UAW to taxpayers: $%^@ you!
Well, it will come as no surprise to you that the union thugs have thrown concessions under the bus and are looking to Barack Obama to fork over all the money they need without strings attached. They promised they would abandon any wage cut proposals as soon as President Bailout, er, President Bush, announced the $17 billion auto “rescue” package.
Yep, this is no surprise at all:
The nation’s automakers are preparing to ask for wage and benefits concessions from their workers in early January to meet the conditions of a $17.4 billion federal aid package, but labor officials say they will seek to renegotiate the terms of the bailout rather than make those sacrifices.
The remarks by union leaders have set up yet another contentious battle in the auto industry.
In agreeing to provide federal assistance to General Motors and Chrysler, the White House demanded the firms cut worker compensation to the levels paid at the U.S. divisions of Toyota, Nissan and Honda. But Ron Gettelfinger, president of the United Auto Workers, said earlier this week that he would seek to remove the wage-reduction provision of the loan, calling it “an undue tax on the workers” who have already made “major” sacrifices for the benefit of the auto industry.
Gettelfinger said that what is being asked of the autoworkers — who agreed to concessions in 2003, 2005 and 2007 — is “unrealistic.” He has said he wants to work with President-elect Barack Obama to remove the wage provision.
…Critics of U.S. automakers say that they pay their workers, who are unionized, far higher wages than those of nonunionized workers at foreign-owned automobile plants. But union leaders say many of their members actually make less. In many cases, the truth depends on how the compensation is calculated — whether it includes bonus pay and benefits, for instance.
The stakes in the talks between the unions and the automakers are high. If GM and Chrysler are unsuccessful in convincing labor officials, as well as bondholders and other stakeholders, to go along with a broad restructuring plan, the government could call off the loans and let the companies declare bankruptcy or fail.
That would be novel.
But no, they will get their bailout sooner or later and still keep their gold-plated golf course, too.
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I am shocked! Shocked, I say!
Oh wait…it’s the UAW? Nevermind. Shock is gone.
Disgusting and shortsighted. I’ll say it again, labor unions are now more like sports agents than actual defenders of decent jobs. I’m sure Obama will play ball with the whiny UAW boss, but looks like the Big Three are just as screwed as before, thanks to Big Labor.
Yeah, we knew that. Of course they don’t want to budge. Why would you kill your gilded calf when the upcoming administration has promised to kill your neighbor’s calf for you, and will deliver it’s meats too you in some sort of weird perversion of the Aesop’s Grasshopper fable?
It’s really too bad. I just repositioned all my 401k assets to dump the Big Three. I am one of what I hope are a growing number of Americans that will never buy from a UAW shop again in my life.
I’ll go out of my way to buy American made goods and services, but I’ll be avoiding anything tainted by the UAW’s bullying.
“In many cases, the truth depends on how the compensation is calculated — whether it includes bonus pay and benefits, for instance.”
I don’t notice any mention of the union dues being deducted, do I?
Let.Them.Fail. Or bounce back and crush the goonions that put them in this mess to begin with.
Union dues have not been deductible for several decades not. They may be allowed as a business expense– one must pay for the right to work.
Have no fear Odopey is near….
Dunt Dunt Dahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!
roflmao, “The One” will heal by touch and poof! all will be saved!
Pssssst, Odopey, better get things done in a hurry before your mettle is tested. And don’t even think about hiding under your desk, you made the big time mr hopey changey,good luck. he looks scared if you ask me.
Just how many people/groups do you guys think have something coming to them for backing this moron? lol all will be disappointed.
Hilldebeast got hers (already wants more power), UAW is knocking now… the line is getting very long, and we must not forget Caroline.
Minnie the Moucher is waiting also, she hasn’t paid her gas bill and mortgage for months now.
If I worked for Nissan, Toyota, BMW or any of the many foreign-owned automakers that manufactures their products here in America, I’d be pretty pissed right now. I’d have to ask, “Why is my government subsidizing my failing competition?”
I guess it does pay to know people.
THAT would be a Christmas gift to us all. The UAW and unions are the pox on our society. Merry Christmas you bunch of fraternal leeches and parasites.
I’m shocked, SHOCKED that the UAW sees the Bush bailout as but a bridge to the big payoff they’ll get for delivering full ‘Rat control.
What makes this worse is that Bush will not even consider withdrawing the proposal. Unfortunately, this resulting lack of courage on the home front will hasten our country’s demise.
China could make a $30,000 Chevy for $17,000 and have it shipped to the U.S. for less than a $1,000. It’s time for the UAW to look at the real world.
Here the Big Three Auto makers are on the verge of going broke with cars still on the parking lot not being sold. Baby boomers are retiring and dying and not buying any or very few autos plus now loans are hard to get for young people now because of what is happening with the bail out. When the auto makers have to close up a plant for retooling or because too many autos are going out but none being sold the union workers and managers still are being paid. Don’t they see that sooner or later they will put themselves in a position where no matter what they do or who helps them it will be a losing cause if they haven’t done so already. The days of the U.S. being an industry country are over. The majority of this country is no longer a manufactoring country but is a service country and has been since the 1980′s and after. The writing has been on the wall for a long time now and is just hitting the big companies. But not to worry, the auto companies have plants all around the world not just in the U.S. so where is the real bail out money going?
ALC said it exactly right.
Union dues are typically tied to wages. If wages go down, the UAW may be forced to cut their pay or some of their bloated staff. Can’t have that now, can we?
This is the UAW’s “car to nowhere”, sending good money after bad and the taxpayer gets to foot the bill.
Mark Steyn had some interesting facts on the bailout. If you’re curious where a lot of the money goes when you purchase a car…
“…General Motors, like the other two geezers of the Old Three, is a vast retirement home with a small loss-making auto subsidiary. The UAW is the AARP in an Edsel: It has three times as many retirees and widows as “workers” (I use the term loosely). GM has 96,000 employees but provides health benefits to a million people…”
Until the Union makes concessions on their benefits and wages, the bailout will only delay the inevitable.
If past history is any indicator, the union would rather see those companies go out of business before they give an inch.
A big part of the labor equation is the advancement of robotics. When the human wages cost more than a machine, they are replaced. Wake up UAW.
Anyone know EXACTLY what those “major sacrifices” are?
iamsaved quoted Steyn:
So who created this business plan, Madoff? Sounds like another Ponzi scheme (can you say Social Security?).
I seem to remember the president of the Machinist Union told the leadership of Eastern Airlines that they (the Union) was gonna get what they wanted or break the company doing it.
He was right.
In past times of economic crisis and increased foreign competition the cry was,”Buy American!” Now it is simply, “Screw you!”
Yep, WaterBoy, I can’t seem to recall any “major” sacrifices either. Most of us here knew this would happen. No surprise. Bankruptcy is the best option.
Some years ago, during UAW contract negotiations, the union demanded a seat on the Board of Directors so the union would know what is going on from the inside of GM. They got that seat.
So, how can the union be surprised at what was/is going on at GM?
The sh*t that the msm never askes or tells ya.
The main street media does not deserved to be capitalized IMO. Thus msm. If I could make it a sub-script I would.
UAW Retirees Receive GM “Christmas Bonus”
http://www.autoevolution.com/news/uaw-retirees-receive-gm-christmas-bonus-2727.html
IIRC, I read the UAW and the Big Three set up the disaster of unsustainable benefits for retirees in the 1990s. The Big Three cheerfully agreed to UAW demands for big pension benefits and health care programs in exchange for holding already bloated wages steady. Helped the immediate balance sheets then (stock and performance benefits) while deferring the costs for another generation of auto execs to deal with.
Two of the Big Three deserve to be liquidated, and their UAW pig employees deserve to be flipping burgers for $10 an hour for being so greedy and stupid.
OT
How the Jews Stole Christmas, from the AP
Ok, not the actual sob story headline, but close.
Bethlehem adapts under shadow of Israeli wall
No more cheese blintzes and open bar on the UAW golf course.
Actually, the plants have limited production on the cars, which has “impacted” the demands of the UAW. A novel concept, to stop producing when there is no market demand. Which also means there is no work to do, which just befuddles Gettelfinger and his cronies (because you cannot collect union dues when there is no payroll). The problem was so bad that there are defunct malls in De-toilet that the Big Three fenced in, and then filled the lots full of UAW contract mandated vehicle production.
You would think someone would get smarter, and figure out how to liquidate that inventory. That probably violates the 22 pound UAW contract also.
Not Ponzi. Pyramid.
Just like Social Security, Amway, or Quikstar. You have to “recruit” the persons who will provide your income. Eventually, all pyramids collapse because the bottom layers can no longer grow.
“I saw a stock at 10 cents, so I bought $1 million. That stock rose to 25 cents, so I bought $1 Million more. It then rose to $1, so I bought $1 Million more. When it rose to $4, I went to sell my 15 million stocks, only to find that I had cornered the market, and no one wanted to buy at that price.”
How completely unexpected. Who could possibly have anticipated this happening?
Also OT, and found at Drudge
LONDON (AP) – Britain’s Channel 4 says Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will deliver the TV channel’s annual Christmas broadcast.
I just want to thank all of you for your compassion & caring about the blue collar workers of this country. Hope you all have a merry Christmas.
Don’t stop with the UAW, there is plenty of other union corruption around; so much in fact that you may have a problem achieving your laudable goal of “buying American.”
Believe me, they won’t cut their pay or staff….
About 10 years ago I had the bad luck of briefly working for a car rental company owned by Ford and run by the Teamsters.
When the rank and file voted not to strike we were overridden by the Teamster powers that be. The Scamsters wanted to make a “statement”…
Well, while we were unemployed, and receiving 50.00 per week “strike pay”, we were still expected to pay our union dues. If we didn’t pay our dues, we wouldn’t get our HUGE strike pay…
Scums…break the union, declare bankruptcy and let the Pig 3 go the way of the Dodo….
look, look! He’s worried about taxes. . . a true conservative.
This is why the ‘bailout’ issue is a non-starter. They say that since they have already made sacrifices, they shouldn’t have to make any other. Imagine an athlete saying that he deserves to win because he’s practiced every day and sacrificed his time.
Sorry Charlie, the only way out of this mess is to fire people no matter how many sacrifices you have made to this point it isn’t enough.
UAW, remember threatening to cause the company bankruptcy by striking? Well the demands have caused the bankruptcy you have been hoping for. UAW tactics have killed the goose that laid the golden egg.
Try this friends, every time the UAW leader starts talking, just chant ‘you’re fired, you’re fired, you’re fired’ and I guarantee you it will make you feel better. It does me.
It’s been obvious from the beginning that the UAW won’t make concessions UNTIL ORDERED by a Bankruptcy Judge under threat of JAIL TIME.
How many people are NOT going to buy a GM, Chrysler or even a Ford after this? I’m not. I expect to need to buy two cars in ’09. None of them will be from Detroit. Before this fiasco, both may have been Fords.
Sayonara Detroit.
Anyone with half a brain.
I accept your thanks, as backhanded as you gave it. I offer back the Season’s Greetings, and the hope that the New Year will give you the maturity and knowledge to both know when to quit, and to learn from your mistakes.
You seem to mistake compassion for wasteful charity. Giving the UAW, and (to use your words) the “blue collar workers” of that union, taxpayer dollars does nothing to 1) support those workers or 2) correct the problems. It only exacerbates the already utter failure of reason that is the American Auto Industry, and further spreads the error and pain of that failure to all the US citizens. It cuts an even farther path than the bogus “1 job in 10″ number the liars in Congress and in the UAW were trying to scare us with.
You see, the Federal, State and local taxes are paid for by (shock of shocks!) those very same UAW “blue collar workers”, and all of the other millions of true blue collar workers and citizens who earn far less than UAW employees. All to support a failed and thourghly corrupt Union and business model. A model that has absolutley no chnace of ever paying back a dime, as demonstrated by the stubbornness of the UAW and the Big Three to resist the changes necessary for success.
To borrow a phrase from Rush Limbaugh: “No nation has ever taxed it’s way to properity”
To borrow an idea from Fred Thompson’s latest YouTube video: You cannot utilize the methods that got you in to trouble. and expect them to also provide the solution for your trouble.
The sooner we all realize this, accept that we will need to feel the pain (which we are only making worse by delaying and denying it), the sooner we ALL will have a Merry Christmas!
Entitlement culture strikes again.
The unskilled laborers and bosses of the UAW have decided to commit suicide and will take down the big 3 with them. The average responsible citizen is pissed off about the bailout of GM and Chrysler and if they think they are having trouble selling cars now wait and see how most conservatives that bought most of their products in the past will go to Toyota, Nissan, Honda, etc. instead of darkening the doors of one of their dealerships.
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE (mo-lone lah-veh) Translation: Come and take them!
Just one more reason not to buy a UAW car.
“Blue collar” workers who make far in excess of most workers of similar skills and abilities, and who expect the government to subsidize their unprofitable employers in eternity so they don’t have to suck it up a little.
Screw you Dave. I hope you and your UAW buds all wind up jobless. When I got laid off in 1998 when oil hit $10 a barrel, nobody was begging the government to subsidize oil prices to keep me in a job.
It is called free markets and capitalism. If you wanted guaranteed jobs for life at unprofitable plants, you should have moved to East Germany when you had a chance.
I guess the UAW expects its due. After all, they’ve paid dearly with those dues they contribute each week that have gone not to the welfare of the UAW workers but to buy off Democratic politicians who are expected to bail them out when things get bad.
They’re not alone. Who’d of thunk that the union dues teachers contribute each week wouldn’t go toward improving the lot of teachers and the teaching profession, but squandered in millions upon millions going to support the Democratic party to push their liberal agenda.
I’ve been through three changes in my industry, where it became necessary to retrain myself. Suck it up union boys and girls, the UAW is going to force you to do the same. Time to grow up fast and take some personal responsibility.
Well said, FamilyMan. Any adult who expects someone else (government, employer, etc) to take care of them is a fool.
The blue collar workers I am familiar with make closer to 20 – 25 dollars an hour. Wages and benefits that UAW members make equate to management type positions down here.
The only solution is bankruptcy. Make the union contracts null and void and start the restructuring without the UAW at the table. No contracts, no UAW. . . good riddance.
Dave: as soon as the auto workers get together and fire the UAW board or better yet vote to de-unionize and deal directly with a bankruptcy court, then we will support you. As long as you support the union that is killing your jobs, you’re on your own.
I saw (on FOX I think) that many of the workers are willing to make concessions to save their jobs, but the union won’t let them. Get rid of the union and save your job.
Michael Ramirez had a pretty good cartoon about the UAW..
Dave from Flint..
From all of use taxpayers to you who push buttons ‘A’ and ‘B’ all day long.. You are welcome.
and I’m sure you cared so much about the tobacco, textile, and furniture jobs that have been lost in my state (no bailout, no ‘news flash’, no congressional hearings). We have been DEVASTATED with job losses in traditional industry.
The auto workers seem to think that the whole world revolves around them. Really, who actually NEEDS a car? If this is the attitude they are going to take, don’t expect them to sell many cars. I already have two and don’t need any more.
Righhhhhhhhht … Shrub or Barry O. is actually going to let failed companies fail.
This is actually what I hoped for. I hope that the UAW sticks to their guns, not because I support them, but because I want any automakers who can’t support themselves to admit it and call it what it is: bankruptcy.
Once the ones who can’t thrive are in bankruptcy, I believe they can reorganize, and renegotiate contracts. Once they’re renegotiating, wage negotiations should start at minimum wage.
I don’t support the bush bailout of the UAW, it’s just legacy-building, but it did give the O-administration an out to continue it. I suspect it wasn’t intended to work, just to punt the issue to PEBO.
Was it not Al Gore who said that the automobile was the human races most destructive invention. He should be thrilled that the “big three” could be going out of business.
UAW: the suicide bombers of the American Auto Industry.
Benefits-u Akhbar!
The UAW leaders are frankly dumb as rocks. If they get their way, things long term will just be that much worse. At this point, like many of the airlines, there is a lot of the Big Three that is worth saving along with their jobs.
The UAW approach will ultimately make the finances of the Big Three so toxic, that they will close and it will be cheaper for their competitors to build new plants in right to work states than try and reuse the Michigan plants.
I hope their is enough sanity present to save these companies and keep these auto workers employed.
Dave from Flint…
I care about the blue collar workers in this country. I care that they are being used as tools to advance unrealistic goals of their politically-charged unions. I care that they have no control over those they have chosen to lead them. I also care that the long-term view is vital in determining your future.
You see I care about America, and the UAW is a microcosm of what our country is doing. As the citizenry loses control, we will devastate our nation. We are allowing the elected leaders to execute actions that defy common sense and benefit the few. They sacrifice the long-term welfare of the citizens for their short-term goals. Wake up and smell the coffee, Dave (and America)!
Good in theory.
But just as likely, Barack, Pelosi and Barney the Bum Burglar will keep feeding GM and Chrysler never ending bailouts to keep their UAW supporters employed at unrealistically high pay, and will demand concessions from the automakers to make cars most people really won’t want to drive, and have diversity targets for management, until GM and Chrysler become state owned businesses that mainly deal in paying benefits to UAW members, with side businesses of making campaign contributions to Democrats, and a really small scale business of making cars people will buy. (I’m reminded of Iowahawk’s spoof.)
The management at Ford seems to realize the direction this is heading, which is why they took a pass on Bush’s bailout, but if GM and Chrysler wind up receiving billions in government largesse everymonth to remain in business despite being hugely unprofitable, it will put Ford at a disadvantage. Maybe they’ll try the bankruptcy court to break the UAW stranglehold, but the Dems will be against them and unions have historically been willing to resort to arson, vandalism and violence to get what they want.
Ouch, I think reality is about to bite his workers hard.
Facts are facts, U.S automakers lose money on every car made and this is primarily due to legacy costs that include pensioners and their benefits.
Some sadness coming to the “Big 3″ in 2009. Even a big spend lib like Obama will turn off the spigot at some point.
Seems a lot of the uaw bloat is very similar to public union bloat. Plus you can bet ALL of Obama’s infrastucture plan is aa union ogannizing activity, aiimed aat spreading the bloat around, alng with a lot of silly bloated green jobs.
This taxpayer response is F-UAW.
The airlines didn’t get a bailout. They filed for bankrupcy and re-organized. The union memmbers took pay cuts. Why is the auto industry any different?
The auto industry as it stands today, if it gets bail out after bail out, will turn into another Amtrak – expenses consistently outpacing income, thus requiring more and more subsidies.
The government cannot run a business at a profit. Even if given a profitable business to run, it will eventually kill the goose that’s laying the golden egg and ruin it.
They won’t be allowed to pass. The same thing happened with TARP. JPM and others didn’t want anything to do with it, but they got hauled in and browbeaten by Paulson until they took some of the money.
It’s interesting that with all the discussion by the msm as well as public officials that getting rid of the UAW bloat isn’t a requirement for the funds.
Management cuts… are and should be.
Obama will be sure to preserve the wages of American workers.
Add in the change in law to basically require union membership for all.
In other words bring those “scab” Toyota, Honda,,, workers up to their level.
Let’s make sure we drive the price of cars up so they’re unaffordable.
It would fit in with other plans.
Americans have too many cars,now. And think how this would help save the pllanet from global warming without all those emissions.
Dave from Flint, why don’t you kindly shove it up your a$$. These people are hardly blue collar and make much more money than I and most people like me, but I am expected to just go along with MY tax dollars subsidizing their inflated wages?
I hope you lose your job and have to go work at a quick mart for minimum wage. Maybe then you will understand what is pissing people off so much.
Well, if Obama forces unions on the foreign manufacturers in right to work states, it’ll probably result in Toyota, Honda, BMW, etc. closing up shop and building their US market cars in Japan or Mexico. BHO would have to slap on pretty steep tarriffs if he wants to keep their cars from being cheaper than their US counterparts.
Which, of course, he just may do.
Amtrak indeed, “AmCar”.
…until the tax revenue from those purchases and gasoline fall through the floor. THen those taxes will go up to cover the shortfall, and purchases will fall even further. They don’t learn.
I don’t blame the UAW. I blame the Congress who allowed this to happen.
I hope the UAW workers choke on the bonuses they got. You know. The $700 bonuses UAW workers are getting in spite of sales drops and gob’ment bailouts.
I know it’s Christmastime, but we’re suppose to love our fellow man, not screw him.
When I was a young (and dumb) man, I once crossed a picket line to my place of work, and felt quite awful being called a “scab!” for doing so, and I had vowed to never do that again if ever presented with that choice again. Well UAW, who are the scabs now? Git your filthy paws off my wallet, you damned dirty apes!
Which is one of the reasons a recession in the late 20′s became a depression in the 30′s.
The government cannot productively control wages.
Trade wars and protectionism were also a
major factor in the great depression.
And of course, the trade wars ultimatly led to real wars!
As for the UAW, well, their job is to get the best deal possible for their membership. Once they can no longer do that, they will cease to exist.
These are the same people who scream bloody murder about executive pay and compensation while an entry level UAW worker with no more than a GED or HS diploma can get a job making $30+/hr. Who is really getting paid too much? CEOs or UAW workers???
These are the same liberals who degrade and demean any President or administration who has the nerve to borrow money or create huge debt that is “passed on to future generations” while they insist on having the costs of retired UAW workers passed on to future generations of car buyers and, now, taxpayers.
This is the epitome of liberals and liberalism. It’s called HIPOCRACY! It’s what they do.
Here is a lump of coal for you, UAW. If a government bailout is all that you need, then you can do without my purchases. Why should I support you out of my pocket when you already have my wallet thanks to the government?
You have lost me forever, Detroit.
What I don’t understand about this whole bail out picture for the auto industry is the lack of acknowledgment regarding consumers. Regardless of how much money is taking from us in terms of taxes in the short term, at the end of the day or in the long term picture we STILL have to be willing to buy a car from one of these companies in order for them to succeed. There is nothing about this bail out and what has been revealed going into it nor what is going to be done with it that will change my mind about buying a car from GM/Ford/Chrysler. I’m simply not going to do so. And now being forced to give them my tax dollars adds more fuel to the “Buy a Toyota…” decision making process.
No one seems to be pointing out that as consumers we still have the final say. If we don’t buy the products from GM/Ford/Chrysler what will they do then? Make us own a car we don’t want? Force us to buy one?
The way this is playing out GM would be smart to go Chapter 11 right now. The longer they string this out the worse shape they will be in when it finally comes to a head. It is obvious that their only long term out is to void the union contract and start from scratch.
We’ve been waiting to buy the Cadillac Escalade Hybred truck which is supposed to be out in 2009. I had no problem with them filing bankruptcy and purchasing a vehicle (as the MSM said would happen if they weren’t bailed out). I’ll be damned if I purchase a GM vehicle EVER again. Not one dime of my discretionary funds will go to the UAW. Looks like Toyota will get my business or FORD for having the guts to tell the govt “No Thanks”.
In fact, Im starting to think twice about paying my income tax come April. It is time for another “TEA PARTY”. Paying the “interest” just might be worth the effect of the government NOT receiving ANY taxes in April–wouldn’t they just $hit their pants if only a small minority paid taxes come tax time?? I think I would rather put the money in a money market account in trust for my granchildren because after this round of bailouts they are doomed before they ever get their first paycheck.
By the way–has anybody seen/heard any Conserative Republicans on the MSM screaming about the ridiculousness of these bailouts by way of the actual results to the taxpayer???
Does any Repub have the hairs to force their way onto the liberal stations to provide an opposing viewpoint to the “general public”??
Talk radio is squeaking to the choir–somebody needs to get through to the airheads that make up the “electorate”.
Is there so much as a single voice out there telling the truth instead of the political PC???
A GM dealership convinced me in 1993 to never buy another American made car (my Chevrolet Caprice was “worn out” at 100,000 miles). My four daughters have come to the same conclusion as I did at much earlier ages. The UAW can choke on their tax payer excesses.
They have already failed, hence the reason the manufacturers are in Washington now, begging for money. Both parties(b3 and uaw) have no one to blame but themselves. I personally will not buy another American made vehicle if made under the union sign of uaw…never again.
These hi-handed unions have long out lived themselves…holding the American tax payers at gunpoint trying to rob them…I call BS.
How many months or years of unsold cars will it take before congress figures out they made a huge mistake in bailing out a private enterprise operation that should have taken out bankruptcy?
And they wonder why people do not like them. It is called the Reuther Brothers Syndrome–take two cups of stupid-add some arrogance and mix in a ton of marxism and drive the customers away.
I was going to mount a hammer and sickle ornament on the Town Car but I am told that would be tacky. Think?
A death wish to be sure. Bub-bye!
How fortunate that foreign manufacturers such as Toyota, Nissan, and BMW have factories in the south of our great nation. We are still able to buy American-made cars, without having to give our money to the failures in Detroit.
The city of Detroit is failing in the state of Michigan, which is failing, and both are run by Democrats. Hmmm, any coincidence there?
I’ll never buy a big-3 car again, or for however long the environmentalists allow us to still have cars.
I, for one, will never buy a big 3 made auto. Ever. I’m young and have several auto purchases ahead of me. Should the UAW make inroads on Toyota, Nissan, Honda, I’ll either buy only used cars or look to Germany or China.
That is the only way we can beat this looting.
So, Chrysler is shutting down for a month.
Are the UAW workers still getting money for being out?
Failed to mention above, Bush is as guilty for the bailout as anyone…adding to his legacy. When it’s all said and done, Bubba’s gonna look like a conservative when compared to either Bush’s. “Like father, like son” or “droppings don’t fall to far from the tree” or something like that.
Bah! Most large manufacturers close for 2 – 4 weeks at year end for yearly facilities maintenance, i.e. painting, re-sealing floors etc… things that normally can not be done during production times. They have tried to make a huge deal out of a customary yearly shutdown to scare unknowing people into thinking they are about to close their doors for good. And yes, during these shutdowns they will be paid.
Both the UAW and the big three management have lost sight of the dictum that the purpose of a business is to generate a profit for the shareholders, whether they be one or ten million. The workers and the management have both been competing against each other to run the company for their own benefits. Overly concerned about golden parachutes and stock prices, the management has not worked to build a sustainable company. They have instead pursued a course of instant gratification. This course of action is irresponsible and never works, in business, relationships, or any aspect of life. Nor has management bothered to reign in the unions. Lockouts and moving some production overseas could have helped the American car companies maintain a viable business and sent a message to the UAW that they cannot kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Counterintuitively, this would have actually protected the American worker by insuring that labor prices stay competitive and jobs would then be kept here.
Think of the UAW as a business which provides labor to car manufacturers. The UAW has priced their labor so high as to become uncompetitive. They are now reaping the benefits of what they have previously sown. To borrow an expression, their chickens have come home to roost. In a capitalist economy, this cannot last and will end in some fashion. Absent government intervention, this will happen. Absent-minded government intervention, this will continue with the taxpayers footing the bill. The UAW is killing the jobs it allegedly wants to protect by killing the company that provides them. They have only to look at the steel industry to see their future.
In a capitalist transaction there is a voluntary exchange of goods and services for the mutual benefit of both parties. There are two failures in regard to this principle. The first is the labor-management relationship mentioned above, and the second is in the producer-consumer relationship. Concerning labor-management, the exchange is not voluntary, nor is it mutually beneficial. The labor laws in this country insure the big three must deal with the UAW labor pool and not go elsewhere. I doubt that the manufacturers would voluntarily hire employees that cost as much and behave the way the union workers do. This is also not mutually beneficial, but parasitically beneficial. Labor is a necessity, but the only labor pool available is a parasite to the company. Labor becomes a necessary evil to be controlled, as opposed to a valuable asset to be nurtured and protected. The failure of the relationship to the consumer is being played out in the loss of market share. Ultimately, the consumers win. They take their money and purchase a car they think gives them what they want for the price they are willing to pay. If the American autos don’t give them what they want for the price they want they will buy a foreign car. The only way the government can alter this relationship is to place tariffs on the imports. This will then skew the voluntary part of the relationship.
The only solution lies in the free market. Unfortunately, this does not exist in America to the extent it needs to.
Apologies for practically writing my own blogpost
I read somewhere, or maybe heard it on Rush, that they will indeed be paid even while the plant is closed.
Is this one of the “sacrifices” the UAW is doing? The msm sure seems to be giving that impression.
Oh no–the UAW workers only get 95% of their wages when laid off-+ all their benefits of course. How about you?
From the taxpayers to the unions…*&%# you!
What???? The bubble hasnt burst yet?
Keep blowing…
Who will be the first to whine about socialism? My bet is: the rationalizing ones.
Dr Hook,
You are forgiven because you are correct. Too bad we can drill basic economic principles into the heads of those in D.C. Those who believe in their union, usually do so with religious fervor and therefore are unlikely to change. It is too bad the rank and file do not do what is necessary to marginalize these zealots.
My Christmas wish…common sense rains down from the heavens and affects (infects?) all those who desperately need it.