History and Purpose of asrTrust

Among these conditions imposed by government through the restructuring, were the following:

• GM and Chrysler were required to maintain proportionate manufacturing "footprints" in Canada, ensuring that Canada's share of both companies' North American operations would be retained.
• The CAW was required to renegotiate its collective agreements covering active workers at both companies, with a target to reduce all-in hourly active labour costs (after allowance for productivity and demographic factors) to $57 per hour. (Later in the autumn of 2009, the CAW negotiated a parallel agreement with Ford.) Active workers lost several dollars per hour worth of bonuses, paid time off, and other compensation.
• The governments also demanded that the companies and the union resolve some major legacy cost issues at both companies. This included measures to reduce unfunded liabilities in both companies' pension plans. In GM's case, this involved the company making (with government support) an extraordinary $4 billion payment into its pension funds.
• As part of this effort to reduce unfunded legacy costs, the governments also required that the companies establish independent trust funds to take responsibility for the payment of supplementary health benefits to retired workers (such as dental costs, vision, and prescription drug coverage). Until then, both companies had paid retiree health benefits straight out of current operating revenue. This was becoming unsustainable, however, as the number of retirees grew, and the number of active workers shrank. By setting up an independent trust fund (endowed with payments from the companies), future financing for retiree health benefits could be guaranteed (similar to a pension fund). Moreover, these funds would be protected from the effects of possible future bankruptcy of the automakers.