U.A.W. Facing Tough Choices, Leader Warns

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/12/automobiles/12UAW.html?ex=1150776000&en=6c62cd212671cc62&ei=5043&partner=EXCITE

By MICHELINE MAYNARD
Published: June 12, 2006

LAS VEGAS, June 11 — The president of the United Automobile Workers union told his members in a strikingly blunt report released Sunday that they cannot ride out the automobile industry crisis and should be prepared to make tradition-breaking decisions to help rescue the industry.
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Ron Gettelfinger told auto workers to expect more hard times.
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In the report, to be given to members at the union's convention, which opens here on Monday, the union president, Ron Gettelfinger, pointed to many causes of the industry's grave malaise, including "bad management" and declining auto sales.

But Mr. Gettelfinger acknowledged that the union's health care benefits helped create a ballooning health cost crisis that had become "unsustainable" in the face of the auto companies' declining sales. This, he said, was a reason why the U.A.W. agreed to substantial health care concessions last year.