UAW Gets 55 percent of Chrysler and Board
Seats
In Chrysler the United Auto Workers Get 55%
Obama gets 35% and the bond holders get 10% In GM the United auto workers get 35% Obama gets 55%
and the bond holders get 10% --
Make no mistake here this is an illegal political
payback for the Unions that so ardently supported Obama. And from this time forth
on any cars bought from either corporation will go directly into the pockets of
the Democratic Party supporting their agenda and candidates as never before.
This newly realized UAW cash cow will be
milked for all it is worth in the coming 2010 mid-term election and again in the
2012 presidential election. Except if these companies fall by the wayside during
the next 12-18 months with no car sales nationally.
Bloomberg News
By John Lippert and Mike
Ramsey
April 28 (Bloomberg) -- The United
Auto Workers union’s retiree health-care fund will own 55 percent of
Chrysler LLC in exchange for cutting in half the automaker’s $10.6 billion cash
obligation to the trust, people familiar with the matter said.
Under the terms of the contract, the trust would
get representation on the company’s board of directors, said two people briefed
on the deal, who asked not to be named because the matter is private.
The tentative agreement was approved unanimously by
UAW leaders yesterday and will be sent to union locals for ratification, one of
the people said. Chrysler, operating with $4 billion in
“With employees effectively sharing the risks, this
could play to the advantage of the ailing company,” said Howard Wheeldon,
a senior strategist at BGC Partners LP in
The U.S. Treasury, which still is
negotiating on Chrysler’s behalf with the company’s secured lenders, has little
room to give the banks more equity. Fiat SpA
would get 20 percent of the company to start, with the ability to increase
ownership to 35 percent by hitting performance goals. The Treasury would keep
10 percent.
Shawn Morgan, a spokeswoman for
‘Weak’ Chrysler Products
The Fiat connection may not be the best approach
for saving Chrysler, though employee ownership through the union may help, BGC’s Wheeldon said.
“The weakness remains Chrysler’s product base and
how quickly this can be adapted with or without Fiat’s ‘help,’” the analyst
said.
Instead of contributing $8.8 billion to a retiree
health- care trust, Chrysler will give the union trust shares of the company
and a promissory note for $4.59 billion that will be paid in installments with
9 percent interest until 2023, one of the people said. This reduces the
up-front cash Chrysler would have had to pay under its 2007 contract agreement
with the Detroit-based union.
The union’s equity in Chrysler is valued at $4.2
billion. If it can sell the shares for more, the Treasury would get the
difference, one of the people said.
Workers also agreed to changes in work
classifications, including the number of types of skilled trades. The contract
also has a provision that all new hires for the company in the factories will
make $14 to $16 an hour, up to 25 percent of the total Chrysler-UAW workforce.
This increased from 20 percent in an earlier contract.
Separately yesterday, General Motors Corp. said it
will be at least half owned by the