Posted on 02/16/2024 8:07:51 AM PST by yesthatjallen
Last fall’s contentious United Auto Workers’ strike changed Ford’s relationship with the union to the point where it will “think carefully” about where it builds future vehicles, Ford’s top executive said Thursday.
CEO Jim Farley told the Wolfe Research Global Auto Conference in New York that the company always took pride in its relationship with the UAW, having avoided strikes since the 1970s.
But last year, Ford’s highly profitable factory in Louisville, Kentucky, was the first truck plant that the UAW shut down with a strike.
Farley said as the company looks at the transition from internal combustion to electric vehicles, “we have to think carefully about our (manufacturing) footprint.”
Ford, Farley said, decided to build all of its highly profitable big pickup trucks in the U.S., and by far has the most union members — 57,000 — of any Detroit automaker. This came at a higher cost than competitors, who went through bankruptcy and built truck plants in Mexico, he said. But Ford thought it was the “right kind of cost,” Farley said.
“Our reliance on the UAW turned out to be we were the first truck plant to be shut down,” Farley told the conference. “Really our relationship has changed. It’s been a watershed moment for the company. Does this have business impact? Yes.”
In a statement, union President Shawn Fain said Ford should stay focused on building the best auto industry, not on a race to lower wages.
“Maybe Ford doesn’t need to move factories to find the cheapest labor on Earth,” he said. “Maybe it needs to recommit to American workers and find a CEO who’s interested in the future of this country’s auto industry,” Fain said.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Five. A junior partner, an associate, and three assistants.
What’s your point?
Directive 10-289
BS!
They are already overpaid for the work they do...
So you’re really no fan of American workers, eh? How much should their wages be cut to satisfy you?
Thanks for the history lesson.
I’m not totally against social security, although the way it currently is, it’s little more than another welfare program.
The idea of forced saving for retirement is not a bad idea.
My rationale for that is that there are too many irresponsible people that will not save voluntarily for their old age. So the choice a society has is to let them starve and go homeless in their old age or force everyone to save, or I suppose have whatever private charities there are take care of them at their discretion, or have a big welfare program for people too irresponsible to save.
The way I would make it different from the current SS mess is keeping the forced saving in the person’s name, somewhat like IRAs or 401k. I wouldn’t mind if contributions to IRAs and 401k were mandatory and get rid of social security as it currently exists.
Honda and Toyota have figured out how to build factories and hire Liberty Labor workers in free States. No need to remain in the Peoples’ Republic of Michigan.
“Eff ‘em...wouldn’t buy another Ford if they are the only car maker lef”
F’em indeed ... my one and only Ford (and one and only big-3 auto) was a 1970 Mach I with 357 cleveland mill and 3 on the floor i owned as a kid ... a blast to drive, but:
1. never started when it was wet outside because moisture condensed under the distributor cap
2. brakes where completely for shite
3. steering was so difficult that it felt like you were trying to steer a battleship all the time
4. clutch linkage slowly bent continuously and had to constantly be adjusted until the adjuster rod was at maximum length and then the whole linkage had to be replaced
5. hydraulic valve lifters squeaked and two couldn’t be accessed without pulling the engine
6. spark plugs were nearly impossible to replace
when i finally sold it, the day before the buyer picked it up, the transmission gave out and it would only go in reverse so i had to knock $400 off the price and watch the buyer haul it off on a flatbed truck ...
never another American car i vowed and i’ve kept that vow for over half a century now ...
“Isn’t that the crux of the problem. We in America believe the little guy should have a good life. That increases their cost to the employer.”
Actually, unions influencing politicians are the crux of the problem.
“Actually, unions influencing politicians are the crux of the problem.”
But what’s in it for the unions if the plants shut down?
Car companies cannot fight both the politicians and the unions to stay solvent since the 50’s. Indeed, tey haven’t even while producing products internationally.
AFL-CIO equals mofia in Detroit auto-industry.
Incidentally, Joseph Kennedy father of JFK, et al was a rum runner during Prohibition.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1147700
It is a fact AFL-CIO union protects autoworkers from being terminated. My father worked for Ford in Dearborn. He shared with me many things:
Examples:
-a co-worker chose his Rehab in Hawaii to save his vaction time.
-prior to election AFL-CIO called each employee to ask which party/candidate they were going to vote for. Jr-Hi students had mock elections in Social Studies to determine party vote choice. (This is personal knowledge as I was kicked in hall for indication Republican party)
My father and I were walking to the local store to buy milk.. we didn’t own a car. When I told my dad. He told shared the prior story of being quizzed by union representatives.
My father was a strong committed tithing Christian that weekly went with holes in his church shoes or re-soled by the local cobbler. I knew he wouldn’t purposefully lie. I asked him what did he do? How did he handle it?
He payed for a second. Then, he said I have a wife and family to support. I tell them what they wanted to hear as God understood my answer was under duress.
1- Jimmy Hoffa: Deathbed confession sparks long-missing US union boss body hunt
19 November 2021
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59346106
2- The labor movement and its members have long suffered from extortion, thievery, and fraud. Corrupt labor officials have used union power to extort money from businesses. Labor racketeering has been a major source of the Cosa Nostra crime families’ power and wealth since the 1930s. Nonetheless, combating labor racketeering did not become a federal law enforcement priority until Jimmy Hoffa’s assassination in 1975. The U. S. Department of Justice, beginning in the early 1980s, brought or threatened civil racketeering lawsuits against numerous mobbed-up locals and four international unions. These lawsuits led to an unprecedented effort by court-appointed monitors and trustees to purge the corrupted unions of racketeers and racketeering and to reform the unions.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1147700
3. Jimmy Hoffa disappeared 48 years ago Sunday – timeline shows the investigation
Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Township
https://www.wxyz.com/news/jimmy-hoffa-disappeared-40-years-ago-thursday-timeline-shows-the-investigation
Auto Bailout? More Like a $23 Billion Gift to the UAW
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/obama-auto-bailout-was-a-union-bailout/
[Obama take over of U.S. auto industry Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry: [Obama fired GM President]
The Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry was an ad hoc group of United States cabinet-level and other officials that was formed by President Barack Obama to deal with the financial bailout of automakers Chrysler and General Motors.
Based on an assessment that automobile manufacturing was a critical sector of the economy providing 3 to 4 million jobs for Americans, that liquidation was imminent for two of the three major U.S. automakers, and that the break ups would devastate the U.S. economy, the U.S. government became involved in the DAY-TO-DAY management decisions of Chrysler and General Motors through the Task Force. The Presidential Task Force formed and started holding meetings in February 2009. It reviewed financial and operational restructuring plans submitted by Chrysler and General Motors and made its own specific recommendations at cabinet level meetings to the President regarding the restructurings and the requests for funds from the companies.
Also:
Effects of the 2008–2010 automotive industry crisis on the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_the_2008%E2%80%932010_automotive_industry_crisis_on_the_United_States
You asked: "So you’re really no fan of American workers, eh? How much should their wages be cut to satisfy you?"
I am going to plagiarize UMCRevMom in answering you...
IMHO, she has encapsulated the best short response to your question...
"It is a fact AFL-CIO union protects autoworkers from being terminated. My father worked for Ford in Dearborn. He shared with me many things:
Examples:
-a co-worker chose his Rehab in Hawaii to save his vaction time.
-prior to election AFL-CIO called each employee to ask which party/candidate they were going to vote for. Jr-Hi students had mock elections in Social Studies to determine party vote choice. (This is personal knowledge as I was kicked in hall for indication Republican party)
My father and I were walking to the local store to buy milk.. we didn’t own a car. When I told my dad. He told shared the prior story of being quizzed by union representatives.
My father was a strong committed tithing Christian that weekly went with holes in his church shoes or re-soled by the local cobbler. I knew he wouldn’t purposefully lie. I asked him what did he do? How did he handle it? He payed for a second. Then, he said I have a wife and family to support. I tell them what they wanted to hear as God understood my answer was under duress.
1- Jimmy Hoffa: Deathbed confession sparks long-missing US union boss body hunt 19 November 2021 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59346106
2- The labor movement and its members have long suffered from extortion, thievery, and fraud. Corrupt labor officials have used union power to extort money from businesses. Labor racketeering has been a major source of the Cosa Nostra crime families’ power and wealth since the 1930s. Nonetheless, combating labor racketeering did not become a federal law enforcement priority until Jimmy Hoffa’s assassination in 1975. The U. S. Department of Justice, beginning in the early 1980s, brought or threatened civil racketeering lawsuits against numerous mobbed-up locals and four international unions. These lawsuits led to an unprecedented effort by court-appointed monitors and trustees to purge the corrupted unions of racketeers and racketeering and to reform the unions. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1147700
DEMOCRAT POLITICAL CAUSATION:
re: creating fuel “efficiency”
My Dad would say American auto industry can compete world-wide bu handicapped by politicians.
1-Required one standard of fuel efficiency then lowered when it was accomplished!
2. Inequitable tariffs
“A combination of several years of declining automobile sales and scarce availability of credit led to a more widespread crisis in the United States auto industry in the years of 2008 and 2009.
Following dramatic drops in automobile sales throughout 2008, two of the “Big Three” U.S. automakers – General Motors (GM), and Chrysler – requested emergency loans in order to address impending cash shortages. By April 2009, the situation had worsened such that both GM and Chrysler were faced with imminent bankruptcy and liquidation. With the intent to prevent massive job losses and destabilizing damage to the entire manufacturing sector, the U.S. and Canadian governments provided unprecedented financial bailout ($85 billion) support to allow the companies to restructure and jettison legacy debt via Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Both companies separately filed for this protection by June 1.”
General Motors emerged from bankruptcy as a new company majority-owned by the United States Treasury (Detroiters call G.M. Government Motors after Obama fired CEO],
and Chrysler emerged owned primarily by the UNITED AUTO WORKERS UNION and by Italian automaker Fiat S.p.A. Both companies terminated agreements with hundreds of their dealerships and GM discontinued several of its brands as part of bankruptcy proceedings.
FORD SURVIVED BECAUSE STEPPED AWAY FROM TABLE OF OBAMA BAIL-OUT CASH:
“Ford Motor Company was able to survive without entering bankruptcy partly due to a large line of credit which it obtained in 2007.”
My father passed away. I don’t know name but Ford employees funded as well with a type of investment product best described by me as working like kind of Investment Trust. Probable exactly wrong terminology! LOL
Mom bought a condo in our state to be near me with this product.
And the unions still have a place today. Jeff Bezos is in charge of Amazon. And he sucks.
Our politicians are bringing in migrants for cheap labor.
So yeah, I can see why we need unions.
But we have the UAW and they suck.
“no fan of American workers”
Absolutely WRONG!
I am NO FAN of labor unions.
My Great-Grandfather was a copper miner in Michigan U.P.
He went out west to Butte, Montana to find work miner.
Butte was called the Gibraltar of Unionism, and its first miners’ union, established June 13, 1878, ultimately became Local #1 of the Western Federation of Miners.
Labor strife led union organizer Frank Little to Butte in 1917, on behalf of the radical Industrial Workers of the World.
The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), American labor union, founded in 1890, that engaged in bitter, though often successful, disputes with coal mine operators.
PERSONAL ANECDOTE:
My Grandfather LEFT Butte, Montana to come to Detroit to work at Ford’s. He said that: “if you NOT support the union in Butte, you were shot dead.”
** Incidentally, From the 1880s to the 1920s, Butte was the single largest producer of copper, not just in the U.S., but in the world. From about 1905 to 1917, Butte produced between a quarter and a third of all the copper on earth. Butte certainly contributed significant copper to U.S. war efforts, from the Spanish-American War to Viet Nam.
There are even possible beneficial organisms living in the Berkeley Pit water and nowhere else on earth, extremophile organisms that show potential against some kinds of cancer.
https://westernmininghistory.com/towns/montana/butte/
If interested, this movie is an great movie of life within a Welsh mining town:
“How Green Was My Valley” (1941) Family viewing
John Ford “masterpiece”
CAST MEMBERS:
Maureen O’Hara, Roddy McDowall, Sara Allgood, Donald Crisp, John Loder, Walter Pidgeon, and Evan S. Evans
1942 ACADEMY AWARDS: 13 Nominations with 6 wins for 1942 Winners of Oscar
• 1942 Winner Oscar - BEST PICTURE
• 1942 Winner Oscar - Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Donald Crisp
• 1942 Nominee Oscar - Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Sara Allgood
• 1942 Winner Oscar - Best Director
John Ford
• 1942 Nominee Oscar - Best Writing, Screenplay
Philip Dunne
• 1942 Winner Oscar - Best Cinematography, B&W-
Arthur C. Miller
• 1942 Winner Oscar - Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration,
Richard Day
Nathan Juran
Thomas Little
• 1942 Nominee Oscar - Best Sound, Recording
Edmund H. Hansen (20th Century-Fox SSD)
• 1942 Nominee Oscar - Best Film Editing
James B. Clark
• 1942 Nominee Oscar - Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture
Alfred Newman
AVAILABLE:
1. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p4432023.m570.l1311&_nkw=how+green+was+my+valley+dvd&_sacat=11232
Incidentally, I used “How Green Was My Valley” while homeschooling. We also watched another excellent movie “Friendly Persuasion” (1956) with Gary Cooper & Dorothy McGuire. Issues for our family discussion: Quaker early farm-life & issue of conscientious objectors.
FACTOID: “Friendly Persuasion” was President Ronald Reagan’s favorite film. In May 1988 he presented Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev with a VHS copy.
Go to a right to work state.
UAW continues to kill the golden goose.
“Ford, UAW reach deal to avert strike at Kentucky truck plant”
by Filip Timotija - 02/21/24 1:16 PM ET
https://thehill.com/business/4481042-ford-uaw-reach-deal-to-avert-strike-at-kentucky-truck-plant/
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.