Auto workers protest cuts outside Detroit auto show

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2006

DETROIT, United States (AFP) — Hundreds of autoworkers braved bitter winds to remind the executives inside the Detroit auto show that their restructuring plans have a human cost.

But it was as much a protest against the notably absent union membership as it was against management.

"Concessions are no way to negotiate," said Anthony Young, one of a group of Canadian Auto Workers union member who drove down from Ingersoll, Ontario.

Grassroots pressure has been mounting against the pact that the United Auto Worker's made to reduce health care costs at struggling automakers Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp.

The biggest concern for many autoworkers is that GM's former subsidiary, auto-parts supplier Delphi Corp., will be able to default on its...