Ron Gettelfinger: Labor Voices

Embrace income, health security

Government, not companies, should cover all Americans

The crisis in the U.S. auto industry has become more intense in recent days, with Chrysler forced into bankruptcy by a few hedge fund managers who refused to share in sacrifices accepted by all other stakeholders.

But this crisis isn't just a few days old. For years, our members and our communities have been fighting declining revenues, closed plants and lost jobs.

It's not easy going to work every day not knowing if you'll have a job tomorrow. How have our members responded?

By operating the best plants in the industry. In 2008, the Harbour Report -- the leading measure of auto plant efficiency -- found that the 10 most productive auto plants in North America are union plants.

Chrysler, Ford and GM workers can turn out more cars in fewer hours than Toyota, Honda, Nissan or other competitors.

It's an astounding tribute to union members, who continue to work safely and efficiently under the most trying circumstances. Union-made vehicles also are topping the charts in safety and quality, delivering real value to consumers.

At the bargaining table, as on the shop floor, union members have stepped up time and time again over the years to save this industry.

Tens of thousands of jobs have been eliminated. Active workers have accepted wage freezes, and pay will be lower for newly hired workers.

Retired workers on fixed incomes will pay higher premiums and receive less health care benefits.

Auto workers are by no means alone when it comes to sacrificing in tough times. While hedge fund managers and CEOs have fought to keep their pay and bonuses, unemployment has hit a 25-year high and hundreds of thousands of workers have lost their jobs. Wages have barely kept up with inflation, while the cost of health care has gone up 150 percent in the past eight years.

Retired workers also face difficult challenges. One of our union's key objectives during auto restructuring is to maintain health care and pensions for retirees. But most workers in the United States are not part of a union -- and most workers no longer have pensions. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic reports that just 33 percent of private-sector workers at medium and large workplaces had defined benefit pension plans in 2003, down from 76 percent in 1986.

As employers shed obligations to retirees, workers will have to shoulder more health care costs. By 2019, according to the consulting firm Towers Perrin, a 60-year-old retiree will need $250,000 in savings for premiums and out-of-pocket costs during a lifetime of retirement.

Where will a worker without a pension get that kind of money? Not from his or her 401(k). The value of such accounts has declined by a third or more during recent turmoil in the financial markets.

Since the 1950s, when automakers and the United Auto Workers first negotiated pension and health care plans, the United States -- alone among industrial countries -- has relied on private employers to meet income and health care needs for retired workers.

While our union is frequently criticized for imposing "legacy" costs on employers, it was actually General Motors and then-CEO Charlie Wilson who first promoted company-paid pensions and health care. Walter Reuther and the UAW believed in a different approach: Universal public programs to spread costs and benefits over the entire society.

As trade unionists, we've always been skeptical about leaving such responsibility to a single company or single industry. That's why we have never given up the vision of universal health and income security programs. For decades, we've advocated for strong Social Security benefits and other measures to aid older Americans, and for a national health care plan that would cover every man, woman and child in the United States.

Our cause has never been more urgent.

Ron Gettelfinger is president of the United Auto Workers. Fax comments to (313) 496-5253 or e-mail them to letters@detnews.com. Find more opinions at detnews.com/editorial