As of today, GM is still negotiating with the union? A little late.
With its access to a government lifeline in the balance, General Motors was locked in intense negotiations on Monday with the United Automobile Workers over ways to cut its bills for retiree health care.Some say Chrysler shouldn't be bailed out because it's owner, Cerberus Capital Management, doesn't want to invest more in the company. If they don't, why should we?
Both G.M. and its rival, Chrysler, are racing to file restructuring plans with the Treasury Department by Tuesday’s deadline. The companies must show progress in cutting long-term costs as a condition for keeping loans they have received from the federal government.
For G.M., the restructuring will be the largest in its 100-year history, the next step in justifying its $13.4-billion loan package from the federal government.
The plan will outline in great detail, as much as 900 pages, how G.M. will cut its work force, downsize its North American factories and reduce its brand lineup to four from eight.
But G.M.’s plan to shrink will not mean much without an agreement with the U.A.W.
On Monday, G.M. pressed union leaders in a meeting in Detroit for a deal on financing what was the centerpiece of the 2007 U.A.W. contract — a perpetual, G.M.-financed trust to cover health care for hundreds of thousands of retired hourly workers and their spouses.
Talks are also continuing between the U.A.W. and Ford and Chrysler, but primarily at G.M., where the question of how a company that lost more than $20 billion last year can afford $5 billion a year in medical bills.
G.M.’s directors were scheduled to meet Monday by teleconference to review that company’s plan, though it was not expected to be completed until late Tuesday.
NYT
NPR: But auto analysts say that any more government money should not be used to help Chrysler continue as is. Instead, they say, Chrysler should use the money to wind down its business or merge with a stronger automaker.
Time To Shut Down?
In recent months, a consensus has been building around Chrysler: As an independent company, it's finished. NPR recently talked to nine auto analysts about Chrysler's predicament; only one thought Chrysler could make it alone.
And most said the best course could be an orderly shutdown of the automaker and the sale of its best brands to outside companies.
"From many perspectives, possibly the best solution for Chrysler right now is really a controlled wind-down of the organization," says Michael Robinet, an auto forecaster with the Michigan company CSM Worldwide.
"It just doesn't appear to be a recoverable sort of a situation now," says Bill Visnic, a senior editor at Edmunds.com, the auto consumer Web site.
