UAW Chief Gettelfinger Defends Position on Wage Cuts

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• JIM LEHRER:

  The auto story. We start with the collapse of the rescue plan in Congress as another began at the White House. NewsHour congressional correspondent Kwame Holman reports.

• KWAME HOLMAN:

  By announcing it no longer opposed using funds from the $700 billion rescue program to aid the struggling U.S. auto industry, the Bush administration put it in reverse gear today.

  In a statement, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said, "A precipitous collapse of this industry would have a severe impact on our economy, and it would be irresponsible to further weaken and destabilize our economy at this time."

  The shift came just hours after the Senate failed late last night to muster the 60 votes needed to move forward on a bill with $14 billion in emergency loans.

  The House had passed the bill on Wednesday night. It included stricter government oversight of the car companies.

  But many Senate Republicans rejected that proposal, calling it an unwelcome new government bailout.

  Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

  SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), Senate Minority Leader: We've had before us this — the whole question of the viability of the American automobile manufacturers. And none of us want to see them go down, but very few of us had anything to do with the dilemma that they've created for themselves.

• KWAME HOLMAN:

  Harry Reid, leader of the majority Democrats, said, despite the Senate's best effort, there wasn't enough common ground to reach a deal.

  SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), Senate Majority Leader: We have worked and worked, and we can spend all night tonight, tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday, and we're not going to get to the finish line. That's just the way it is. There's too much difference between the two sides.

• KWAME HOLMAN:

  But Tennessee's Bob Corker, the lead Republican negotiator on a compromise amendment, said an agreement wasn't that far off.

  SEN. BOB CORKER (R), Tennessee: We are about three words, three words away from a deal.

• KWAME HOLMAN:

  The hang-up, Corker said, was the United Auto Workers' refusal to give a specific date next year when they'd pare back wages to levels comparable to those paid to non-union workers at U.S. plants of foreign manufacturers such as Honda and Toyota.

  Corker, whose state is home to a Nissan plant and headquarters, addressed the breakdown at a news conference this morning.

• SEN. BOB CORKER:

  I basically pleaded with them to give me something, give me some kind of language where we would know that, at some point date certain, they were, quote, "competitive," not parity, competitive with these other companies.

• KWAME HOLMAN:

  Senate Banking Committee Chair Chris Dodd handled the talks for the Democrats. He said demanding a fixed timetable in the near future was unreasonable given the state of the economy.

  SEN. CHRIS DODD (D), Connecticut: And the auto industry pointed out, as did others, that it's impossible to talk about date certains, particularly in an economy that is as volatile as this one is.

  And so any suggestion that either dealers, suppliers, the manufacturers themselves, or, for that matter, labor in this case could agree to a date certain in this economy on when compatibility or comparability would be achieved was unrealistic.

• KWAME HOLMAN:

  In Detroit today, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger called the compromise "unbalanced," arguing it would have required more sacrifice from workers than from other auto industry stakeholders.

  With Congress not expected to return until January, Gettelfinger turned his attention to convincing the Bush administration that swift action was needed.

• RON GETTELFINGER, United Auto Workers President:

  It's important for the White House to put — exert its influence to get this money released as quickly as possible. We cannot afford for there to be a run on the banks, if you will, at these companies.

• KWAME HOLMAN:

  Corker said he hoped the administration would attach strings to the funds to make sure the auto manufacturers followed through on restructuring plans.

• SEN. BOB CORKER:

  Crisis is when good things happen, you know, when you can make people do things. If the TARP money comes in without the conditions that we agreed to last night, even if you move aside the UAW thing that wasn't agreed to, even if you move that aside, if those conditions are not on the TARP money, the administration, in my opinion, will have missed an unbelievable opportunity to cause these companies go ahead.

• KWAME HOLMAN:

  That sentiment seemingly was echoed in a statement from President-elect Barack Obama, who said, "My hope is that the administration and the Congress will still find a way to give the industry the temporary assistance it needs, while demanding the long-term restructuring that is absolutely required."

  The administration was expected to take action within days, but has not yet revealed what conditions it would ask of the automakers and unions should it make funding available.