Speaking to radio station WJR-AM in Detroit, United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said job security issues are at the heart of the stalemate between the UAW and General Motors.

The union launched the first nation-wide strike against GM to be staged in 37 years on Monday over what most pundits have assumed were matters relative to health care and retiree benefits.

Gettlefinger said, however, that concerns over potential closures of assembly plants in the United States and the relocation of production to countries with a lower wage potential like Mexico were the real heart of the matter.

"We are not being unreasonable," said Gettelfinger. "We've offered things to the company, that you read about in the media, that they have pushed backed on."

As to the action taken on Monday, he said, "Obviously we did not want to strike, but that is what was required, and in many ways it may be a good thing because it will bring an end to this thing quicker we hope. I feel like we were pushed into a strike, and I don't understand why."

Gettlefinger acknowledged that a union-managed retiree benefit trust fund was not yet set in concrete, but insisted that the voluntary employee beneficiary association was not the issue that led to the strike.

"I am convinced, I was in '05, that it was in the best interests of our retirees for us to go into a VEBA," Gettelfinger said. "So that was never an issue with us."