Poor UAW retirees will have to give up prescription-drug coverage for their Viagra and Cialis!

I’m trying to choke back the tears for the poor UAW workers. Of course, those tears may be part of my laughter at this ridiculous fact that UAW retirees even had  prescription-drug coverage of Viagra and Cialis. More from this Wall Street Journal article:

The Obama Administration made GM’s bondholders an offer they couldn’t refuse this week, and a group representing some of the largest institutional investors took the offer. The alternative, as GM made clear in an SEC filing, was for the Treasury to wipe them out in GM’s now-inevitable bankruptcy. Under the terms of the Treasury’s offer, GM bondholders will receive 10% of the company’s stock in exchange for their $27 billion in bonds, plus warrants to buy an additional 15% stake in seven to 10 years.

That’s an improvement on the government’s earlier offer, but it’s a far cry from what the Administration offered the United Automobile Workers for their $20 billion in claims. Assuming the UAW ratifies a new labor agreement, which its locals were voting on Thursday, the union’s retiree benefit trust will receive $10 billion in cash, $6.5 billion in preferred stock paying a 9% dividend, $2.5 billion in debt, 17.5% of the new company and warrants to buy another 2.5% in five years, albeit at a steep price. In exchange, the UAW will accept more flexibility in work rules, and retirees will have to give up prescription-drug coverage for their Viagra and Cialis. Seriously.

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May 29, 2009 · Filed Under UAW


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