Auto Workers Offer Concessions

A day after the Big Three proposed reforms in exchange for a bailout, the United Auto Workers is offering concessions of its own. The UAW said today that it will allow automakers to delay payments into a health care trust and suspend a controversial jobs bank program for laid-off workers. “‘Concessions.’ I used to cringe at that word,” said UAW President Ron Gettelfinger. “But now, why hide from it? That’s what we did.” The job banks program, which gave laid-off workers most of their pay and benefits, has been particularly controversial. The UAW will also launch an advertising campaign for the bailout, asking why Main Street doesn’t deserve the same deal as Wall Street.