WCFCourier.com, Wednesday, September 26, 2007
WCFCourier.com, Wednesday, September 26, 2007
http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/09/26/business/local/171b16572298459786257362004cb3eb.txt
GM is no John Deere, Waterloo-born labor expert says
WATERLOO --- General Motors is no John Deere.
So says Ron Seeber, a Waterloo-born labor relations expert. He said the issues surrounding the labor dispute and strike settled today between the United Auto Workers and General Motors shouldn't have immediate implications on the UAW's relationship with Deere & Co.
"They're such a well-run company compared to the auto industry," Seeber, of Cornell University in New York, said of Deere.
Deere, the ag equipment industry leader, is in a much better competitive position in its field than the major U.S. automakers are in theirs, he said.
While GM and Ford are competing with overseas automakers for the domestic market, Deere is "still exporting to a good share of the world," Seeber said.
"But at the same time, there's a warning here for all of us in the whole country on this health insurance issue," Seeber said. "It's true for any employer which made the kind of open-ended promises to people who retired. GM did, and Deere did also --- 'We're going to fund you and your spouse forever on our health insurance.' It turns out that was a pretty expensive promise.
"It made sense when there was one retiree for every four working UAW members," Seeber said, but there's now more than a quarter million UAW-affiliated GM retirees and only 75,000 workers.
Seeber, a former Deere Waterloo worker and UAW Local 838 member here, is a professor and associate dean of Cornell's Institute for Industrial Relations, and the university's vice provost for land grant affairs. He is the son of Jack Seeber, a former Waterloo City Council member who served as president of UAW Local 838 in Waterloo from 1971-75 and was a leader in the local and its retirees group for more than 40 years until his death in 1995. Local 838 is the largest UAW local within Deere and in Iowa, with about 2,700 members.
Job security and health insurance were key issues in the GM-UAW talks --- issues which the union and Deere tried to address in their current contract.
Deere implemented significant changes in its health insurance coverage under the current agreement with the UAW which expires in 2009, instituting a network of health care providers for its coverage in 2004 which forced some insurees to change health care providers.
Deere last week also announced changes for some 5,000 nonunion salaried retirees. Current retirees who are not yet eligible for Medicare will now be eligible for programs that include Health Savings Accounts (HSA). Both retirees and Deere contribute to these accounts, which have tax advantages and can be used for current or future health care expenses.
Other provisions of the Deere-UAW contract also called for more outsourced work to be brought back into Deere plants, which local company and union officials have said is happening, as evidenced by a recent spate of hiring at Deere's Waterloo operations.
According to UAW Local 838, Deere's Waterloo operations have seen a net increase of 190 union-wage workers since its current labor agreement was reached with the UAW in 2003. Company officials also reported a slight increase in Deere's salaried work force. Deere currently employs about 4,800 people in Waterloo.
The United Auto Workers and General Motors Corp. reached agreement at about 3 a.m. Wednesday to a tentative contract that puts the responsibility for retirees' health care into the union's hands, ending a two-day strike, the first national strike against an automaker in 31 years.
GM and the UAW confirmed that the deal creates a GM-funded, UAW-run trust to administer retiree health care --- which Seeber said could put the union "in a really bad position" if it is inadequately funded and the union has to make some decisions on coverage.
The two sides gave no other details, but a person briefed on the contract told The Associated Press that it also would give workers bonuses and lump-sum payments. The person requested anonymity because the contract talks are private.
The contract must be reviewed by local UAW presidents and will then be subject to a vote of GM's 73,000 rank-and-file members. The agreement is expected to set a pattern for contracts at Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC.
Contact Pat Kinney at (319) 291-1484 or Pat.Kinney@wcfcourier.com.
So says Ron Seeber, a Waterloo-born labor relations expert. He said the issues surrounding the labor dispute and strike settled today between the United Auto Workers and General Motors shouldn't have immediate implications on the UAW's relationship with Deere & Co.
"They're such a well-run company compared to the auto industry," Seeber, of Cornell University in New York, said of Deere.
Deere, the ag equipment industry leader, is in a much better competitive position in its field than the major U.S. automakers are in theirs, he said.
While GM and Ford are competing with overseas automakers for the domestic market, Deere is "still exporting to a good share of the world," Seeber said.
"But at the same time, there's a warning here for all of us in the whole country on this health insurance issue," Seeber said. "It's true for any employer which made the kind of open-ended promises to people who retired. GM did, and Deere did also --- 'We're going to fund you and your spouse forever on our health insurance.' It turns out that was a pretty expensive promise.
"It made sense when there was one retiree for every four working UAW members," Seeber said, but there's now more than a quarter million UAW-affiliated GM retirees and only 75,000 workers.
Seeber, a former Deere Waterloo worker and UAW Local 838 member here, is a professor and associate dean of Cornell's Institute for Industrial Relations, and the university's vice provost for land grant affairs. He is the son of Jack Seeber, a former Waterloo City Council member who served as president of UAW Local 838 in Waterloo from 1971-75 and was a leader in the local and its retirees group for more than 40 years until his death in 1995. Local 838 is the largest UAW local within Deere and in Iowa, with about 2,700 members.
Job security and health insurance were key issues in the GM-UAW talks --- issues which the union and Deere tried to address in their current contract.
Deere implemented significant changes in its health insurance coverage under the current agreement with the UAW which expires in 2009, instituting a network of health care providers for its coverage in 2004 which forced some insurees to change health care providers.
Deere last week also announced changes for some 5,000 nonunion salaried retirees. Current retirees who are not yet eligible for Medicare will now be eligible for programs that include Health Savings Accounts (HSA). Both retirees and Deere contribute to these accounts, which have tax advantages and can be used for current or future health care expenses.
Other provisions of the Deere-UAW contract also called for more outsourced work to be brought back into Deere plants, which local company and union officials have said is happening, as evidenced by a recent spate of hiring at Deere's Waterloo operations.
According to UAW Local 838, Deere's Waterloo operations have seen a net increase of 190 union-wage workers since its current labor agreement was reached with the UAW in 2003. Company officials also reported a slight increase in Deere's salaried work force. Deere currently employs about 4,800 people in Waterloo.
The United Auto Workers and General Motors Corp. reached agreement at about 3 a.m. Wednesday to a tentative contract that puts the responsibility for retirees' health care into the union's hands, ending a two-day strike, the first national strike against an automaker in 31 years.
GM and the UAW confirmed that the deal creates a GM-funded, UAW-run trust to administer retiree health care --- which Seeber said could put the union "in a really bad position" if it is inadequately funded and the union has to make some decisions on coverage.
The two sides gave no other details, but a person briefed on the contract told The Associated Press that it also would give workers bonuses and lump-sum payments. The person requested anonymity because the contract talks are private.
The contract must be reviewed by local UAW presidents and will then be subject to a vote of GM's 73,000 rank-and-file members. The agreement is expected to set a pattern for contracts at Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC.
Contact Pat Kinney at (319) 291-1484 or Pat.Kinney@wcfcourier.com.
<< Home