Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, GM, UAW/Unions
UAW to strike at 11 AM today
Nine days after the contract between GM and the UAW ended, the two have yet to come to an agreement on employee concessions, including a two-tier wage structure and a move that would entrust the UAW to be responsible for retiree health care costs. According to a union source, if nothing is accomplished, the UAW has set a strike deadline for 11 AM this morning.
More to follow as it develops, so watch this space.
[Source: Detroit News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
ckm 3:18AM (9/24/2007)
Because domestic car manufacturers really need this kind of help....
Way to send people to Toyota and Honda, UAW.
As a side note, Toyota went through hellish union fights in the 1950's, far worse than anything seen in the US since before the Depression. Out of that came the current 'work system' of continuous improvement and heavy inputs from the shop floor, among other things. It also led to the end of unions as Japanese companies stopped having an adversarial relationship with the workforce....
Chris.
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m p 4:21AM (9/24/2007)
It also led to the end of unions as Japanese companies stopped having an adversarial relationship with the workforce....
??? Er, what? Not 2 months ago Japan Airlines pilots in Japan
walked off the job and left a lot of pissed customers.
But the "end of the adversarial relationship with the workforce" is more or less true with the work force basically having been beaten down into the dust. To use your example company, Toyota goes from record profit to record profit. Yet the union settled for a $60/month raise last year. The year before I believe it was a symbolic $7/month raise.
ckm 11:23AM (9/24/2007)
I was referring to Japanese car unions, not Japan as a whole. This is AutoBlog after all....
Maestro1 4:26AM (9/24/2007)
Some of you may disagree with me, but I find the idea of unions striking everytime they don't get what they want utterly absurd. Its nothing short of coercion and definitely does absolutely nothing to help the situation.
Fair enough if they strike on the event that the car manufacturers ignore them, but they're always in talks and negotiating, so its utterly stupid to strike when they know a deal is in the works. I don't care if its 9 days or 50 days, the bottom line is they're still at the table negotiating.
They must be plain stupid if they don't realise that this tedious behaviour not only hurts the company but the amount of money the workers get as it cuts into company profits/finances. The UAW better find a better way to do business, but I personally think that they should be abolished and that the workers find some new representation. Having them hold the big three at ransom all the time just isn't helping.
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spots 5:49AM (9/24/2007)
Truly stupid move on the union's part. As if the domestic makers don't have enough problems...
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electricc0wb0y 11:10AM (9/24/2007)
This helps American auto makers. There will be no need to lay off 5% of the work force this year. Decreased labor will instead result from union strikes...
spots 5:52PM (9/24/2007)
It's also a matter of public perception- once again, the whole industry is being viewed as dysfunctional by the average person- both sides come across as intransigent and greedy, especially the union in this case. It's common knowledge that the three domestic makers are hurting, and then to see this happening in the evening news? It looks bad, and probably more than a few folks will buy a car from Asia, Incorporated as a result of the UAW and GM not being able to get on the same page.
Avinash machado 6:36AM (9/24/2007)
At this rate America will never have any automobile industry left.
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Nick 7:05AM (9/24/2007)
Fire them all, ignore the union, hire immigrant laborers.
Problem solved, message delivered.
And no I don't care if that's legal or possible.
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Mike 7:33AM (9/24/2007)
No, fire them all, ignore the union and hire American labor that would be happy to work as non-union employees. They're doing it at other automotive plants in the US. No need to go to immigrants.
But the key is to fire everyone who goes on strike.
Mike 9:07AM (9/24/2007)
Agree 100%. There are plenty of Americans willing to work for GM, Ford and Chrysler. Fire them all, scale back the pay and benefits and get on with being a bit more competitive.
Alex 9:51AM (9/24/2007)
No need for immigrant labor, you can easily hire americans who would love to do the job without a union. I would love to see this backfire on the UAW. GM should start hiring immediately when they go on strike.
They'll take huge hits all over the place. the press will call them anti-american, the federal gov't will call un-american. the unions will call them traitors, your liberal nut jobs (NOT all democrats, so calm down) will call them the next Enron.
They'll lose business at the dealerships initially, but Ford and Chrysler will follow suit seeing the savings. they'll take the same hits. then something strange will happen... they'll all start breaking even. who knows one day they might start making a profit.
it'll take immense balls by GM to do it. regretably, i don't think GM, Ford or Chrysler has the balls to make such a bold move.
Nick 7:41PM (9/24/2007)
Ha yea, the immigrant labor part was more so a joke than anything, but I do wish some of these companies that deal with power hungry unions would just take a stand rather than constantly bending over and taking it. Personally I can't stand being part of a union, any union I've ever been in has done nothing but take portions of my wages, and then threaten to go on strike, even when I was perfectly content doing my job.
The days of unions should be up, but for some reason they still hold companies by the gonads. It's time to get rid of the ridiculous power struggles.
MariosInferno 7:06AM (9/24/2007)
Not sure what the UAW is doing anymore...
My guess is this is some heavy posturing. Making it seem that they did all they could to get what they wanted. In the end, they have to have the votes to get the contract in place. I hope this is true, because if they actually strike...well...they're far more out of touch than I ever thought they were.
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dougjp 7:49AM (9/24/2007)
A union in today's climate is a useless appliance which only sucks union dues out of worker's paychecks. So to give the appearance of being relevant they always go through this 11th hour dance.
The funniest thing is seeing banker's bid for Union's deposits/investment accounts, because they are so large. Talk about strange bedfellows. However worker's aren't "tuned in" enough to see they are being taken to the cleaners on their paychecks, and how much better it would be if all that cash of their were back in their pockets.
Devin 8:21AM (9/24/2007)
It will be a horrible thing if GM is actually influenced by these "strikers". Maybe they will lose some money off the stupid, greedy shit bags initially, but that's spare change compared to the amount they'll lose if they agree to something they can't afford. GM needs to set a good contract, because it is going to have to last for X number of years.
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DelayedZ 8:29AM (9/24/2007)
As a union employee who hates the union, lol...it's not negotiating, it's the union employees losing shit, basically fighting for whatever they have left, I actually support this strike, maybe we need it to get shit back in line.
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DarkKnight67 8:33AM (9/24/2007)
When they make those "On Strike" signs, make some that also say "Too stupid to realize that my job will never come back if I strike."
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Todd 8:43AM (9/24/2007)
Go ahead and strike. Then when the UAW runs out of money for strike pay, and you can't make your house payment you'll gladly take your same non-unionized job back, for about half the pay.
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Allen McDonald, El Galloviejo® 9:25AM (9/24/2007)
¡ Leave the masochistic, self-destructive unions alone !
Allen McDonald, El Galloviejo®
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