UAW to lobby White House in GM, Chrysler negotiations

The Obama administration plans to make available about $500 million to enable Chrysler LLC through the end of this month as the auto maker enters into an alliance with Fiat and up to $5 billion through May to help General Motors Corp restructure outside of bankruptcy according to an independent oversight report on the Treasury Department's corporate rescue fund.

Meanwhile, the United Auto Workers (UAW) has appealed to its members to lobby the White House by phone or email to ensure fair treatment to worker and retirees in negotiations concerning both companies that are supposed to be vital for the survival of the two auto majors.
 
The union said in on its web site that members need to push the president's force to stand up for the interests of workers and retirees in the restructuring negotiations.

On 30 March president Obama had said that the auto industry was not moving in the right direction fast enough to succeed. He added that it would require additional concessions from unions and workers on top of the painful concessions they had already made. He said that the taxpayer would invest only in a revitalised auto industry.

The UAW represents 62,000 workers at GM and 26,000 workers at Chrysler.

The administration's task force believes that a deal with Fiat would be necessary to revive Chrysler and is brokering meetings this week in Washington and Detroit to gauge the possibility.

The administration has proposed a $6 billion package that would offer Chrysler access to Fiat's small car. Fiat would stand to benefit by way of a getting a platform for building light trucks in addition to a robust network for selling its vehicles in the US.

However, analysts and consultants have reservations on whether the deal would go through and avert an almost certain Chrysler bankruptcy.