United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger will tell a Senate panel today that Detroit's Big Three automakers face liquidation if forced into bankruptcy and warned that taxpayers would have to pay at least $3 billion a year if the companies stopped paying for retiree health care. He also rejected new concessions by the union on wages or retiree benefits as some in Congress have demanded. "GM, Ford and Chrysler are burning through their cash reserves at an unprecedented rate. As the recent earnings reports indicate, this scenario is not sustainable," according to a copy of Gettelfinger's written Senate Banking Committee testimony obtained by The Detroit News. "If the government does not act to provide immediate assistance, GM, Ford and Chrysler could be forced to liquidate."
Gettelfinger rejected new wage cuts for UAW workers or a reduction in payments to a $60 billion UAW-run health care trust that takes over responsibility for retiree health care in 2010.
LA Auto Show Photo Gallery
Read Article