By Dina ElBoghdady
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 19, 2006; D02
United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said yesterday that a possible alliance among General Motors Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA "raises very serious concerns" for the workers he represents.
Gettelfinger, in Washington to attend a bankruptcy policy meeting with legislators, said he had not spoken to any GM officials about the possible linkup since Kirk Kerkorian, one of GM's largest investors, publicly broached the idea nearly three weeks ago.
"We need to know how the existing workforce will be impacted in the short term and the long term," Gettelfinger said before the meeting. "These workers are huge stakeholders in GM," and an alliance might not "serve their best interests."
That workforce is shrinking now that 35,000 of GM's unionized workers have accepted buyouts.
The attrition program is part of the automaker's larger plan to restructure itself after losing $10.6 billion last year and suffering an erosion of its North American market share.
Those who track GM's turnaround efforts say the UAW could complicate a potential deal if Gettelfinger strongly opposes. GM would have to weigh the possibility of poisoning an already tense relationship with its largest union, they said.
"If Gettelfinger objects strongly, the company would probably conclude that it will lose more than it can possibly gain by pressing for an alliance," said Gary Chaison, an industrial relations professor at Clark University. "It would be enough to sour the deal."
The automaker is already bracing for what's expected to be a tough round of contract negotiations with the UAW next year.
GM is negotiating with the UAW and auto parts giant Delphi Corp., which is under bankruptcy protection, in an effort to agree on wage cuts and avert a potentially disastrous strike at Delphi plants. Delphi, spun off by GM in 1999, is the automaker's No. 1 supplier. A protracted strike at Delphi could cripple GM assembly lines and push GM to file for bankruptcy protection.
On that front, Gettelfinger expressed frustration yesterday with Delphi, which offered early retirements that were accepted by 12,600 of its workers.
"We thought the programs at GM and Delphi would have taken care of Delphi's issues," Gettelfinger said.
But instead, the union and the auto parts supplier remain at odds about how much to cut back on wages and benefits for the remaining workers, he said.
Delphi has asked a federal bankruptcy court judge to toss out its contracts with the UAW and other unions if the parties can't reach an agreement.
Bankruptcy court hearings on the matter are expected to resume Aug. 11.
Against that backdrop, the proposed alliance complicates an already tough situation. Gettelfinger reiterated yesterday that he was "not confident" that the alliance would come about.
He praised Rick Wagoner, GM's chairman and chief executive, for taking what appears to be a slow and methodical approach in his dealings with Carlos Ghosn, president and chief executive of Renault and Nissan.
On Friday, Wagoner and Ghosn began a discussion expected to last 90 days about the potential benefits of an alliance and said in a statement that they will not publicly comment on the talks.
The talks began after Kerkorian, who holds a 9.9 percent stake in GM, reached out to Ghosn. Kerkorian is unhappy about the pace of GM's turnaround plan under Wagoner.