UAW clout seen limited as autos drama plays out

By Kyle Peterson and Andrew Stern - Analysis

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The United Automobile Workers union, an icon of organized labor in the United States, is battling to preserve jobs and benefits at teetering U.S. automakers General Motors Corp GM.N and Chrysler with a losing hand.

"The UAW is not going to be a part of the final solution. They are dead meat," said Bill Adams, chief executive of Adams, Nash, Haskell and Sheridan, a labor relations consulting company in Erlanger, Kentucky.

Even if fellow unions were to rally around the UAW, it would not change the outcome, Adams said.

"They're along for the ride, and unfortunately, they're going to be out of business in the auto industry," he said.

Union backers don't agree.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said Friday that the union was continuing to work with a U.S. government task force on the bailout plans for GM and Chrysler. He said he would not respond to "speculation" about further UAW concessions.

But the union has been mostly silent since Monday, when U.S. President Barack Obama told GM and Chrysler neither company had done enough to justify the additional taxpayer money they were seeking. The president gave GM 60 days to wring additional concessions from workers, creditors and other stakeholders.

Chrysler's operation would be funded for 30 days as it works to complete an alliance with Italy's Fiat SpA (FIA.MI).