WDET News
- UAW Applauds Loans - Calls Deal Unfair
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Dec 19, 2008Automotive & Business - Link to Audio
The United Auto Workers union says it’s pleased that the White House has provided loans to Detroit’s automakers. But as Detroit Public Radio’s Jerome Vaughn reports, the union also calls the deal unfair.
SOQ
UAW President Ron Gettlefinger said in a written statement that the union applauds the White House’s approval of 17-point-four billion dollars in emergency bridge loans.
The statement says the move will keep the doors of America’s factories open and keep the country working.
But the union says the plan is unfair to its members. The terms of the deal call for the automakers to pay hourly workers the same wages that non-union workers receive at U-S plants operated by foreign automakers.
Gettlefinger says his organization will work with the Obama administration and the new Congress to change those provisions.
He says UAW members have already made substantial sacrifices to make General Motors, Ford and Chrysler more competitive.