By Mike Lewis, Times-Mail
mikel@tmnews.com
BEDFORD - "People are apprehensive. We're in survival mode."
That's the way Scott Moore, president of UAW Local 440 in Bedford, looks at the United Auto Workers and General Motors Corp. these days.
Meanwhile, at her Bedford home, Barb McGinness works on her farm and keeps an eye on what the national media call the "almost certain bankruptcy" of General Motors Corp.
She and her husband, Jerry, both retired from Bedford's GM Powertrain plant. But she's determined not to worry.
"Worry causes stress," he said. "It causes heart attacks and gray hair and strokes. If I could worry about it and change things, I would. ... But I can't change things."
Dramatic changes
GM's board of directors met Saturday for a second straight day. The company's government restructuring deadline arrives Monday. GM has yet to confirm it will seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but the company scheduled a news conference for Monday in New York.
Much has been written about GM's financial woes. This is the way Tom Krisher, Associated Press auto writer, put things in an article Saturday:
"U.S. automakers have been hammered by a brutal combination of a bad economy, a big jump in gas prices last year and decisions to churn out gas-sucking SUVs at a time when more American consumers were looking for cars that were cheaper to fill up.
"GM, with the government's backing and nearly $20 billion in U.S. loans so far, has made more dramatic changes in just a few days than it has in decades."
Among those changes: Canadian auto parts maker Magna International Inc. might rescue GM's Opel unit. A deal to sell the Hummer brand is in the works. On Monday, GM is to identify 14 assembly, parts stamping and engine and transmission factories that it plans to close, cutting 21,000 jobs.
And the United Auto Workers have approved concessions that will reduce GM's labor costs.
The UAW concessions will save GM $1.3 billion per year and bring its labor costs down to those of its Japanese competitors. The deal freezes wages, ends bonuses, eliminates some noncompetitive work rules and ends the possibility of a strike until the next contract expires in 2015.
It also cuts some benefits, such as insurance coverage, for retirees like McGinness.
"We've been through a lot of culture change in the past year, especially. ... The membership and retirees of the UAW for the last several years have been taking steps to help make GM more competitive," Moore said.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said Friday that 74 percent of GM's 54,000 U.S. production and skilled-trade workers voted in favor of the deal.
Moore said 67 percent of the Local 440 membership voted in favor.
"We had a real good turnout," Moore added.
"No one likes to have to present a contract to the membership that is in any way concessionary," he said. "The way things are going in the industry, the leadership at the national level definitely recommended this contract."
Important to act
Experts say having the labor agreement in place will help move a bankruptcy process through court more quickly.
That's the way Moore sees it, too.
"That's one of the reasons it was important for us to act on this as fast as we could," he said.
He also pointed to a plan GM outlined earlier to temporarily close some plants this summer. The idea is to reduce costs and let the standing inventory of vehicles decline - matching output with sales. The local powertrain plant would have its summer shutdown period extended.
"I think that would still apply," Moore said.
"There is a possibility that GM would continue to operate and remain open, but just under bankruptcy protection. I think if they were to shut down, it would be for a fairly short period of time."
'Doing what we can'
Moore said there are 322 active members of Local 440. But there are more than 1,500 retirees in Lawrence and surrounding counties.
"It's going to change their levels of benefits somewhat," Moore said, although the union "tried to protect their core benefits."
McGinness has already seen a small glimpse of the future, hearing through a dentist that she will lose GM dental insurance coverage.
But with a farm and two children - ages 16 and 14 - she's rather spend her energy tending the garden than fretting about contracts.
The three-decaded experience at GM is turning into a mixed blessing. On one hand, it let Barb, 52, and Jerry, 63, retire early. On the other hand, it's left them with some uncertainties. Barb said she is grateful for what she has had, and she will accept what she has to lose.
"I feel bad because - and this probably includes ourselves - it's going to catch a lot of people who are really unprepared for it.
"As far as what will happen, there will be a million speculations. There could be 20 years of Mondays, and (we could) lose a little bit each time.
"We're just doing what we can with what we have while we have it."
'Still compete'
Even as the clock ticks to Monday's deadline, Moore sounded a confident note.
"We're going to live to fight another day," he said. "We're in survival mode. We have really bright people. They realize what we have to do to get through all this."
Moore reiterated the UAW position that U.S. workers do not face "fair trade" practices.
"Honda and Toyota are basically subsidized by their governments by 17 percent," he said. "And they manipulate their currencies to take advantage of the exchange rates.
"We definitely feel our workers can compete with any workers in the world. They do get an advantage over us, in that sense. But we still compete with them pretty equally out in the market."