UAW GM Strategy: Union to Ask for Jobs

The heat is building in the US, as the UAW and the American auto makers are getting ready to battle it out later this summer, when the auto makers will have to renegotiate the contracts for the unionized workers.

Following weeks of statements coming from the UAW, all saying, or threatening that Bob King will go guns blazing after the car makers in an attempt to recover the money lost since concessions began years ago, a new take on the UAW strategy, this time regarding the GM contract, surfaced.

According to just-auto.com, the UAW will want more jobs than money from GM. Inside sources say the union will ask the car maker to find a way to keep two of the plants slotted for closure open (in Tennessee and Wisconsin) and only then start and discuss possible wage increases.

"Product commitments equate to jobs, so that is exactly the direction we are looking at,” said Joe Ashton, UAW vice president for GM, according to Reuters. "We're going to put a big emphasis on jobs.”

"We could talk about wages, which is really important to our membership. But if you don't have jobs, as you can see, wages really don't mean as much."

The UAW is likely to take a different approach when it comes to Ford, a company they currently see as the bad guy in the Detroit Three group. The reason is the fact that, after forcing the UAW to accept what they say are significant concessions, Ford paid its CEO, Alan Mulally a bonus of around $50 million.