GM Wants To Cut Retirees Health Benefits

One of America's biggest companies says it will give it's union until Thursday to come up with a solution to debilitating health care costs for retirees. General Motors is trying to deal with the multi-billion dollar cost of health care for former workers and wants to cut back one way or another. The company predicts it will owe $77 billion in health care costs for retirees if things don't change. But workers say they agreed to lifetime health care and now they depend on it. For 30 plus years Rick Krzykwa was at the GM plant at Burlingame and Burton in Wyoming. It was a long time which meant accumulation of retirement benefits including life long health care. He stayed with the company for his benefits, even though it meant moving to a GM plant in Indiana for the final two years of his career. "We need every benefit we can get, no matter where we can get it from," Krzykwa says. But now General Motors is determined to significantly cut retirees' health benefits because of their enormous costs. This year alone GM will spend roughly four billion dollars on health care for retired united auto workers. The auto giant's CEO, Rick Wagoner, says health care boosts the average car cost by 1500 dollars. To make the company healthier, they need to trim Wagoner says. But that may not be so easy. Attorney Vern Saper says if life long health care benefits are not spelled out in contracts, then a court will have to decide if GM is obligated to dole them out. If the automaker cuts or trims retiree benefits without a union agreement the UAW would take them to court. And Saper says they would have good odds at winning. "The decisions in the 6th circuit court have been significantly pro-worker, pro-union." Experts say beyond legal issues, there are public relations to think about. Cutting retirement benefits is an emotional issue.