Big 3 in auto:
Lying with figures

May 3, 2004

Chrysler Group of DaimlerChrysler announced operating profits for the first three months of 2004 of 366 million dollars. (The figure would have been 90 million dollars higher but they had "expenses" for cutting jobs.) General Motors earned 1.3 BILLION dollars in the first three months of 2004. Their Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner was rewarded with a 13 million dollar bonus plus seven million more in stock deals. Ford Motor Co. showed a whopping TWO billion dollars in profits for the first three months of the year. Even their former parts plant Visteon showed profits this year.

What a far cry from what these same companies were saying last summer. Then, the Big 3 automakers cried to their UAW opposites that life was very hard. Theirs was an industry in trouble, competition was so harsh that they needed sacrifices from auto workers and management alike. They said they needed to close plants, lay off thousands, make harsher working conditions and reduce the "burden" of costs for pension and health benefits for retirees and active workers.

In other words, don't believe a word the bosses say when it's time to negotiate a contract.