S&P Global: Marick Masters on UAW, GM negotiation complications
As this newsletter goes to pixel, General Motors Co. is in the second week of a nationwide strike that has seen some 46,000 employees down tools. GM and the United Auto Workers failed to reach an agreement before their previous four-year contract expired Sept. 14. The myriad challenges facing the automotive industry, combined with the company's previously announced plans to shut four plants and slash its headcount in North America meant a new deal was never going to be easy. But the negotiations have been complicated by the ongoing federal investigation into corruption at the union, which has seen 11 representatives or former representatives charged so far. Marick Masters, business professor and former director of labor at Wayne State University, suggested that this has led to a breach of trust between workers and their union bosses, making talks even more fraught.
