UAW hires Lazard to comb GM books
JOSEPH B. WHITE AND LEE HAWKINS JR.
Wall Street Journal
The Globe and Mail
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DETROIT -- Under pressure from General Motors Corp. to make significant health care benefits concessions, the United Auto Workers union said it has hired investment bank Lazard Ltd., the New York law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and Leon Potok & Co. as part of a team that will conduct an analysis of GM's finances.
A UAW spokesman said the team of financial advisers, which also includes Milliman Inc., a Washington, D.C., actuarial consulting firm, and legal and financial staff members employed by the UAW, already has been gathering information on GM's condition. âWe have not set a deadline,â UAW spokesman Paul Krell said. âWe are going to do this thoroughly. That's not to suggest there's any foot-dragging here.â
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in June that the UAW would hire outside advisers to examine GM's finances and management claims that the company needed substantial concessions to reduce health care costs before the expiration of the current master contract in the fall of 2007.
Lazard and Cleary declined to comment. A Milliman spokesman confirmed that Milliman will be conducting an actuarial analysis relative to GM's health care costs but didn't elaborate.
Local UAW leaders have said the company wants concessions that would save $1-billion (U.S.) a year in health care outlays and cut GM's liability for future retiree health care costs by as much as $20-billion.