Caterpillar locks out workers in Canada

nytimes ^ | January 2, 2012 | Ian Austen

[MamaDearest]

Snips from Excerpt only website: A lockout late Sunday of about 465 workers at a Canadian locomotive factory owned by a Caterpillar unit has renewed debate in Canada about the labor impact of foreign ownership.

The action came after the employees in London, Ontario, rejected a contract proposed by Electro-Motive Canada. The Canadian Auto Workers union said the proposal would cut wages in half, substantially reduce benefits and end the current pension plan.

But some of the union’s executive members have suggested that Caterpillar’s contract demands were intended to provoke a shutdown of the Canadian factory as a prelude to moving all production to the United States.

[yup2394871293]

Intelligent homeowners lock out burglars, too.

[fight_truth_decay]

BUSINESSDECEMBER 19, 2011, 3:23 P.M. ET
Caterpillar Continues Sales Growth Streak

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204791104577108771237511552.html

[MaxMax]

Locks are used to keep honest people out.
Lockouts are used to keep unions out.

[Mariner]

The UAW workers in the new Ind. plant make 1/2 what the Canadians did.

Wow.

UAW making only 1/2.

[Alberta's Child]

Part of that is probably based on exchange rates, too. The Canadian dollar is trading about on par with the U.S. dollar right now. Ten years ago, a U.S. dollar was worth about $1.50 Canadian . . . so Caterpiller probably sees the U.S. as an attractive alternative to their Canadian plants just because labor costs are one-third lower just because of the decline of the U.S. dollar.

[MamaDearest]

The Canadian Auto Workers union said the proposal would cut wages in half, substantially reduce benefits and end the current pension plan.

I wonder what the UAW wages actually are for the new Ind. plant.

My husband was locked in (part of management) in a labor dispute years ago. It was quite the experience for him.

[NonValueAdded]

I wonder what the UAW wages actually are for the new Ind. plant.

Seeing that absolutely no mention was made of the wages, in Muncie or Canada, one can assume the Canadian wages were quite high and would cause all sympathy for the workers to vanish. That assumption is reinforced by the absence of any "slave labor" claims in the media concerning Muncie plant.

[Oldexpat]

In 1995 I was one of the Management Employees that went to work in a Cat factory to keep production going while the UAW struck. In 10 days we had the factory back to production capacity with 70% of the workforce. And we were all still doing our day jobs on email and the phone. Gradually the union guys started coming back to work. They were shocked to find their machines up and running. Many had been sabotaged and they didn't think that we could repair them, but when you put a lot of Engineers to work on the production line..well things get sorted out. The Cat workers in Indiana are paid just as much as the UAW in Illinois, but the work rules are different. When I was around their were only 7 job classifications versus about 30 in IL, so workers always had something to do. Much of the factory work force were also college grads or working on it. The best jobs went to the best workers..not the most senior. Etc..it was a whole different mentality in the plant. The UAW is now down to just a few thousand workers in IL..most of the jobs have been moved out of state..if they struck again they might not have a job to come back to and the mgmt can run the factories without them.

[NonValueAdded]

Thank you for the enlightenment

[<1/1,000,000th%]

But some of the union’s executive members have suggested that Caterpillar’s contract demands were intended to provoke a shutdown of the Canadian factory as a prelude to moving all production to the United States.

Where the unions are so much easier to work with.

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[MamaDearest]

and the mgmt can run the factories without them.

My husband said the plant where he was locked in ran just fine without the union workers. Instead of grievances because a carpenter did a laborers work or an electrical worker moved a piece of mechanical equipment without having an operator do it, the work was done quite adequately.

[Lancey Howard]

My husband was locked in..

LOL, is that what he told you?

[MamaDearest]

LOL, is that what he told you?

All I can say about that is that his paychecks were wowsers for the time he spent there. We went to the Caribbean and Bermuda with some of the excess.... Regular paychecks were nothing (very small in proportion) like what he got when he was locked in!!!!!

[REPANDPROUDOFIT]

The Canadian unions should let Caterpillar advertise the jobs at half the pay and see if anyone is willing to apply. I bet they could replace every single worker!