The main obstacle to a bailout plan for the Big Three American automakers (GM, Ford, Chrysler) is from Republican senators who have demanded a strict timetable of UAW giveaways such as lowering salaries to that of non-union plants in the South prior to approving any deal. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee has been a point man on this.
However, a piece on CNNMoney.com suggests that much of the Republicans' concerns (including what is probably the big tale out there, the $70/hr. UAW worker) is one big canard.
His points--
Hourly wages in Detroit and at Toyota are about the same.
The big difference is in retiree benefits. One point not made here but that I've seen elsewhere is the the longer presence of the Big Three in this country is one of the reasons for that. The post states that the UAW has created trust funds to cover this so the auto companies won't have to do so indefinitely.
Perhaps part of the bailout could go to the trust funds so the auto companies could stop contributing sooner rather than later.
A report by an auto industry analyst indicates that the ten most efficient auto plans are all unionized and 9 of them belong to domestic automakers. GM did some crowing about that for those who want to see some specifics.
There was also a column in the November 17 (which says that it has been updated since) that deconstructs some of the tales around this issue.
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