GM and Ford

[JR IN JAX]

I ran into a problem like this with Lockheed's union. We needed to replace a large AC compressor in a secure building's chiller and getting a crane through security was almost impossible. The Plant manager volunteered one of his forklift operators to set it for us after checking the work area for safety.
He then found his forklift operator playing cards in the break room [there were no missiles there so they had nothing whatsoever to do]. The forklift operator became very agitated and threw his cards all over the place. He then walked outside to the Chiller [with no forklift] and announced to us and the Plant Manager,"This ain't safe and I'm not doing it". He then went back to playing cards again.
The Plant Manager was helpless and told us to "get a crane".
I appreciate the stand that Unions once took to help boost the wages of workers. Now they are a cancer to the whole American system that hopefully will soon be cured.

[Tango]

The Union here has been the reason that foriegn countries have taken many of the US contracts for production of large aircraft assemblies. Embraer is building jets here in the US to save import taxes to our Government, they operate under tax relief and they are not subject to any Union compliance since they are a Foriegn owned company. Thus they can sell an airplane to the Airlines for a cheaper rate than say Boeing because they have a fraction of the manufacturing and corporate costs! Boeing is losing BILLIONS in dollars due to cancelled orders of its new 787 Dreamliner and the backlog issues due to Union Greed! These Union workers want want want yet refuse to work to help the company.

If you have NOTHING to do... And want a Great Union Laugh, read the News Channel 5 Blog for the Vought Strike here in Nashville.

http://www.topix.net/forum/business/...20KCRUBK1VPTU9

[MODXR6]

Right now Vought Aircraft is doing something for the American Industry and that is breaking a Union! Their International Aerospace machinists (IAM 735) union voted to go on strike September 27th and has been on Strike ever since. Approximately 1000 workers walked out. Vought Aircraft has seen how the Union has been crippling the company over the years and proactively hired an outside Contracting firm to supply over 600 aviation skilled workers to replace all the Union workers. In 49 days we have met the learning curve, accelerated beyond the Union's effective production in some areas by 400% and met production goals that would have had to be pushed back til the 2nd quarter of NEXT YEAR, costing the company MILLIONS of dollars in lost earnings, bonuses and payroll.

Here is the company website listing the information: http://www.voughtaircraft.com/employ...ages/index.htm

If you visit the link above you can see that the offer was substantial! There are NOT licensed FAA A&P mechanics or assemblers. These are people who were hired from Burger King and the such, taught to do a production task and paid an average of $21.48 per hour wage. Get this... if they worked a Saturday whether or not they made 40 hours in the week, they got paid doubletime... and tripletime for Sunday!!

Read the website info. Its hysterical! The amounts of sabotage they would pull off just so they would not have to work is astounding. Yet... get paid cause it was listed as mechanical downtime for repairs. Things like messing up a mill machine and get paid while maintenance came to fix it! The company is fed up and will break the Unions at its other locations pending Union Contract renewals.

News video coverage the weekend of the strike: http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=9083597

Unions have crippled the United States' ability to compete in the World marketplace for aviation supremecy. Something the Japanese industry is not a player in but our European counterparts are! In fact... the Airbus wing assemblies are made HERE IN NASHVILLE by Americans! This is a crushing blow to the US economy when Billions in labor dollars are being kept from the economy by Union strikes across the country.

Very interesting read

[Airboater]

just heard on the news that UAW said there workers would not take any pay cuts ,

[chynewalkr]

just heard on the news that UAW said there workers would not take any pay cuts ,

they have 2 choices, take a paycut on their own accord, or take the big pay cut and live off unemployment.

[sho305]

Just caught part of the automaker CEOs talking on CNBC at congressional hearings that are going on. Wagner said GM and its dealers are around 450 thousand employees.

I would think the UAW is screwed, most of them are gone anyway. In a few years GM will have cut 50% of them since 2005 on its own. The problem is those are all US jobs that are $0 pay now, instead of some pay if they would have made a deal.

They did say average US automaker pay is $72, that is 64% more than Toyota according to a talk show.

[Mark75H]

just heard on the news that UAW said there workers would not take any pay cuts

Yeah, over the weekend the head of the union said they "would make no more concessions" ... what concessions?

I'm thinking delusions of grandeur

[MODXR6]

The Union here has been the reason that foriegn countries have taken many of the US contracts for production of large aircraft assemblies. Embraer is building jets here in the US to save import taxes to our Government, they operate under tax relief and they are not subject to any Union compliance since they are a Foriegn owned company. Thus they can sell an airplane to the Airlines for a cheaper rate than say Boeing because they have a fraction of the manufacturing and corporate costs! Boeing is losing BILLIONS in dollars due to cancelled orders of its new 787 Dreamliner and the backlog issues due to Union Greed! These Union workers want want want yet refuse to work to help the company.

If you have NOTHING to do... And want a Great Union Laugh, read the News Channel 5 Blog for the Vought Strike here in Nashville.

http://www.topix.net/forum/business/...20KCRUBK1VPTU9

What a friggen joke !!!!!!!!!!
That's what that union has to offer for working on the aircraft that the public straps their azz in. And I thought it was tough to put together a small manufacturing workforce here in south Louisiana. Dang, I got a different outlook as a production manager here now. What a mentality!!!! No wonder all those well qualified workers won't come down here to fill those 150,000 jobs open in the state. This is a right to work state & they would be hard pressed to make a full weeks paycheck with that type of attitude.

AMAZING

[Tango]

What a friggen joke !!!!!!!!!!
That's what that union has to offer for working on the aircraft that the public straps their azz in. And I thought it was tough to put together a small manufacturing workforce here in south Louisiana. Dang, I got a different outlook as a production manager here now. What a mentality!!!! No wonder all those well qualified workers won't come down here to fill those 150,000 jobs open in the state. This is a right to work state & they would be hard pressed to make a full weeks paycheck with that type of attitude.

AMAZING

Yeah... its pretty crazy! Today they updated the website to include the info on the new contract the Union is refusing to sign. Here is the lowdown. These guys are Union negotiated to do ONE task. That means if Billy Bob is on wing seals but the clips to hold those seals are out of stock... he gets to sit on his arse til someone from the stock room delivers those parts to him. Of course... the stockroom clerk is Union too. So, until he gets the paperwork from Billy Bob's supervisor requesting the clips he cannot fill the order. So, in the meantime if the guy working next to Billy Bob needs a hand to install the bolts to hold the aileron on... Billy Bob can refuse to help based on that its outside his Union Negotiated Job Scope and pay grade! So he just sits on his arse getting paid for nothing all day.

Here is the link to the site updates.

http://www.voughtaircraft.com/employ...ages/index.htm

[JR IN JAX]

Lets hope the backlash to all of this publicity is to make the Democrats too ashamed to push the "Card Check" legislation.

This [card check] could hurt American business more than the mortgage crisis.

It is amazing that the Union comes in without a secret ballot but has to be disbarred with ONLY a secret ballot.

[merccoop]

I've been trying to keep up with this thread as I have an older cousin who graduated as a Mechanical Engineer (also from ISU but i got 1 semester left..) who works for GM. He sent out an email to friends and family recently and I figured it'd be good for you guys to read. He brought up alot of things I never thought about or knew. I don't really support a government bailout, but like most of you feel SOMETHING needs to be done, we CANNOT loose the American Automotive industry.

Email from my cousin, an engineer for GM:


I am sure you have been reading about the financial difficulty GM is facing w/ the current credit crisis in the US economy. As has been reported in the media, GM and the other US automakers are seeking a Government Bridge
loan to weather this economic storm. I have been reading a lot of
reactions throughout the US regarding the bridge loans. As a GM employee
I feel compelled to reach out to those who are not directly involved w/ the auto industry to help them better understand why this is a good investment
for the US taxpayer. After you read below that GM will produce a 100 mile
per gallon vehicle and currently produces the most E85 flex fuel vehicles in the US, please express your support of the US automotive industry to your congressman by visiting gmfactsandfiction.com.

I have heard comments that GM is a "dinosaur" and only produces gas
guzzling vehicles. These perceptions were justified 10 years ago but I
feel very strongly that the GM products introduced recently are better than
their foreign competitors and independent media sources agree. Did you
know GM offers more models than any other automotive manufacturer/OEM that
get 30 MPG or better? Did you know that the Chevy Malibu has better fuel
economy than the Toyota Camry and Accord? Same goes for the Chevy
Silverado vs Toyota Tundra. Did you know that GM will be the first OEM to
offer a 100 mile per gallon production vehicle (Chevrolet Volt) in calendar year 2010 (less than 2 years away)? Did you know GM currently has over 100 fuel cell vehicle being tested/evaluated on public roads by our elected officials? One last tidbit when it comes to fuel economy and technology, did you know that the hybrid SUVS and pickups from GM save more fuel
(gallons) per year than a Toyota Prius? GM is committed to reducing our
dependency on foreign oil. Having personally seen the cars GM will be introducing over the next 5 years, I can tell you they will be significantly better than the competition. They will provide class leading fuel economy and quality w/ gorgeous styling (something the foreign
competition does not offer). Without your support and government
assistance, sadly, you will not be able buy these game changing cars.

I have also heard comments that suggest the impact would only be felt in
Michigan. Did you realize that 1 in 10 jobs are tied to the automotive
industry? Furthermore, did you know that Lear Corporation in Iowa City
employs over 800 people (produces interior parts for Buick Lucerne and
Cadillac DTS)? We all know the importance of E85 to the farming community
but were you aware that neither Honda or Toyota offer a single vehicle that can use E85. Without government assistance the US automotive industry will collapse, significantly impacting the demand for E85 production and the farming community.

Many people have the notion that GM has an inefficient work force. Did
you realize that GM employs 60,000 fewer employees than Toyota but has
consistently sold more vehicles . GM also signed a historic labor and
health care agreement w/ the UAW which takes effect in January of 2010.
This agreement will enable GM to compete w/ the Asian Transplants (Toyota, Honda, etc) from a labor cost perspective.

GM is not the inefficient , non-innovator, poor quality vehicle manufacturer it is perceived to be. There is a lot of false/out of date information and/or perceptions regarding the US automotive industry. Please visit gmfactsandfiction.com to express your support of GM and the US automotive industry by contacting your congressman. Click on "I am a concerned American". Fill in your address and name and a form email will
automatically be sent to your congressman. It is that simple! I
sincerely appreciate the time and consideration you have given to the facts about GM. Please share these facts with your friends and family by forwarding this email.

Thanks,
Justin

gmfactsandfiction.com/
---

[JR IN JAX]

I think it will help your Cousin by letting the companies go into chapter 11 [reorganization] just like the Airlines and rebuild their business model into one that is sustainable instead of a chronic failure, needing constant tax money transfusions until it dies.

[Ziemer]

I listened to all three yesterday, and they all said virtually the same thing. It was:

We can't go into bankruptcy, nobody will buy our cars.
We've got a bunch of new fuel efficient vehicles out or on the way.
We've made a "ton" of cutbacks in labor costs.
We were in an excellent position in the 1st quarter of 08, then the market took a crap.

Well, guess it was all too little too late.

I really don't understand what, where or how this money is going to keep any of the three alive other than a few more months. Chrysler's CEO said their monthly costs are in the neigborhood of $5-$6 billion!!!

[oldschoolltv]

If the get there pay inline with toyota and honda they can hire twice as many americans and put out twice the production they are now, I think all of us have taken a pay cut why cant they see we are upset they think that there big salary and benifits should not come into the real world pay and benefits, Matt

[Mark75H]

Who will buy these cars?