Posted on 10/10/2007 8:40:04 AM PDT by EagleUSA
DETROIT (AP) -- Thousands of Chrysler LLC autoworkers walked off the job Wednesday after the automaker and the United Auto Workers union failed to reach a tentative contract agreement before a union-imposed deadline.
It is the first UAW strike against Chrysler since 1997, when one plant was shut down for a month, and the first strike against Chrysler during contract talks since 1985.
The UAW apparently is staying on the job at the five plants that Chrysler already had shut down this week because of sagging sales of some models, according to a person familiar with the walkout who asked not to be identified because the situation is in flux.
Brett Ward, a forklift driver at the Sterling Heights assembly plant in suburban Detroit, said he thinks a strike is justified, but he hopes the union can get a better deal than the one it reached with General Motors Corp.
"Hopefully with a strike we'll get some better gains and get a better contract in front of us," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at biz.yahoo.com ...
Yup. Yet another reason why Chrysler should CHERYsh a prolonged strike: Chrysler gets to sell their previously unsold inventory of 2005, 2006, and 2007 models...
...all while not paying any of their workers.
In a grand irony, strikes now benefit manufacturers. In the meantime, striking workers get $200 per month from the UAW instead of paychecks.
Bring on the strikes!
It's already been done. It's called the US assembly divisions of Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and now Hyundai.
Which causes me to ask... Is Chrysler still in business?
Yeah, I know what you mean. There are many truths that union people cannot speak or hear.
“I bet the Chrysler Dealer Show in Las Vegas is a real hoot today!”
Yikes!
“Which causes me to ask... Is Chrysler still in business?”
Barely........
That kind of thinking makes no sense to me comparing the Japanese successes to lack of unionization. I mean the German and Japanese Auto Unions make American Unions look like pro business Libertarians and the Japanese and German companies they work for provide benefits to their union workers that make American workers seem as if they get nothing in comparison. What gives? The American plants mostly in the South owned by Germany and Japan are really assembly plants not manufacturing plants - the parts are imported and assembled - very few true manufacturing plants owned by the Japanese and Germans in the States.
PS: I drive a Chevy Equinox - it was mostly made in Canada - Unions there are more 'ball busters' than American unions as well. So what gives?
“PS: I drive a Chevy Equinox - it was mostly made in Canada”
Yup..and the engine was made in Shanghai.
You know - I think you are correct!!! Dang!!!
Do you drive an Equinox? It is not a bad auto - very few problems so far. Last years model is what I drive.
“Do you drive an Equinox? It is not a bad auto - very few problems so far. Last years model is what I drive.”
No I don’t, but I agree that it’s not a bad auto. I follow the car mags and Motorweek and it’s gotten good reviews.
Horrible seats and the interior isn’t all that great, IMHO.
Um... You’re correct on the Germans, not correct on the Japanese. Japanese labor unions are *very* pro-business and rarely go on strike.
Meanwhile customers are staying away from UAW products in droves.
Tundra Parts Content:
Dodge Ram Parts Content
- I heard on the radio yesterday that the average American auto worker makes, with other benefits, about $76. per hour. How much more can they expect to make before all car production is moved offshore?
Union leadership seems to be living in some sort of bubble where they believe that the North American auto industry is still world dominant, that the pre free trade era is still with us and they can’t seem to see where the dog ends and the tail begins.
Cool, I detest unions, they are overglorified pimps. Get rid of them, and we have a free labor market.
right to work.
come to think of it, I don't remember any. but I haven't followed that closely.
The last one I know of was the big Nissan one in the 50s and none since then.
Their current method of protesting problems is to continue working, but wear an armband or button that says “I’m on strike” and not doing anything outside their job description or assigned position. Management takes this seriously and asks the worker what needs to be fixed.
imagine that concept in America...
Sigh.
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