GM workers went on strike Sept. 24. Behind it? Lots of things both sides say, but the root of it all (of course) is money and debt.
The UAW union is in a tough spot. They know there's $114 billion of unfunded health care and pension liability to be dealt with. Talks are that switching that to a union-managed trust fund would protect it better than leaving it as an unfunded risk on GM's books, if they can get GM to throw a one-time chunk of cash into the pot. Still, a strike drains cash from both sides and that means it's unlikely a strike would last for long.
Reports are that about 63 % of UAW workers can retire over the next 5 years. When you realize that about 44 per cent of the entire existing union membership has already retired, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that the union is facing big time trouble with a dwindling membership at its core.
But GM is in a tough spot too, with car dealers sitting on unsold inventories of cars and trucks in a sluggish sales economy. So GM can certainly let the plants sit idle while dealers sell off the old iron. What the union can promise its younger members is a fight to keep remaining jobs inside the US and maybe even increase them.
Either way, Wall Street appears to be betting that this strike won't last long. There's too much competition out there in the marketplace for GM to let a strike go on too long. And there's too much risk and money at stake for the union to let it go on too long, either.
Of course, you just know that Ford and Chrysler are watching it all very, very closely.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Known nationwide as a leading Lemon Law attorney, Ronald L. Burdge has represented literally thousands of consumers in "lemon" lawsuits and actively co-counsels and coaches other Consumer Law attorneys. From 2005 through 2018, attorney Ronald L. Burdge has been named as the only Lemon Law Ohio Super Lawyer by Law and Politics magazine and Thomson Reuters Corp., Professional Division. Burdge restricts his practice to Lemon Law and Consumer Law cases. The Ohio Super Lawyer results are published annually in the January issue of Cincinnati Magazine. Ronald L. Burdge was named Consumer Law Trial Lawyer of the Year 2004 by the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the nation's largest organization of consumer law private and government attorneys. "Your impact on the auto industry has been magnified many times over because of the trail you blazed for others," stated NACA's Executive Director, Will Ogburn. Burdge has represented thousands of consumers in Ohio, Kentucky and elsewhere since 1978 and is a frequent lecturer to national, state and local Bar Associations and Judicial organizations. Burdge is admitted to Ohio's state and federal courts, Kentucky's state courts, and Indiana's federal courts. Other court admissions are on a "pro hac" temporary, case by cases basis.