- What brings General Motors as a company to the bargaining table?
- What have been the main concerns by United Automotive Workers (UAW) and Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) regarding workers pensions?
- What UAW and CAW union issues have been unequivocally placed on the agenda?
- What did each party in the bargaining table want and why did they want it?
- What were the General Motors underlying concern, goals, and sensitivities?
- Comparatively, how imperative is every negotiation issue to the Company?
- What were the best alternatives available to a negotiated agreement?
/>
- Were there any objections or hindrances to attaining the targeted goal?
- Who has the unions issues at the bargaining table helped in GM development?
Introduction
General Motors prudent management has been a critical concept to the corporate growth. As a multinational company GM Corp. has a management style that has been a major challenge in operating its subsidiaries in different countries. As a fact, G.M. operates with a centralized management and the decisions are made from the top and implemented on the ground (The Washington Post, 2007). As such, this has complicated G.M. growth in some areas since some subsidiaries are faced with different social and financial factors. In the past General Motors have been on the bargaining table with the UAW and CAW union over several issues including the retiree health costs, pension plans and economic supplement for the G.M workforce. Initially, UAW had negotiated an agreement with the G.M. in setting labor agreement which would greatly halt an alleged strike. G.M. according to the Washington Post (2007) laid down a settlement with the United Automobile Workers which resulted to extended contracts by the Chrysler Company and Ford for an indefinite period. This paper seeks to understand how the company’s management attains increased value at the bargaining table.
In keeping with the Washington Post newsletter the GM had made a four year contract with the UAW, which the union later extended as the two give a chance for more bargaining. This lend to Ford and Chrysler extending their contracts indefinitely. Union leaders indicated that the central outstanding issues are the health care expenses and if the GM promises to manufacture auto motors in the UAW-presented factories something the GM complied with.
With the changing market trends, different subsidiaries should be let alone to constitute and implement decisions as far as they make these decision within G.M’s goals and objectives. The global market is becoming a solid structure and the customer preferences are diverse and unique. This fact has made it reasonable for respective subsidiary manager’s to make lone decisions on the company’s welfare. The main outstanding issue that was at the bargaining table with the local union was the expenses of the health care of their retired workforce at that point G.M. promised to build more vehicles at the factories that were represented by the UAW. This was with an aim of letting the union acquire full responsibility of the costs of the retiree’s health care costs through the corporate funded trust. At the bargaining table the UAW was to be assured jobs in swap over of owning the costs. Charles et al. (2012) indicates that the GM’s unfunded obligation ranges at $51 billion. G.M aims at getting rid of those obligations from its books so that the company can increase stock values, improve its financial outlook. In reference to The Washington post (2007), the corporate also wants to free its selves from the threat of increasing health costs.
Conclusively, General Motors as a multinational company has been subject to many influences and bargains ranging from financial systems, pension plans to retiree benefits (The Washington Post, 2007). The company has take advantage of these issues and adapted its product according to the needs of its diverse clientele and at the same time boosted its human capital and hence its general output. With the great professional management the company has made its way at the bargaining table. It has been able to stick to superior quality and effectiveness in its market strategy and used it as a way of offsetting competitors’ effects. A blend of consumer awareness, good workforce pension plan, superior quality products and good relation with the UAW and CAW is likely to restore G.M corp. back to the top among other automobile producers.
References
Charles M, James R, Ramesh P, William J. (2012). Contemporary financial management. Mason, OH: South-Western, Cengage Learning.
Sloane, A. A. & Witney, F. (2010). Labor relations (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
The Washington Post (2007). GM-UAW Talks Set to Resume. Retrieved from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2007/09/17/AR2007091701641_pf.html
