UAW Fiddles While Detroit Burns

The United Auto Workers are a major part of the death spiral the US auto industry is now experiencing:

It's staggering how much money Detroit's automakers have to lose before the United Auto Workers union -- which promotes itself as a partner -- agrees to help out the companies.

The Chrysler Group will lose an estimated $1.5 billion in the third quarter and $1.2 billion for the year, yet the UAW won't work with the company to help reduce health care costs because it doesn't think the losses are significant enough yet.

"Our position remains the same," Roger Kerson, a UAW spokesman, said Wednesday when asked about reopening contract talks with Chrysler. Earlier this month, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said the union wasn't willing to make concessions that would have saved Chrysler $340 million a year.

Apparently losing $100 million a month during the year isn't significant.

They will come out with nothing for their members except empty promises. This may just signal the beginning of the end for one of the strongest unions in the nation. That's probably not such a bad thing in light of how they've contributed to hurting the industry over the years.