Automakers, workers could join forces to save industry
Restructuring the Auto Industry
The United Auto Workers Union will most likely refuse any request from the auto industry to make wage and benefit concessions, since they have been living “high on the hog” for so many years. No doubt they will wait until Mr. Obama takes office to get their “pay-back” for the union’s support during the presidential campaign. Refusal to rewrite union contracts will only delay an inevitable bankruptcy.
It is my opinion that all unions have grown excessively out-of-hand from the age when workers were exploited. In my grandfather’s day, he took his teenage sons with him into the Pennsylvania coal mines to help load the coal cars. He was paid according to the quantity of coal he extracted from the mine, and no other benefits were provided. That is when unions were imperative and came to the rescue of the downtrodden immigrants.
Today’s union members demand excessive pay and benefits for doing much less work. Many have an attitude that they would rather see a company completely fail than make any concessions.
What a wonderful opportunity it is today for the auto industry and their work force to join hands to create a profit sharing agreement that would result in a powerful American industry, where employees would become an integral part of the organization. They would have a greater incentive and could profit in proportion to the success of their company.
Joe Dobronski
Ballwin
Darin Gilley, are you reading this? Teamsters Local 610 killed the goose that laid the golden eggs for bus drivers at Special School District 5 years ago. At the time, Laidlaw Transit was our employer and provided us with excellent pay, lots of paid days off, and free insurance. Unfortunately, Laidlaw was bleeding red ink trying to live up to our contract. When Laidlaw was trying to bid for 5 more years of service to SSD, they came , hat in hand, to Local 610 asking for concessions and give-backs to be able to lower their bid. When put to a vote, 4.5 percent said yes. The goose was dead. Five years later, now working for MV Student Transportation, I am making the same money(working a lot more hours) but our insurance is not free. Over the years, many have come up to me and said that if they knew then what they know now, they would have voted differently. Duh!
To Didymus,
Did you try to organize MV Student Transportation?
No! Local 610 did not appreciate drivers who show up for work everyday, do their jobs right, make them look good, and get along with management. The union rewarded mediocrity and praised the malcontents.
To Didymus,
So your conditions are worse, but you didn’t try to organize your new employer. You didn’t have to go with Teamsters 610, there are other unions to organize around that have less adversarial relations with management and yet allow both union and management to thrive. It does take cooperation on both sides though. So are you complaining about the union, the management, or both?What about the SSD? Could they have afforded the contract that Teamsters local 610 proposed?
As I’ve said before unions are only as good as the people that are in them, and the participation of their members. If 610 is was as bad as you say then you are well off to be rid of it. I would not consider that to be a blanket indictment of all unions. In my experience the good unions are outnumbered, but that doesn’t mean that the bad ones can’t be turned around. It just requires participation and work.
I am very doubtful that since didymus can’t sign his name while naming others if he has the testicular fortitude to attend a union meeting and speak up, help out, or participate. I may be wrong but sounds like a whiner.
Dan, can one standup and give a contrary opinion at a union meeting without suffering “consequences”?
The UAW has been living fat for years, they own a $6 million resort with a golf course and they can’t even run that without a big deficit. The Japanese car companies can still pull a profit with the plants in this country and they do this because their employees are not getting overpaid and overbenefitted. Same with WalMart. There are UAW retirees making more money now on their pensions than some of the UAW workers themselves. This bailout is nothing except a bailout for the UAW, who is the main contributor to the big three automakers crashing. This is pitiful, but get used to it as Obama will just tax people who work hard and who are not overpaid or overbenefitted, to pay for this UAW anarchy.
To Dave,
You conveniently overlook a lot about Japanese and other foreign car manufacturers in the U.S. Most of their plants are under 15 years old and were enticed to build here by offers of gigantic subsidies on both state and local levels. Tax breaks that many of our older plants don’t get. And because of their newness their workforce is younger as well, so they don’t have the retirees yet in numbers that American manufacturers do. So we should give them all the breaks so they can destroy our own industries? I’ve owned GM and Chrysler products all my driving life and have had less problems than some of my friends with foreign cars. You seem to want to punish the retirees that fought for good wages and consequently raised the standard of living for American workers. Yes they fought using strikes, slowdowns and other tactics anathema to business, but they endured the poverty of long strikes and picket lines and sometimes lost their battles in a cause that has improved the lives generally of most U.S. workers in better benefits, better working conditions, better pay and set a better standard in this country. You can kiss ass to the bottom-line execs, that made the bad decisions to build gas guzzlers and make us more dependent on foreign oil that finances terrorists, I’ll side with the American workers.
hahahah! Yeah right, the auto execs want no part of profit sharing as you speak of it Joe, gimme a break.
“Dan, can one standup and give a contrary opinion at a union meeting without suffering “consequences”?”
Yes.
“This bailout is nothing except a bailout for the UAW, who is the main contributor to the big three automakers crashing”
How about some proof for this wild accusation? It is not the UAW who made people stop buying cars. It is not the UAW who is responsible for the price of the cars. It is not the UAW who determined what cars people wanted to buy. Explain yourself superDave Einstein.
Jimmie, thanks for the compliment of superDave Einstein. Health insurance costs for workers accounts for $1695 per car at GM and $215 per car for Toyota and this is a direct result of the UAW. And Rich, the unions originated with a good cause, but have taken it completely overboard. And don’t think I am kissing ass to the execs, the UAW has not offered any concessions in this deal. You can side with the workers Rich, and that money will come right out of your pocket while at the same time the workers and UAW, thus far, aren’t compromising a bit. You will be paying for their fat wages and retirement with your taxes, maybe they will let you golf a free round at the UAW 6 million dollar golf resort they have for their members, this bailout is nothing but a fleece.
Dave,
The Japanese workers do get paid well and have good benefits. The difference is that it’s government run health care over there. Our workers are the most productive in the world, but it’s hard to compete with an extra $4,000 overhead per car due to health insurance. And it isn’t just the autoworkers. When is America going to wise up and do like the rest of the world does, nationalize healthcare so that our companies can compete in the global economy on a level playing field.