UAW officials are gathering on Tuesday to hear how many more US factory jobs General Motors will cut.
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Union officials representing 54,000 GM workers were scheduled to meet in Detroit to prepare for a quick ratification vote on a cost-cutting labour deal negotiated last week. The union aims to complete those votes by Thursday, Reuters reported.
Approval of the contract, which would change payment terms on US$20bn owed to a UAW trust fund, is one of the hurdles for GM to clear before a 1 June deadline set by the Obama administration.
The company on Friday said it expected to need another $7.6bn from the US treasury after 1 June.
Meanwhile, GM workers at plants in Ontario, Canada, on Monday ratified concessions negotiated last week with a vote of 86% in favour.
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By GlobalData“This has been a grueling restructuring process, and no one has felt that more than our members and retirees,” Canadian Auto Workers president Ken Lewenza said in a statement.
The new contract cuts GM’s hourly labour costs in Canada by almost 30%, including an earlier round of concessions.
“We appreciate the shared sacrifices our employees have made to better position GM in these very challenging times by meeting competitive cost benchmarks and achieving significant further reductions in longer term liabilities,” GM Canada said in a statement.
“The ratification of the new agreement is a critical step towards GM Canada’s successful restructuring into a stronger, more viable company.”
According to Reuters, GM and the US auto task force worked throughout last weekend on a restructuring expected to send the automaker into bankruptcy.
GM will learn on Wednesday how much of its $27bn in bond debt was tendered in exchange for shares. It had set a target of slashing 90% of its bond debt, a goal analysts see as unreachable.
Separately, bankruptcy judge Arthur Gonzalez could rule as early as Wednesday on whether Chrysler will be allowed to sell its most valuable assets to a new company that would be under the operational control of Fiat.
If that approval is granted, a deal to create a merged Chrysler-Fiat with the backing of the US government could be closed by the middle of next month.
