GM Health Care

NYT reported General Motors said today that it had reached a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers union to cut $1 billion worth of annual health care benefits for hundreds of thousands of American retirees. The announcement came on the same day that the company reported its largest quarterly loss in more than a decade. G.M. also said it was considering selling its financial services business. The deal with the U.A.W., reached late Sunday night after several months of negotiations, marks the biggest strategy shift by the union since the early 1980's, when it made a wave of concessions to stave off a bankruptcy filing by Chrysler. This time, with the future of the entire domestic auto industry at risk, union leaders agreed to a deal broad enough to require the vote of G.M. workers for approval, after saying for months that they would not re-open their labor contract before it expires in 2007.

Gee, I wonder why they changed their minds. It would not have anything to do with Delphi declaring bankrupcy would it? Delphi was the former wholly-owned parts unit of General Motors Corp.