Tag: auto industry

R&D from Prepd: UAW Defeat in Chattanooga

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This R&D provides articles on the United Auto Workers (UAW) recent failure to unionize a Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The UAW has been looking to unionize more automotive plants in the South, which have resisted unionization attempts for decades.

 

Topic Brief: The U.S. Auto Industry

Extempers have been busy over the last several months trying to understand the different elements of the current financial crisis.  In the midst of understanding credit markets, bond markets, the $700 billion U.S. bailout package, and deteriorating housing market, it was easy to ignore the problems of one of the most crucial industries of the U.S. economy:  the auto market.  Within the last several weeks, the problems of the auto industry’s “Big Three”, General Motors (GM), Chrysler, and Ford have become dire, as the auto companies say they have spent most of the $15 billion they held in reserve during the third quarter.  Faced with slumping sales at home and in the midst of restructuring their operations, GM has warned that without government aid it will not be able to make it through the year and Ford has warned that it will not last long into 2009 without government aid.

Faced with this situation, and a lame duck session of Congress, as well as for President Bush, you have the recipe for a tense political battle that will have ramifications far into the future.  You also have the stage set for what will be the last major battle of the Bush presidency, and one that could make President Bush even more unpopular before he leaves office.

This brief will give a summary of the current woes facing the automakers, the different solutions proposed by each side, and ramifications for the eventual solutions that could be prescribed for the auto industry’s woes.

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