Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
Seethe problem with the GM pension fund was...instead of fully funding these pensions, GM spent the money. THAT's why half the labor cost of a GM car was for pensions; they were following the government Social Security model for pension funding.
So to make up for it, GM agred to drop the liability for the pensions into the union's lap. GM's portion of the pension funding is coming from the "value" of stock that's not yet been issued...which is why the UAW now "owns" a part of GM. If GM ever recovers value to where it once was, the union sells the stock in its pension fund, and all the retirees can eat steak; but if GM stock tanks, the retirees who were promised steak by GM may be eating Alpo, and it'll be the UAW who gets stuck with the delivery of the bad news.
Smart negotiating by GM...and stupid on the part of the union, on behalf of their retirees, unless GM stock goes gangbusters soon. Not sure I can picture that, myself.
So to make up for it, GM agred to drop the liability for the pensions into the union's lap. GM's portion of the pension funding is coming from the "value" of stock that's not yet been issued...which is why the UAW now "owns" a part of GM. If GM ever recovers value to where it once was, the union sells the stock in its pension fund, and all the retirees can eat steak; but if GM stock tanks, the retirees who were promised steak by GM may be eating Alpo, and it'll be the UAW who gets stuck with the delivery of the bad news.
Smart negotiating by GM...and stupid on the part of the union, on behalf of their retirees, unless GM stock goes gangbusters soon. Not sure I can picture that, myself.