Posted on 04/10/2007 10:29:05 AM PDT by SmithL
The head of the Canadian Auto Workers Union says he will try to thwart billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian's bid for Chrysler, fearing Kerkorian will cost thousands of workers their jobs.
CAW President Buzz Hargrove said Tuesday that Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp., as well as private equity investors who are studying Chrysler, have a history of hurting workers.
"We don't have much confidence or trust in Mr. Kerkorian," Hargrove said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "He's made billions by coming in, buying low, cutting jobs and throwing people out of work, then selling," Hargrove said.
The CAW represents about 11,000 Chrysler workers in Canada. Its contract with the U.S.-based wing of DaimlerChrysler AG doesn't expire until September 2008, a year later than its U.S. counterpart, the United Auto Workers.
A UAW spokesman declined comment on Kerkorian.
Hargrove said the CAW is most interested in suitors who would keep Chrysler intact and honor the terms of its contract. He also said he has had no contact with Kerkorian's group, nor would he want any.
"No, not interested," Hargrove said when asked if he would entertain talks with Kerkorian.
On Thursday, Tracinda announced in letters to DaimlerChrysler that it was prepared to make a $4.5 billion cash offer for Chrysler and would take the company private. Tracinda adviser and former Chrysler executive Jerome York said it would offer the UAW substantial equity in Chrysler in order to solve the company's rising health care and unfunded pension costs.
The letters didn't mention offering an equity stake to the CAW, but Hargrove said the union is not interested in that.
"We see absolutely no advantage to that whatsoever," he said.
Taking the company private, York said in a letter to DaimlerChrysler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche, would be a long term approach to solving
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
“CAW” — the sound made by a carrion bird.
How about if NOBODY buys it and ALL workers lose their jobs and die...what say you CAW?/sarcasm on.
Profitability is something the Union does not care about. I would imagine they prefer some corporate turbulence to a smooth operation as it gives them leverage to negotiate with. But it seems lately that the union’s are running out of rope in manufacturing. This is evidenced by the AFL-CIO shifting its focus of extortion from the manufacturing sector to the service sector (Janitorial services, etc.). I had read somewhere that some faction tried to start up an IT Union to keep IT work in the US.
Someone asked if the Union and Employees would buy it and run it. The answer was no, we just build ‘em. We would have to give up too much in wages and benefits. It just might be time for the auto industry to pull a reagan on ‘em, and just disband the union, like the air traffic controllers...
LOL.
So true. The unions were, and arguably still are, necessary to protect workers. However, most unions are now nothing but economic “suicide pacts” that will end up costing more American jobs than they save. When American auto companies were fluch with cash and had the market cornered, they could agree to any demand, no matter how outrageous.
Oh, and let’s not forget that the management at the Big Three have consistently put out cr@p year after year.
Correct. The auto makers did much of the damage themselves.
Remember how the Machinist Unions destroyed Eastern Airlines.
Labor unions would rather see a company die and all the employees laid off, than to make any concessions. They want all or nothing.
I want in on that take home full pay for not working action....
I would LOVE to see the American auto companies follow the Japanese and have only two brands. One would be their “everyday” lineup (Ex. Honda) and the other would be their high-end/luxury lineup (Ex. Acura).
Imagine if DaimlerChrysler dropped Jeep and Dodge and they just had Mercedes (luxury) and Chrysler (everyday).
Imagine if GM dropped Buick, GMC, Hummer, Pontiac, Saturn and SAAB and just focused all its efforts on Cadillac (luxury) and Chevy (everyday).
Imagine Ford dropped Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda, Jaguar, Land Rover and just focused on Volvo (luxury) and Ford (everyday).
With fewer lines, the Big Three could dedicate more R&D money per line.
Unionized IT. Holy crap that's an abortion in the making.
You'd see outsourcing move faster than a baptist preacher springing out the back of the whorehouse.
Since the union doesn’t want to pony up the dollars to buy Chrysler and someone else does, then I say tough cookies union bossman! Hope he writes when he finds a new job, maybe flipping burgers at a Mickey D’s, as he sure ain’t smart enough to run a car company, just dumb enough to ruin a car company. Couldn’t happen to a better bunch of losers either! Hope they have fun rebuilding their lives after they killed the goose with the golden egg.
Not a bad idea.
So just what does he think he can do about it except try to generate a lot of bad publicity?
“Rotten management. Those suits don’t know crap about business and ran Chrysler straight to hell. Words can’t describe the incompetence in the offices.”
Has there ever been a Canadian automobile company? I mean, some inventor who put together a car company. Like Dodge, Olds, Chryster, Packard, etc.
Once these unionists lose their jobs, it will be a truely blue ping.
Not to worry. Just immigrate to the U.S. and Hilldebeast will let y’all work at the Post Office.
The unions were, and arguably still are, necessary to protect workers
As a result of union activism over the years, sufficient Federal Laws exist that very adequately ‘protect’ workers. The ‘union shop’ is way out-of-date. If any employee has a problem with virtually anything on the job, they can run down to the local State or Fed office of whatever-department and ‘report’ it, causing a chain of events to occur that handily ‘takes care of’ the offending employer.
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