him to start lobbying for universal health care at once, or STFU.
Just to point something out for those that have slagged Canadian built cars.
It is a fact the dealers in the north eastern parts of the U S that get the majority of Canadian built cars especially GM, built in the Oshawa Ontario plants have requests from American buyers to purchase the product only if it was Canadian built, because the quality is known to so much better than American and Mexican built autos.
The Canadian plants at Oshawa in particular have received many industry awards for productivity and quality. (Chrysler in Brampton Ontario is also an industry award winner for quality and productivity) Eighty-five per cent of the GM cars produced in the Oshawa plants go to the U S market and if you want a good GM product check the VIN for a Canadian built model.
I have to agree that it is not labour's fault that the big3 are having problems. It is managements fault. It is always managements fault when a company fails. I heard very little about the labour compensation packages when the big3 were making billions a year. It is on the backs of the workers that these companies did well, but management decides what is built and how it is marketed and it is management's decision on what is acceptable quality to be released on the buying public. A car is built according to a budget and if the budget does not allow for quality then you will not get quality. Labour has no say in the matter.
In Canada, sloppy build practices are not allowed by GM in their plants. The labour force is only too happy to comply with the quality rules because they are proud of the product they produce. I really don't know what the budget per car here is, but we do produce good products.........I can imagine that because the auto makers here don't have to pay for health care for its employees, because we have universal health care, may allow GM Canada to budget more per unit and maybe that's the reason we produce a better product.
Could people please stop saying that the American carmakers make "cars Americans don't want to buy"?
They clearly have been giving fat-assed, dimwitted Americans exactly what they wanted for 20 years now. Ridiculous trucks, ridiculous SUV's, gas-guzzling, overpowered poseurmobiles.
And then gas goes up, and everyone makes believe that nobody they know (of course, not me!!!) has been driving the bloody behemoths.
While making note of the elitist snobs who wouldn't drive an American car regardless of quality (but would drive an equally unreliable BMW or Audi), I notice many of the people commenting on this issue in the media really don't know what they're talking about.
In the end, the workers are going to pay for the shortsightedness of the execs and the former UAW workers. No golden parachutes for you worker bees.
How long will it be until enough working people figure out that the root of all their economic problems lie with the fact that the tiny percentage of 'wealth holders' won't allow anyone to make a decent living, because they feel entitled to every dollar someone else earns?
Laissez faire my ass.
What, and anybody expects better of the Clownact Noise Network or a the paid Republican propagandist Blitzer???
Blitzer, like CNN, has zero integrity.
Actually I do wish the auto workers as much well as can be. Paying them less and no benefits and less health care won't solve the cost problems.
I definately feel it was completely inappropriate for the auto industry to float this $1,800 to $2,000 per auto to support the workers benefits.
Where is the study of the Auto Exec's perks, health care, benefits, gifted shares, corporate jets and vacs, etc. The cost added to each vehicle to support the executives?
Romney has people that do the work for him, so if they tell Romney its the workers. He knows no better and has no curiousity to find out otherwise.
that's right, it's pensions that are breaking the industry, not insanely high executive compensation.
I mean the execs are worth it, aren't they, look at the incredibly innovative designs and models they developed...
Yep, the only way to have viable industry in the US is if you walk over a pile of starving, homeless retirees on the way to the office...
I notice that Alabama gets $1.66 from the federal government for every $1.00 it contributes; while Michigan contributes more than it gets back.
Yet the senator from Alabama has the gall to tell the auto industry to go screw itself when it asks for help in dealing with the fallout from Bush’s failed rightwing economic polices that the senator from Alabama helped enable.
We should take all the money we send to these mooches in states like Alabama that have a long history of getting more than they contribute and send it to Detroit instead.
And tell these mooches that they need to restructure their states before they see any extra $. Maybe if their citizens had Unions and made a decent wage they wouldn’t need to mooch.
Call Roger Kerson – PR Dir. UAW @ (313) 926-5000 and point out the above and tell the UAW it needs to get on the offensive regarding this issue.
Romney is a coporate raider who has always been against organized labor.
The unions are not at the heart of what is wrong with the Big 3. These companies are certainly capable of building cars that get good mpg but this is not the sole cause of their financial problems. The reason why all the bigwigs should be forced out is they engaged in the Ponzi scheme we have come to know as CDS and CDO's. The "free marketeers" believed their own bullshit, that an unregulated market is good and if just those damn hippy libruls in government would let them be.... so they created a work-around to get their wish. How bad is the problem?
From Martin D. Weiss, Ph.D.
Derivatives are bets made mostly with borrowed money. They are bets on interest rates, bets on foreign currencies, bets on stocks, bets on corporate failures, even bets on bets. The bets are placed by banks with each other, banks with brokerage firms, brokers with hedge funds, hedge funds with banks, and more.
They are often high risk. And they are huge. According to the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), on June 30, 2008, U.S. commercial banks held $182.1 trillion in notional value (face value) derivatives.1 And, according to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), which produced a tally six months earlier for the entire world, the global pile-up of derivatives, including institutions in the U.S., Europe and Asia, was more than three times larger — $596 trillion.2
That was ten times the gross domestic product of the entire planet … more than 40 times the total amount of mortgages outstanding in the United States … nearly 60 times greater than the already-huge U.S. national debt.
The big three are neck deep in this crap. It seems that the predators of Wall Street forgot that most basic law of finance- leverage works both ways.
it will take for the Big 3 to be the impetus for the creation of universal health care?
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