Irresistible Force, Meet Immovable Object

Oh, to be a fly on the wall when Bob Nardelli sits down to discuss wage concessions with Ron Gettlefinger...

Nardelli -- infamous for receiving a $210 million severance package (atop the total of $64 million in salary he received during his six-year tenure) when he was fired as Home Depot's C.E.O. earlier this year -- is now in the driver's seat at the newly privately owned Chrysler.

One of his top priorities, of course, is paring labor costs. Gettlefinger, as leader of the United Automobile Workers labor union, has in the past publicly resisted compensation cuts for rank and file workers while executives still pull down fat packages.

Nardelli has declined to say what he will earn for running Chrysler. As a privately owned company, Chrysler is not obligated to disclose his salary, bonuses and perks.

The new Chrysler chief did say that he had already met with Gettlefinger, and said that the introductory exchange went well.

He said he hoped his own compensation would not become an issue in Chrysler's ongoing contract talks with the United Auto Workers union. He hoped that questions about his own compensation would not present a stumbling block to contract talks now underway with the U.A.W.

"The last thing I would want to be as part of the new Chrysler is a distraction," Nardelli told reporters in a news conference at Chrysler's headquarters. "It certainly is my hope that it doesn't become an issue."

Wasn't that his hope at Home Depot, too?

by Mark Stein