UAW strike against Chrysler begins
by John Neff on Oct 10th 2007 at 11:11AM 
Here we go again. CNN is showing live video of UAW workers walking off the job at Chrysler various plants across the country. Both the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News are also confirming that an agreement has not been reached and the strike has begun. We'll bring you more updates throughout the day as they happen.The UAW strike against Chrysler involves around 49,000 people, compared to the some 73,000 union workers involved in the strike against General Motors last month.
Twenty-four Chrysler plants across the nation are involved in the strike, though according to the Detroit Free Press, one plant in Toledo is not covered by the national agreement and it's not known if those workers will join the strike.
Chrysler's famously large inventory of vehicles could finally work in its favor during the strike. Though around 3,000 cars per day will go unbuilt at first, the automaker should be able to meet demand for its cars in the near future. Hot-selling cars like the Jeep Wrangler, however, could be affected first. Analysts are also concerned how the strike will affect the launch of the Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country minivans, two very important vehicles to Chrysler's bottom line.
UPDATE 5: Well that was quick, it's over already.
UPDATE 4: Images of the strike from Getty photographer Scott Olson have been published in a gallery.
UPDATE 3: 9,000 Canadian auto workers will be affected by the strike within less than 24 hours.
UPDATE 2: Five Chrysler plants were not involved because they happen to be idled right now.
UPDATE: Automotive News reports that 31 plants and technical centers are involved in the strike, while the work stoppage will eventually shut down Canadian facilities within the first day.
[Photos: Scott Olson/Getty]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Joe K. 11:20AM (10/10/2007)
Well it worked against GM...
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lidave 11:48AM (10/10/2007)
Why is their so much hate towards unions? I'm sorry that these guys don't want to work for 7 dollars an hour with no pension. I'm sorry that China and India use slave labor to make their products.
Why are we measuring our workers against slaves? Why is it bad to want health care, fair wages, and security? Why do so many of you hold this elitist attitude that only the college educated deserve good pay?
Their is a war going on against the middle class in this country and the unions are on the good side.
And if you are going to blame the unions for GM's problems, please just kill yourself, you having nothing to offer the world in terms of coherent thought.
The line workers don't design the cars. The workers did not ignore the changing trends in fuel efficiency and interior design. The line workers didn't decide to shelf the ev vehicle 10 years ago. Wake up.
Joe K. 11:58AM (10/10/2007)
The hatred for unions is not because they deserve fair pay. Its the hatred that a conglomerate will dupe workers into believing that Ford, GM, and Chrysler are some creation more evil than Satan and Hitler's love child. They pontificate about the ill-will management has for the workers and how they want nothing but to create a sweatshop out of the line. Its all crap. Its rhetoric used to preserve the fees the union skim from its members so that it can remain in existence. So my hatred for the union is the greed of its upper-leadership that seek to pad their own pockets while thinking nothing about the fact that the piece of floss that holds them above the flames is slowly fraying and the more they cause these useless processions of time wasting grandeur the less interested Automobile Management is in the union's concerns.
So, in summary, I hate the unions because the unions care less for their members than the Automobile execs do... Power is the only thing the Union leaders are concerned with, preserve it over all else...
Johnny Rotten 12:02PM (10/10/2007)
Why is there so much hatred? If you don't understand this, then you sir need to exit the conversation. Unions allow the same thing people hate when corporations try to do. Monopolies. Unions are no better than OPEC. A monopoly is a grossly inefficient way to run any industry, including labor. You bleeding-hearts have no idea how the most basic economic ideas work and you certainly know nothing of monopoly rents. Competition is the only way to ensure that a product, including labor, is supplied and consumed in the most efficient manner possible. When a union exists, laborers can extort huge wages for otherwise low paying, low skill jobs. Any idiot can build a car and I am sure there are lots of people who would love to have these jobs at 1/3 what these sharks get paid. If they were allowed to compete for these jobs, they most certainly would. But the unions don't allow it.
willem 12:04PM (10/10/2007)
The enormous stupidity on the part of unskilled labor, er, union goons will ultimately cost them their collective livelihoods if Chrysler/Cerberus shuttered their doors forever. I'd say that's reason enough to hate organized terror.
Mr. Oak 12:07PM (10/10/2007)
@ Gardiner Westbound: I almost fell off my chair laughing at your piece. It is quite accurate though. The funny part is that description also to the last letter, applies to the Republican Party.
The good of the party above the good of the Country/People yada yada....
Problem is the lame ass Democrats is not much of an option.
Sagracer 12:07PM (10/10/2007)
liDave,
Please educate yourself on this subject before posting.
Nobody is talking about slave wages, or even REDUCING wages for that matter. We are, however, talking about:
-Eliminating the jobs bank
-401K's, not pensions
-Competitive health care to SALARIED workers (oh, the humanity!)
-No inefficeint work rules
-No mandatory overtime
-No free life insurance, dental, etc.
What is so unreasonable about this?
Like I said, keep the $27/hr, that is not the problem.
Why should UAW workers get 2 to 3 times their market rate compensation for the manufacturing sector?
You blame management, but I think management is doing a pretty good job (especially GM) considering they have $1500 - $2000 PER VEHICLE disadvantage.
Tell me. How do you expect to compete with this type of disadvantage?
Devin 12:13PM (10/10/2007)
Um.. probably because they make about 5x as much money as those McDonalds employees, except the Union employees have an extremely low skilled job (like Mcdondalds) and have on average have almost no post-high school education. This, along with the fact that it is almost impossible for GM to fire any of these people because they are under contract, even if they decide to show up. I think mainly, its because a high school drop out is making 2-3x as much as the teachers in the high schools. Oh, and the fact they are greedy, and want even more of GM's money. Long live GM. Kill the Unions.
geo.stewart 12:29PM (10/10/2007)
lidave,
they may not design the cars but when I look at the vast expanse of hard plastic in my HHR, I can only think of the higher quality materials that could have been used if not for the exorbitant costs of the UAW.
Matt 2:21PM (10/10/2007)
lidave:
"Why is their so much hate towards unions? I'm sorry that these guys don't want to work for 7 dollars an hour with no pension. I'm sorry that China and India use slave labor to make their products."
Seven dollars an hour? Try THIRTY. Slave labor? Take a look around you... import manufacturers take roughly an $800 hit per vehicle to cover pension and healthcare... domestics under the guise of the UAW? Something like $3500, I want to say $3700.
The UAW is destroying not only the domestic auto makers, but THEMSELVES and a large portion of our economy, slowly, without even noticing.
They're too concerned with the short-term, and have seemed to invest zero care into the long-term.
elprogramer 4:06PM (10/10/2007)
I've personally seen what you've just claimed does not exist. Several times.
A single McDonald's doesn't generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue in a single day. One assembly line does. Sometimes, depending on the product, it's per HOUR.
I agree, there is much fat to be trimmed, and as a recent hire for General Motors (of which, I thank the UAW), I've seen the elderly workers who hate to work. But what I've seen much more of is either managerial incompetence or management taking advantage of workers who don't know their rights (I'm talking legal rights, as established by state and federal labor laws).
I love General Motors, honestly. I love their products, I'm working on a degree to move up in the company. But I've seen the system firsthand, and I know that the only thing that matters to them is the bottom line. Not you, not your health, but how much product they can ship out.
Say what you want about the path the UAW has taken in negotiations over the past thirty years (I personally disagree with most of it, especially pricing themselves well beyond the market), but I know for damn sure that not a single benefit I have is from the good graces of management.
Alex 11:21AM (10/10/2007)
here's hoping that Cerberus sticks it to them!
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RJP 2:10PM (10/10/2007)
I kind of hope Cerberus is willing to let the UAW strike for a while. Offer them something that Chrysler can reasonably afford while not unreasonable for the UAW to accept, and then just let them throw their tantrum and strike until they realize they aren't getting anywhere.
MKIV 2:28PM (10/10/2007)
"All that miss work tomorrow will be fires!!!!!"
That's just me.
Gardiner Westbound 11:22AM (10/10/2007)
I can't imagine a strike hurting Chrysler for at least a couple of weeks. It will give it an opportunity to sell off excess inventory and save overhead.
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Matt 3:33PM (10/10/2007)
A effing MEN.
Bananas 11:24AM (10/10/2007)
Since they are not beholden to shareholders, maybe they can hold out longer or can tell the Union idiots to pound sand and just hire non-union workers.
They do have alot to lose, but since they also did not get the concessions for the healthcare that was given to GM and Ford years ago. I bet this will be a tough fight. They should just sever ties and immediately start to hire and train new workers. It's not like any of that would have to show on the "books" since they don't need to show any of that to anyone.
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vkchu 11:52AM (10/10/2007)
agreed.
new workers = new mindsets = better productivity. who's gonna complain in this economic climate when you got a decently paying job? damn unions destroying america. where else can u demand a raise, bonus, free healthcare all for being lazy? yes its been rehashed for all eternity, but damn, it still gets me angry. can you imagine if they went on strike in corporate (read non blue collar) america? they couldnt be shown the door fast enough. monkeys-the lot of them.
cerberus 1, uaw 0
Matt 3:33PM (10/10/2007)
A effing MEN. DOUBLE.
Brian 11:27AM (10/10/2007)
Fire em all!!
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