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UAW prepping for a strike... just in case
When union contract negotiations are kicked off, the press is on the topic like white on rice, but interest quickly wanes after bargaining has been underway for a couple weeks. Right now we have no idea what's going on at the negotiating table, but one thing is for certain; both sides are gearing up for the possibility of a strike. The UAW currently has a war chest of almost $1 billion, and on August 5-6, meetings will take place to decide how the cash is doled out and to train local leaders on the art of the strike.
Strike meetings during contract talks are nothing new, but as bad as the car business is for the domestic automakers, both sides are hoping work stoppages can be avoided. While the automakers can ill-afford a strike, $1 billion only amounts to about $5,500 per person with 180,000 active UAW members, and workers probably want paychecks to stop even less than the automakers. We don't know how these negotiations will all pan out, but if the domestics can't close the $30/hr labor cost gap with their Japanese competition, there's a chance none of the active or retired UAW workers will have a retirement to look forward to.
[Source: Auto News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Radix 11:38AM (8/04/2007)
*sigh* OMFG sit down.
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Max 2:12PM (8/04/2007)
Exactly!
Don't forget how the UAW treated our Marines!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1360689/posts
Totalfixation 11:46AM (8/04/2007)
This is the reason why i hate unions, The American auto industry is going down hill and they want more money. Granted they may have a right to stand up and fight for what they should deserve, but if the industry is suffering, who do you think will be out of the job if the companies go bankrupt?
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Stephen 11:48AM (8/04/2007)
I really do hope they solve this before a strike happens. Otherwise, both will suffer.
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RC 12:05PM (8/04/2007)
get the uaw out of the auto industry.
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J.Crew 12:11PM (8/04/2007)
"Give us our share"?? They have had more than their share for a long time. GM/Ford/Chrysler need sustainable profits to SURVIVE. Toyota workers are dumb for not wanting more!!
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seoultrain 3:48AM (8/05/2007)
maybe they're dumb, but maybe they're smart for not driving their company into the ground. Afterall, they have more job security, don't they?
Derek 11:50AM (8/05/2007)
Did they take their share of the massive losses that the big three have suffered recently? Doubt it, but the union was "generous" enough to accept tiny cuts while the company is bleeding like mad.
I'm all for unions taking their share if they choose, but you've gotta take the good with the bad. If the company does well, give more money. But if the company looses, then pay up!
The folks to blame for this are the union bosses. Decades ago they should have insisted that the retiree packages be set aside in a separate account to guarantee the pensions of the then current workers when they retired. It's also taken the bosses even longer than the CEO's to realize that their companies are in serious trouble. Now that the CEO's are working to fix things, hopefully the unions don't screw things over just because GM and Ford made a profit this past quarter.
J.Crew 3:45PM (8/05/2007)
The current and past union contracts were irresponsible on both parties for accepting them. Unions were needed back in the early days as employee abuse was rampant in the industry. Now the opposite is true with "job banks" and unproductive employees being protected along with the majority of good employees. The union should be smart enough to weed out bad members that abuse the system. They should also understand that a jobs bank is a bullsh*t setup that only hurts the long term stability of the companies that provide them with jobs.
It will be interesting to see how Toyota employees react when their sales numbers start to decline and they have to lay off people for the first time. There is no way they will sustain their sales growth as they have in the past as nothing lasts forever. They may be smart for not asking for higher wages, but they may regret not allowing the unions in when the tide turns.
In a twisted way - if the US wanted to save their manufacturing base... someone needs to get unions started over in China! That would send the markets into a tizzy around the world.
Petey 12:31PM (8/04/2007)
I hope they strike, their stupidity and irrelevance will only become more apparent to the general public. Over half the cars purchased now have foreign nameplates on them, half of the 'domestic' names plates are made in Canada or Mexico or elsewhere... lets see how much people side on the UAW.
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Gardiner Westbound 12:32PM (8/04/2007)
The Big-3 are trying to weasel out of paying retiree benefits earned decades ago while the big shots who ran the companies into the ground are living large on multi million dollar compensation packages. Doesn't seem right to me.
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Imp 1:07PM (8/04/2007)
So let the union fight for those retiree benefits ... but give up on the ridiculous pay these assembly line workers receive. There is no way they should receive that kind of money doing that kind of work.
Guenther 1:15PM (8/04/2007)
Sure its s#i++y. No-one likes it. This whole damn state (MI) is for sale right now. If they don't make more cuts, there will be no more FORD, no GM, no Chrysler.
olddavid 12:51PM (8/04/2007)
Again, people......it is the lack of a national health care plan that singlehandedly creates the cost differential, so repeat this to yourselves, ad nauseum, until it seeps into your remaining brain cell. The Germans have a higher wage base than the UAW, and yet I never hear calls in this forum to abolish the craft structure to bring the cost of a BMW in line with a Skoda. Do not allow yourselves to be duped into believing that a weakened UAW will in any way aid the average worker. The middle class is under siege, wealth differential is as high as it was during the time of the Robber Barons, and you allow yourselves to be divided at your own peril. The downstream loss of influence, unfortunately, will be more felt by your children.
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Admiral Ackbar 1:00PM (8/04/2007)
Wrong. The $30 an hour wage difference is between Americans who work for the big 3 and Americans who work for the foreign companies who operate manufacturing facitilities here in the US.
Auto workers in the UAW make, on average, too much money for the work they do.
Will 12:52PM (8/04/2007)
For those UAW members not yet retired who plan to participate in this strike, you should be ashamed of yourselves. You're earning one of the highest average labor-relted wages in the US, for not much more than than the "Homer Simpson Button Thrust" in return. The leaders of your organizations should shoulder a good part of the blame for what's happening to the auto industry.
Remember the US Merchant Marines? Unions killed them off, too. The American education system's not much better off, thanks in part to the teachers unions.
Union leaders and their politician-esque promises to their uneducated constituents piss me off on the highest order. You can't imagine how frustrating it is to read this, knowing that our Soldiers and Saliors, (who put their lives on the line, good orders or no), can never come close to receiving that kind of money. Yet you'll never see a wounded soldier on TV complaining about his miserable stipend. You'll also never see them strike, no matter what ludicrous orders come down the line from DC.
What are you going to do after you slay the US automotive industry? There's never been a title for "Highest Paid Unemployed Union Worker", and if the UAW keeps this shit up you'd better hope there's a vacant position at McDonalds or Wal Mart, because everyone else actually requires, well, skills and college degrees. Where will Ron Gettelfinger be when that happens?
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Avinash machado 1:58PM (8/04/2007)
Nice points,Will. If the big 3 collapse they will be out of a job. It will be the lesser of two evils if they decide to some cuts in pay or benefits instead.
T.Wayne Evans 11:09AM (8/06/2007)
Iwould like to know if imp had his turn on the motor line. I did and the labor was cheap
Imp 12:50PM (8/06/2007)
I speak with experience, Mr Evans, as I have worked two summers as a student in the Ford assembly plant in Oakville early to mid-nineties ... first summer building the Tempo, second summer building the Windstar.
I was unlucky with the Tempo as I had the most difficult job on the chassis line (but when you're a student, you take it or go home). Despite "earning" my high-teens/hour wage and being the envy of all my friends who were making far less, I still think these guys make too much for what they do.
jgp 2:36PM (8/04/2007)
If the unions strike, the Big Three can just close every one of their US factories and move all US production to Mexico.
It's the ultimate lockout.
And, yeah, it's ridiculous that UAW workers make $30/hour more than non-UAW workers in the US. Hell, $30/hour by itself is more than I make as an engineer with a college education.
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