Catherwood LibraryILR School

As the UAW goes into negotiations with Ford, Chrysler and GM, UAW president Bob King seeks to find common ground with the companies to ensure continued profits. While the general presumption seems to be that concessions will take the form of profit-sharing and a further freeze on wages, many workers at the auto plants are preemptively organizing campaigns to dismiss such aims. Instead, organizations like the Autoworkers Caravan are asking for guaranteed wages as well as inflation adjustments. An interesting factor in the coming discussions is that both Chrysler and GM, bailed out by the government during the financial crisis, have no strike clauses and must agree to binding arbitration after impasse whereas Ford does not, which may bring about two separate contracts, differing from norm of applying one agreement to all three companies.