The UAW strike against General Motors is over. They've come up with a plan to deal with retiree health benefits:
The company is carrying some $50 billion in unfunded retiree health obligations on its books, a liability that GM executives contend has helped make the company less competitive against foreign manufacturers like Toyota. The Japanese auto giant is expected to supplant GM this year as the worlds largest car maker.The UAW is looking out for the health care needs of its retirees, as it should.
Under the agreement, responsibility for the retiree health plan will shift to a Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Association managed by the union. Details about how the VEBA will be funded have not been disclosed. But it is expected to involve a one-time payment from GM that would give the union adequate capital to invest and pay for retiree benefits, while reducing the company's future annual expenses by billions of dollars. Implementation of the retiree health trust is to be monitored by a judge and the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a statement released this morning by GM.
At a Detroit news conference, UAW president Ronald A. Gettelfinger said the memorandum of understanding outlining the health fund would secure retiree health benefits for decades to come.
"We've got it secure and in place," he said, according to the Detroit News.
Meanwhile, Bush, by vowing to veto the S-CHIP legislation, is making sure that children in America don't have access to health care. Creating quite the legacy.
