January 6th, 2009 by Bill Cawthon
United Auto Workers union president Ron Gettelfinger says Chrysler and GM may not need additional federal funds beyond the $17.4 billion already approved.
In an exclusive interview at the UAW’s Solidarity House, the union leader told Automotive News that sales in 2009 will determine whether more money will be needed to keep the automakers solvent. Gettelfinger is hopeful the [...]
December 3rd, 2008 by Bill Cawthon
United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger announced the union will agree to suspend the Jobs Bank program and will allow Chrysler, Ford and General Motors to delay their payments to the Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA) that is due to assumer responsibility for retiree health care in 2010. The announcement came following an emergency meeting between Gettelfinger and the presidents and chairmen [...]
November 20th, 2008 by DaveAdmin
Canada’s Globe and Mail reported today that Chrysler Canada had asked the federal and Ontario governments for $1 billion (Canadian) in loans to survive through the current crisis. One quarter of Chrysler’s manufacturing is done in Ontario, with all minivans and rear-drive cars currently built there.
In other news, following what can best be described as [...]
November 7th, 2008 by Bill Cawthon
Chrysler is draining its financial reserves rapidly, according to sources cited in a Reuters report. Hundreds of millions of dollars in additional incentives and supplier payments have added to its cash burn and the company may have difficulty funding its operations after the first half of 2009.
Pending asset sales are unlikely to able to cover [...]
November 6th, 2008 by DaveAdmin
The Associated Press reported that leaders of General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, and the UAW requested financial assistance from Congress. Specifically, the companies and union asked for $25 billion in federal loans to fund their contributions to health care trusts created in 2007, and for help in gaining access to the Treasury’s $350 billion bailout fund [...]
November 6th, 2008 by Bill Cawthon
Knowledgeable sources say General Motors will not include a merger announcement in its “important changes” to be announced tomorrow along with its quarterly earnings. In fact, they say merger discussions have taken a back seat to GM’s push for federal financial aid to help the automaker to stay afloat.
The word on the street is that [...]
October 31st, 2008 by Bill Cawthon
Automotive News reports the United Auto Workers union has hired veteran Wall Street consultant Stephen Girsky to advise it on the potential merger of Chrysler and General Motors as well as automakers’ efforts to get a bailout from the federal government.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger has gone on record as opposing a merger if it would [...]