Haldimand "Warning, Reading this may Cause fits of Dizziness and Nausea"

A friend of mine read an interesting article to me over the phone in regards to the deal that was struck between GM and the Autoworkers Union. You can decide for yourself after reading this if in fact this deal is good enough for our government to give them money! In my opinion it is not!

The article is written by Greg Weston, Opinion Columnist for the London Free Press;


Deal by GM, union fails to impress
By GREG WESTON

Judging by all the breathless media coverage of the "historic" deal between General Motors and its Canadian union, one would think the autoworkers agreed to sacrifice their left lugnut for company and country.

Alas, objects in this mirror are much smaller than they appear.

The federal and Ontario governments have been demanding the unions take a tire-iron to their gold-plated employment contracts before GM gets a dime from taxpayers.

With upwards of $7 billion in government loans on the table, GM and its workers have oh-so- reluctantly agreed to a deal, which union president Ken Lewenza describes as "a major sacrifice by our members and retirees."

Here are some of those heart-wrenching sacrifices, with a warning that what follows may cause ordinary hard-working taxpayers to experience fits of dizziness and nausea.

* The deal freezes base wages until mid-2012.

In fact, it changes almost nothing -- last year, the union agreed to a pay freeze until mid-2011.

* Quarterly cost-of-living increases are suspended until 2012.

Those pay hikes had already been suspended until mid-2010, and with inflation near zero, the increases wouldn't have amounted to much anyway.

* Ditto for annual cost-of-living increases to pensions until 2012.

Increased pensions had already been nixed for a year, and with low or no inflation, GM pensioners will barely notice them missing for another three years.

It is worth noting that unionized GM employees do not contribute a dime to their pensions during their working lives.

We would also note that at a time when the car companies are asking for billions, the GM pension fund is short, um, billions.

* Spa time is reduced by 40 hours per year.

Before your head explodes, "spa" stands for "special paid absence," an extra week of paid time off that all GM unionized workers get in addition to their annual vacations.

A union exec explains spa weeks were originally negotiated in part to force GM to hire more workers to replace the ones on spa weeks.

This also helps to explain why the company is now broke.

* "An annual $1,700 special bonus payment is being diverted to help offset the cost of retiree health care benefits."

Translation: Unionized autoworkers are giving up their $1,700 Christmas bonuses so their retired brethren will each get an extra roughly $250 a year to cover new health premiums (see below).

The net benefit to GM -- and taxpayers -- is precisely zero.

* GM is cutting its contribution to a whole range of employee perks by a third.

Those include subsidized daycare and even legal services for union workers buying a house or getting divorced.

* Finally, unionized auto workers will have to pay a staggering $30 a month each for their health and other benefits; retirees $15.

Truth is, all those years of huddling around the flaming oil drums on the picket lines have left the auto workers with the sweetheart of all benefit packages covering health, dental, disability and even tuition.

Until now, the employee contribution to the premiums has been exactly zip.

Add it all up, and the "major sacrifices" being made by the autoworkers for billions of taxpayers' dollars are as follows:

Their pay and pensions stay the same. They lose a spa week, and give their Christmas bonus to the oldtimers. They have to pay a bit more for daycare and a divorce, and $30 a month for a benefits package to strike for.

Hold the hankies.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Columnists/Weston_Greg/2009/03/10/8688506-sun.html