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
General Motors
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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.
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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
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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.
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