UAW's new role: Biggest shareholder - By Katie Merx and Tim Higgins, DETROIT FREE PRESS
The UAW, traditionally a mighty force in the struggle of Labor against Capital, could be on the brink of a new role: the U.S. automakers' biggest stockholder.
New four-year labor agreements UAW members ratified with the Detroit automakers shift retiree health care costs to an independent trust under the auspices of the union, which could take control of hundreds of millions of shares of General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. The fact that the UAW could virtually be holding almost one-sixth of the equity in the nation's two biggest automakers could drive profound changes in the way the union thinks and acts, experts say.