UAW Officials to Hear More on GM Job Cuts

Officials from the United Auto Workers union will meet Tuesday in Detroit to hear how many more U.S. factory jobs GM will cut as it enters what could be its last week outside bankruptcy, a report says.

Author:: Joseph Woelfel
Publish date:: May 26, 2009 12:45 AM EDT

Officials from the United Auto Workers union will meet Tuesday in Detroit to hear how many more U.S. factory jobs

General Motors

(GM) - Get Report

will cut as the automaker enters what could be its last week outside bankruptcy, a report says.

Union officials representing 54,000 GM workers are scheduled to meet to prepare for a quick ratification vote on a cost-cutting labor deal negotiated last week,

Reuters

reports. The union aims to complete those votes by Thursday.

Approval of the contract, which would change payment terms on $20 billion owed to a UAW trust fund, represents one of the hurdles for GM to clear before a June 1 deadline set by the Obama administration,

Reuters

notes.

The automaker on Friday said it has borrowed an additional $4 billion from the Treasury Department, meaning the automaker has now accepted $19.4 billion in loans from the U.S. government.

GM started taking government money in December and said it intended to borrow $2.6 billion more by June 1 and an additional $9 billion after that. But in a regulatory filing Friday, GM said it needed $1.4 billion sooner than originally forecast.

Over the weekend, Canadian Auto Workers members voted 86% in favor of a cost-cutting deal with GM's Canadian unit as the automaker bids to qualify for more government loans and assure its future in Canada.

Meanwhile, the German government is hoping to name its preferred bidder for automaker Adam Opel by Wednesday night, as it fights to separate Opel's fate from that of parent GM, the

Wall Street Journal

reports.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday that decisions were needed by midweek to avoid Opel being caught up in possible GM bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S.

Canadian auto supplier

Magna International

(MGA) - Get Report

is widely viewed as the front-runner. A rival bid from Italian car maker

Fiat

has drawn skepticism from Opel workers and some German politicians, even though Fiat scaled down its job-cutting plans over the weekend, the

Journal

reports.