WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. auto workers, struggling with the recent announcements of massive job cuts at General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., need to take ''serious actions'' to strengthen the nation's manufacturing base and help working people, the union's president said Sunday.þþUnited Auto Workers president Ron Gettelfinger told about 1,600 union political activists Sunday that the union had ''no choice but to dig in for the fight'' for a better legislative agenda amid rising health care costs, troubling trade policies and job cuts.þþ''We cannot sugarcoat what we're facing as working people and as a nation. These are very serious times and it is time for us to take very serious actions,'' Gettelfinger said. ''If we don't stand up, who will?''þþHis address, opening the union's four-day conference, comes at a difficult time for an industry struggling under intense competition in the North America market and rising costs for labor and raw materials.þþDelphi Corp., GM's former parts division, filed for bankruptcy last fall and is seeking steep wage cuts from workers. GM and Ford have outlined restructuring plans that will eliminate at least 64,000 jobs in the next six years.þþGettelfinger, in a pre-Super Bowl address, urged a universal health care system, measures to fight unfair trade practices, support for incentives to make ethanol more widely available and tax credits for gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles.þþ''We have to find ways to reach out to those who do not agree with us as well as those who have given up on participating in politics. We cannot just talk to ourselves -- the stakes are too high,'' he said.þþMost of the plant closures and job cuts detailed by Ford and GM must be negotiated with the UAW in 2007, when car makers and the UAW write a new contract. While UAW membership has fallen in recent years, the union still represents 1.1 million people and wields considerable clout.þþThe UAW agreed to cut GM's and Ford's costs last year by requiring autoworkers and retirees to pay more for their health care. The change passed on close votes and the union is reviewing similar requests from Chrysler Group, a division of DaimlerChrysler AG.þþGettelfinger told reporters that ''no decisions'' have been made in the Chrysler talks.þþHe has said the concessions were necessary at Ford and GM because both companies had lost U.S. market share. By contrast, Chrysler's market share was up 5 percent and workers at the division may not approve any concessions.þþSpeaking to delegates, Gettelfinger said ''the easy thing to do would have been to do nothing'' and he took ''full responsibility'' for the final decision on the GM and Ford health care agreements.þþHe said preliminary discussions with Delphi have been ongoing and expressed optimism: ''At least we're talking. That's progress from where we had been.''þþBut Gettelfinger said if the bankruptcy court approves financial bonuses for Delphi executives, a decision that could come this week, ''it's not going to fly with the membership.''þþUnion members are expected to hear this week from Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Evan Bayh of Indiana, both potential presidential candidates in 2008, and Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean.þþ
Source: NY Times
