Auto Unions Refuse to Take Pay, Benefit Cuts

reply to post by Loke.


Wait one minute there! Some of my best friends are GM management. Trust me when I tell you that union staff are much better off. On more than one occasion my friend has been threatened with lay off only to be transfered to another plant in the nick of time (because he was competanr in his work, not because of a stupid protectionist philisophy) unlike the union staff there is no gievance process for them like the one that will allow an incompetent workers to carry on collecting pay and sitting on his a**. His wages are also not in line with what the union claims. Although comfortable, he has only ever earned a respectable wage without all the benefits( no jets, free cars, swiss bank accounts, etc..)

reply to post by dooper

Originally posted by dooper


My fellow propogation artists jsobecky and Cool Hand Luke and I should maybe get together and start our own version of a "fertility clinic."

Yeah, we could be the new Big Three!

I just watched a UAW rep on TV saying that they have given up many concessions already. For example, he said a new hire now make about $14/hour.

What is wrong with that starting wage? It is for essentially unskilled workers. It's for a starting position, and is fair, imo.

reply to post by jsobecky


It means stagnation of wages and the trend that has been going in this nation for a while making now impossible for a family to survive with against the high cost of living.

Plain and simple and it you think that is just "a starting salary" your are just dreaming.

lower salaries, lower standard of living.

Just bring the skilled "workers" from India and Pakistan they will work for 13 dollars, or better yet just hurry up and send all the jobs oversea, I bet walmart will be in need of some automakers in their stores

Originally posted by jsobecky
I just watched a UAW rep on TV saying that they have given up many concessions already. For example, he said a new hire now make about $14/hour.

What is wrong with that starting wage? It is for essentially unskilled workers. It's for a starting position, and is fair, imo.

A skilled contractor in IT makes $15/hour here in Texas to start, at least in the area of customer service and support. Unskilled workers starting in Best Buy get about $8.50/hour.

What makes an unskilled worker in the auto industry worth $14/hour? I say start them at $10/hour like everyone else and let them earn their damn pay raises.

Originally posted by marg6043
reply to post by jsobecky

 

It means stagnation of wages and the trend that has been going in this nation for a while making now impossible for a family to survive with against the high cost of living.

Plain and simple and it you think that is just "a starting salary" your are just dreaming.

lower salaries, lower standard of living.

Just bring the skilled "workers" from India and Pakistan they will work for 13 dollars, or better yet just hurry up and send all the jobs oversea, I bet walmart will be in need of some automakers in their stores

Marg, there is no need to offshore jobs as there are non-union folks in this country who will do the work for $10/hour starting out and work their way up. They may not have graduated high school or they may be in their early 20's, but to have a steady job, they would take it.

The problem is to work at the Big 3, don't you HAVE to be unionized? And they would never let you destroy the curve by taking such a low wage.

reply to post by sos37


The big three is going to be the last unionized industry that will be lost to the nations greed and outsourcing, the big CEOs will move over sea to greener pastures with non union slave work force to do the job with less complains.

Mean while America will fall more and more into stagnation.

Unions will be death after the big three goes down as they are the last fight for their cause.

This are very sad times in the nation of dreams, prosperity and plenty at least that is what we used to be known by.

Originally posted by marg6043
reply to post by sos37

 

This are very sad times in the nation of dreams, prosperity and plenty at least that is what we used to be known by.

It's true, the U.S. was known this way back when it was the U.S. Economy versus the rest of the world. But now, the global economy is upon us and all nations' economics are interlinked.

Unions, IMO, are a relic from the old days of business that should be done away with. Nowadays, many people are just happy to have a job in this country and others. Especially now, in today's tough economic times, no one has the right to demand that their standard of living be upheld when so many are without a means of income.

Take for example, CEO John Thain of Merril Lynch last week saying that he believes he deserves a $10 million bonus. The company did poorly but he says because of him, the company didn't lose a lot more (www.msnbc.msn.com...). In a way, the UAW is in the same boat by demanding to uphold the same, bloated payscale plus benefits when the economic times are tough for all. They should be renegotiating their wages, benefits and pensions to meet those of the foreign auto companies.