Ron Gettelfinger Quotations

Whether or not we can stabilize a situation that's deteriorating, I'm not sure, ... We'll just have to wait and see until what the final analyses are.

We've got a pretty unique situation involving General Motors . That's why I'm optimistic.

We have said consistently that General Motors cannot shrink itself to prosperity. In fact, shrinking General Motors only exacerbates its problems.

Make no mistake about it, we will make a big issue out of that in the (bankruptcy) hearings,

Right now I'm just focused on this agreement,

No, absolutely not. We've done our share. We're ready to move forward.

He himself (Miller) got a $3 million signing bonus, he gets a $1.5 million salary, he gets $4 million at the end, ... And then you talk about what you want to force down the throat of people who are working for a living.

His statements fly in the face of everything these workers stand for,

has focused squarely on issues and on doing what's in the best interests of workers and their families, refusing to be drawn into divisive personal squabbles.

I think we're making a mistake if we think in the case of General Motors that health care is the biggest problem that they've got.

People who live in gated communities in this country need to think about where we're headed,

Like the U.A.W.-G.M. health care agreement, this tentative agreement asks every U.A.W. member, active and retired, to make sacrifices so that everyone can continue to receive excellent health care coverage today and in the future.

I think he is probably using that as a scare tactic to try to make the workers bow to him or something,

The approach that he has taken is clearly, clearly one of angering the membership, ... But I can tell you one thing: He has definitely solidified the rank-and-file of our union.

We do not believe that they want to reach an agreement.

We believe the tentative agreement is an essential step toward ensuring that G.M. is a competitive and financially sound corporation that can continue to provide good wages and benefits for decades to come.

We have not got down the road that far,

Those are the very kind of inflammatory statements that really fire up the work force and make people believe that they're not appreciated, ... That is very offensive to people.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the UAW has had to deal with a court-ordered corporate restructuring, and we will vigorously use our experience, expertise, and resources to represent the interests of UAW workers.

To try to come up with a time frame on where we're headed would be unfair. We're still waiting on the report back from our financial advisers,

UAW-GM active workers and retirees have long enjoyed some of the best health-care coverage of any industrial workers in America,

We have a concern, certainly, ... We would prefer to not see Delphi go into bankruptcy, but it is, as we all recognize, a very difficult and challenging three-party issue there.

We cannot sugarcoat what we're facing as working people and as a nation. These are very serious times, and it is time for us to take very serious actions. If we don't stand up, who will?

We felt there was a need for us to take some action, ... This is a major move on our part.

We're very pleased to announce tonight that we have reached a tentative agreement with the Ford Motor Company... during what proved to be a very difficult and challenging set of negotiations,

We don't accept the notion that America is a country where a privileged few live well while the rest of us struggle to meet our daily expenses, ... We're going to fight for something better.

blatant union busting and an insult to every American worker.

Due diligence is still under way there, so we're not prepared to comment on that,

It would be presumptuous for us to say that there would be a strike and it would be just as presumptuous for someone to say there would not be.

It was a long year. It was probably one of the most painful, excruciating decisions that we ever had to deal with as a union.

The tentative agreement on health care matters is the result of an in-depth analysis of G.M.'s financial situation and many weeks of intense discussion between the U.A.W. and G.M..

The tentative agreement is an essential step toward insuring that General Motors is a competitive and financially sound corporation,

The tentative agreement asks every UAW-GM member, active and retired, to make sacrifices so that everyone can continue to receive excellent health-care coverage today and in the future.

Some people say that until it gets over $3 (a gallon) it won't really matter, ... I think when the average person pulls up to the fuel pumps it does have an impact on them.

Northwest Airlines' behavior toward AMFA is blatant union- busting and an insult to every American worker, ... The UAW is proud to offer this support to AMFA members.

Subject to acceptable resolution of outstanding issues and satisfactory finalization of contractual language, the UAW GM National Negotiating Committee, the UAW National GM Council, and the UAW Retired Workers Advisory Council have unanimously endorsed this tentative agreement,

Delphi 's misuse of the bankruptcy procedure to circumvent the collective bargaining process and slash jobs and wages and drastically reduce healthcare, retirement, and other hard-won benefits or eliminate them altogether is a travesty and a concern for every American.

Delphi's contract proposal was not designed to be a framework for an agreement but a road map for confrontation,

This isn't a regional issue because the Big Three employ advertising, design, engineering, manufacturing, sales and service workers all over the country. The failure of any one of these companies would be a disaster.

This is a major move on our part, and it's very difficult and very challenging, ... These are the times in which we find ourselves. We're not hiding from our responsibilities.

At General Motors, it is going to have to be all in.

I've got a pretty handy laundry list of items that are of concern to me. I think you probably know what a lot of them are.

Once again, we see the disgusting spectacle of the people at the top taking care of themselves at the same time they are demanding extraordinary sacrifices from their hourly workers, engineers, administrative and support staff, mid-level managers and others.

In the last five days, we have successfully concluded negotiations with five of the largest manufacturers in the world, ... That's five in five. What they do and how they do it basically touches everyone worldwide in one way or another.

Certainly today's announcement will only make the 2007 negotiations all the more difficult and all the more important.

I'd say that's an assumption on his part,

These are lifetime benefits and General Motors cannot unilaterally change them,

The company said it narrowed the proposed wage cut and called its offer ''competitive.