Decision Making and Management

General Motors and the United Auto Workers Labor Agreement Judgment in Managerial Decision making General Motors and the United Auto Workers have been among the America's largest manufacturers of motor vehicles and related parts. Following pressure of the two leading manufacturers going bankrupt they had to negotiate a change in the labor agreement as an urgent move. The workers and the communities are to be adversely affected by this part of restructuring.

Some of the decisions reached during the negotiation affected the workers negatively in as much as they were mainly to prevent the collapse of the two manufacturers. General Motors reached a decision to close or idle 17 of its facilities, where Chrysler was to close eight plants. The GM seeks to reduce its 60,000 strong UAW workforce by up to 20,000.

On the top of that Chrysler is to reduce positions because of the plant closures, however the impact was to be reduced when Fiat brings small car production as well as key engine technology into Chrysler facilities, (Chris Isidore, 2011). The expectation of the Chrysler after restructuring is to have a UAW workforce of 26,000 or more, down from some 32,000 at the start of 2009.

Apart form working on modification to UAW labor agreements, the negotiations also worked on the changes to the Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA); which is an independent trust for retiree health care. United Auto Workers negotiators fought to change General Motor's turnaround plan so that there could be a reduced imports and increase production. On April 29, General Motors submitted to the U.S. Treasury Department a restructuring plan, as its third effort of meeting requirements for continued government financial support, (Kimberly S. Johnson and Tom Krisher, 2010).

The details of the plan included calls for the company to be able to increase its imports from Japan, Korea, China, and Mexico by more than 365,000 units in one year, with a corresponding drop in U.S. Production. In the modified UAW and GM labor agreement; there was a commitment by the company of sourcing small car production of up to 160,000 units within one year in an idled UAW and GM facility, including associated stamping operations.

This job-saving feature of the UAW and GM agreement was recognized by President Obama in June 1 when he announced a new package of government assistance. In his statement Obama said "GM will start building a larger share of its cars here at home including fuel-efficient cars.

In fact, if all goes according to plan, the share of GM cars sold in the United States that are made here will actually grow, for the first time in three decades." The negotiation resulted to UAW modifies labor agreement with Chrysler for major sacrifices as well as a commitment to small car production in the United States, and was ratified in April. This was confirmed by UAW Vice President General Holiefield when he said "We have an agreement from Fiat for new product built in the U.S.

It is going to be the smaller more fuel-efficient vehicles. And we still have a chance to sit down and hold discussions with Fiat and Chrysler to see if there is more opportunity as the market recovers." The.