Posted on 11/15/2008 2:52:01 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Even as Detroit's Big Three teeter on collapse, United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said Saturday that workers will not make any more concessions and that getting the automakers back on their feet means figuring out a way to turn around the slumping economy.
"The focus has to be on the economy as a whole as opposed to a UAW contract," Gettelfinger told reporters on a conference call, noting the labor costs now make up 8 percent to 10 percent of the cost of a vehicle. "We have made dramatic, dramatic changes and the UAW was applauded for that," he said.
Instead, Gettelfinger blamed the problems the auto industry is suffering from on things beyond its control _ the housing slump, the credit crunch that has made financing a vehicle tough and the 1.2 million jobs that have been lost in the past year. "We're here not because of what the auto industry has done," he said. "We're here because of what has happened to the economy."
Gettelfinger also called on Congress to act quickly on a bailout plan for the auto industry, saying action is necessary before President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January. He said if one automaker were to file for bankruptcy, the others may follow. He said the automakers would find it difficult to restructure under bankruptcy laws and instead could end up out of business. "Would you buy a car from a bankrupt automaker?" he asked.
(Excerpt) Read more at napavalleyregister.com ...
As long as the plants are in the USA the workers must be members of the UAW.
Moving doesn't help them a bit.
They’d rather lose their jobs altogether, I guess. If Uncle Sam bails them out, I think I’ll buy a foreign model.
Could that have happened if those 3 hadn’t spread their legs?
Sometime in the early 90’s the Steelworkers Union gave an ultimatum to the owners of the steelworks in Pueblo CO.
The owners stood strong, the workers stood in picket lines.
They never worked another day.
The mill was sold some years later to a new owner and it is a non-union shop.
My God! This country is tanking Fast! We’re going backwards into hell.
Material costs are relative to where it is sourced from. Most of the “transplants” source material from their home countries, and assemble cars here, with foreign parts . The big three does the same. The one thing that most people don’t realize is that virtually all automakers in the U.S. buy parts from the same suppliers.
They get rid of the contract if they opt for bankrptcy.
UAW doesn't want them to go bankrupt.
There's another option ~ the International Harvester Plan ~ there the company became a vehicle for funding the employee and retiree health insurance plan.
Let me suggest that it's elementally unfair to make International Harvester's retirees to pay taxes only to have them transferred over to keep GM in business.
United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said Saturday that workers will not make any more concessions
____________________________________
Ok Ron, please advise your members that final checks will be available Monday at which time we’ll need their keys, id cards and any company property from them. Have a good day, Ron.
If it doesn't a lot of that bill will fall on the taxpayers
What about if they just cut loose of the Free Viagra on the medical insurance? Not even that? May they go down in flames, then.
The UAW has to be one of the stupidest organizations ever to exist on this Earth. Since 1979, due mostly to their huge labor costs the UAW has declined in membership from over 1.5 million to less than 465,000 in 2007. Yet, they still don't get it. The remaining members still demand all of the pay and all of the fringes they previously enjoyed. Any economist, with half a brain could easily demonstrate the system they have in place is unsustainable. Have they really done a service to those 1 million members who are no longer working.
At the rate they are going in a few years the will be down to 1 member making $500.00 per hour.
I fail to see why Joe and Jane Sixpacks, who make 15 dollars an hour, should be made to pay the wages of a UAW worker who makes 72.”
AMEN
The union leeches are threatening again, and this time it might be a very large echo, with no substance.
A new “buyer” for any of the big 3 would demand the end of any current union contracts if they were to lay down one single dollar, IMO.
All of the manufacturers in the automotive business (cars, trucks, buses, rail) manufacture all the parts for everybody.
It's been that way a long time.
This doesn't mean that everybody makes everything all the time though ~ frequently a company will have a line free that everyone else has tied up, so the guy with the open slot gets subcontracts to build for the others.
Robotics make this much more flexible.
That's why I asked where GM comes up with $5,000 more in "materials costs" than Hyundai.Ain't no way~!
>>Here in Alabama, we’re making Hondas, Hyundais, Kias Mercedes, and Toyotas. All union free and florishing.
<<
And may we hope that the “Card Check” system doesn’t take hold and ruin the success experienced in your region. Hang tough.
Kind of amazing. The Unions would rather the UAW workers lost their jobs rather than take a pay cut. Simply amazing”
My guess is that you have never been in a union.
An obvious solution here is for GM to purchase some new factories from Toyota. Just build them down the street form the old stuff. Call it a new company. Hire the same help.
This would give GM an opportunity to let the manufacturing divisions focus on manufacturing, and the marketing divisions to focus on getting new jobs somewhere else ~ maybe in the "newspaper business" (bwahahahaha)
You guess way wrong. I was a steward for years
Workers, neither will the taxpayers. Unfortunately you have bought and paid for the politicians so I suppose we the taxpayers are screwed again.
Well, then. Enjoy your new careers at Wal-Mart—if you’re lucky to get hired”
Wal-Mart doesn’t want them.
Former Union workers are trouble. I have seen the kind of mischief they can cause, and they want to unionize every job in America.
Wait until they go after cowboys.
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