If the UAW won’t deal let the Puny Two crater

The US auto industry has a lot of problems and the UAW is right up there.

A line in the sand? More like an unemployment line.

From the link:

If General Motors (GM) and Chrysler executives want federal loans beyond the initial $17.4 billion provided by President Bush and the Treasury Dept. on Dec. 19, they will need to wring concessions from the United Auto Workers. And that means dealing with Ron Gettelfinger.

As became clear in mid-December, Gettelfinger, the 64-year-old union president, is no pushover. With the fate of an industry hanging in the balance, he refused to back down when Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) demanded that the UAW commit to cutting wages to secure a bailout of Detroit’s Big Three. Gettelfinger’s stance—critics call it intransigence—pushed a government rescue to the brink until the Bush Administration stepped in.

But even after the Administration released funds for GM and Chrysler, Gettelfinger bristled at the labor concessions that Treasury is insisting on. In response to the Administration’s demands for wage and benefits cuts, he said: “We are disappointed that he [Bush] has added unfair conditions singling out workers.” Gettlefinger even said he would go to the Obama Administration—which promises to be more labor-friendly—to work out a deal.