VW workers in Tennessee vote to join UAW in historic win for Detroit union

[alarmguy]

I thought that the non-union plants were supposedly great pay and better than average benefits to keep the unions out?

They were,/are, recent UAW wins with GM, Ford lit the fire. We now live in a world were fast food workers are now making over 40k a year.
Everyone wants their share, i think the key win will be Tesla if they can get it.

All the non union workers got a nice bump in pay including just recently BMW in SC because of the UAW wins in Detroit. Without the union threat these workers wouldn’t be treated as well. I think the non union companies lost a connection and inclusion with their workers and … don’t ask me how I know environment at some places have changed over the last several years.

I can see this spreading all over the USA. it very well may be the time. But as we know some years down the road it may go too far yet right now, workers want a piece of their CEOs pay not just crumbs.

 

[billt460]

..........All the non union workers got a nice bump in pay including just recently BMW in SC because of the UAW wins in Detroit.......

The unions in Detroit did such a fantastic job at raising wages, you can now buy a home there for just a dollar.

Metro Detroit house listed at just $1

The "World's Cheapest House" hit the market just two days ago — and it's only $1. So, what's the catch? The listing is brutally honest, letting you know that you're not just buying a house, you're buying "a ticket to the real estate adventure of a lifetime.""The roof might have seen better days...

www.metrotimes.com

 

[alarmguy]

The unions in Detroit did such a fantastic job at raising wages, you can now buy a home there for just a dollar.

Metro Detroit house listed at just $1

The "World's Cheapest House" hit the market just two days ago — and it's only $1. So, what's the catch? The listing is brutally honest, letting you know that you're not just buying a house, you're buying "a ticket to the real estate adventure of a lifetime.""The roof might have seen better days...

www.metrotimes.com

?????

 

[dlundblad]

They too can get ready for 32 hour weeks with 40 hours of pay with eventual layoffs. The price of VW’s will increase too thus making them even less affordable.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Expect to see more of it. The demographers have been predicting this for some time. Baby boomer retirement has lead to worker shortage. Can't offshore to China anymore, Mexico is full, etc.

So the workers have leverage. Started at the lowest end first - restaurant, gas station - simply because those people can walk to your competitor next door and start today for a buck more, so they did. Then UAW and UPS and and the trades.

We will now see more unionization for those workers that can because its the only leverage they have. Corporate profits are at record highs so why shouldn't they?

Continued inflation and rising prices will be the theme. Its just demographics.

 

[ZZman]

I have no problem with workers not paying union dues. However if they chose not to they shouldn't reap any union gains/benefits/representation either.

 

[alarmguy]

I have no problem with workers not paying union dues. However if they chose not to they shouldn't reap any union gains/benefits/representation either.

That how a union feels but it doesn’t mean those workers should make less money. Maybe the company would want to pay non union more?

I’m just saying that because all workers non union and union reap benefits of what an industry pays in general.

I get your point but who is to say what a union does is a benefit except the union itself. It will clearly drive some salaries and production off shore again but then again the pay is mostly on par with autoworkers so I don’t see that happening… maybe …
We already have GM building and importing the successful Chevy Trax from Korea

BTW I’m not in anyway anti union, nor pro, choice is good and I directly have a family member benefiting in the south because of the UAW win in the north but it’s always been that way.. I do feel this time around more and more will unionize for reasons already stated in the news stories.

I do hope if they do it doesn’t get so crazy that the companies move off shore again.

 

[SHOZ]

I have no problem with workers not paying union dues. However if they chose not to they shouldn't reap any union gains/benefits/representation either.

Unions do no gain benefits, they only get what the company thinks they can afford. And almost 100% of the time they could have given more at the end of negotiations.

You can have a table of 20 people negotiating but in the end it's just two people who make the deal.

 

[64bawagon]

I read that the recently settled UAW contract will cause the price of domestic vehicles to rise by about $1000 per vehicle. I guess those 7 year auto loans will get even longer....

I think you forgot a zero on that figure.

 

[64bawagon]

Does anybody know if the UAW bosses like Fain get paid by union dues or by the car manufacturers or both. I know in some 'public sector' unions the union bigs receive their salary (despite working full time for the union) and a big stipend/salary from the union (paid by union dues).

Fain is wired in with the deep state progressives, who really knows what he is getting.
The biggest problem with a union is that its run by humans who as we all know are sketchy and unreliable.
And before anyone starts in, I was a union employee and served in my locals executive board and was part of several bargaining teams.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

I thought that the non-union plants were supposedly great pay and better than average benefits to keep the unions out?

Relative to cost of living in the area these workers are getting a good deal.

Union leaders in the US negotiate in bad faith because the know the US Gov (i.e. taxpayer) will backstop failing pensions. After all there's a reason why union membership has remained strong in govt jobs. The taxpayer is always on the hook.

 

[pbm]

Unions fought for what U.S workers enjoy today.

Outsourcing to foreign countries?
PS: I'm not anti-union and believe they are often needed but in my experience the vast majority of 'union bosses' are just politicians who are in it more for themselves than for their fellow union members.

 

[pbm]

I hope every car plant in the South becomes unionized. Or at least the threat of it makes the workers get a better deal from the manufacturers.

If it gets too expensive to manufacture in 'the South'...the companies will move further south....as in Central or South America.
Make no mistake about it....the push to 'globalism' will make some people better off but it won't be working class Americans.

 

[Zee09]

I bet the union focused on quality control and affordability too...
They are for the good of the people or just some of the people... going away now....

 

[Hermann]

Looks like Volkswagen will be leaving the US soon.

 

[GMFan]

It’s easy to think all unions are bad when you work in an office in air conditioning and make 6 figures in an ivory tower. You’re not outside in 100 degree heat in a ditch working with your hands or on a ladder hanging pipe in 20 degree howling wind in a concrete parking garage as the lowest bidder on a job where you’re just a human commodity. You’re not dealing with asbestos and threatened to get the job done without proper PPE or remediation and told to “just get the job done or get fired”. You’re not fired at the drop of a hat when you get hurt on the job from dangerous working conditions. You’re not fired when you turn 50 simply because you can’t work as fast as a 20 year old. Maybe people just don’t want to be treated like cattle and want better protections? If companies don’t want unions maybe offer better conditions to compete? If the UAW didn’t exist in the US do people really think all the car manufacturers would be doing their best to keep as good of a workplace? Aren’t options and competition in a free market a good thing for everyone?

All I’m saying is there’s no 100% right or wrong answer to anything as complex as a labor union, but I’ve also read Grapes of Wrath…. If there wasn’t a single Union in America I don’t think our working conditions would improve…competition is a good thing. Working in a steel mill is different than working a desk job…

 

[SHOZ]

It’s easy to think all unions are bad when you work in an office in air conditioning and make 6 figures in an ivory tower. You’re not outside in 100 degree heat in a ditch working with your hands or on a ladder hanging pipe in 20 degree howling wind in a concrete parking garage as the lowest bidder on a job where you’re just a human commodity. You’re not dealing with asbestos and threatened to get the job done without proper PPE or remediation and told to “just get the job done or get fired”. You’re not fired at the drop of a hat when you get hurt on the job from dangerous working conditions. You’re not fired when you turn 50 simply because you can’t work as fast as a 20 year old. Maybe people just don’t want to be treated like cattle and want better protections? If companies don’t want unions maybe offer better conditions to compete? If the UAW didn’t exist in the US do people really think all the car manufacturers would be doing their best to keep as good of a workplace? Aren’t options and competition in a free market a good thing for everyone?

I worked most of my life in unions. And yes where conditions are bad they do a good job usually. It's easy pickings. But large corporations and unions is all politics.

 

[SC Maintenance]

It’s easy to think all unions are bad when you work in an office in air conditioning and make 6 figures in an ivory tower. You’re not outside in 100 degree heat in a ditch working with your hands or on a ladder hanging pipe in 20 degree howling wind in a concrete parking garage as the lowest bidder on a job where you’re just a human commodity. You’re not dealing with asbestos and threatened to get the job done without proper PPE or remediation and told to “just get the job done or get fired”. You’re not fired at the drop of a hat when you get hurt on the job from dangerous working conditions. You’re not fired when you turn 50 simply because you can’t work as fast as a 20 year old. Maybe people just don’t want to be treated like cattle and want better protections? If companies don’t want unions maybe offer better conditions to compete? If the UAW didn’t exist in the US do people really think all the car manufacturers would be doing their best to keep as good of a workplace? Aren’t options and competition in a free market a good thing for everyone?

All I’m saying is there’s no 100% right or wrong answer to anything as complex as a labor union, but I’ve also read Grapes of Wrath…. If there wasn’t a single Union in America I don’t think our working conditions would improve…competition is a good thing. Working in a steel mill is different than working a desk job…

I am sorry, I am not pro or against unions, but this is hyperbole. None of this nonsense has been the case since basic employment laws came into existence back in the 30's.

If workers want to negotiate as a block that is there right. None of it is about safety, and very little spills into other sectors. Its for them, and them alone, and as I said, is there right if they wish.

 

[ZZman]

If it gets too expensive to manufacture in 'the South'...the companies will move further south....as in Central or South America.
Make no mistake about it....the push to 'globalism' will make some people better off but it won't be working class Americans.

I will call that corporate greed and businesses caring more about the CEOs and stockholders pay. The larger corporations have become, and the more institutional investors buy up businesses the worse it's gotten. One example is all the mobile home parks being bought up and lot rentals going sky high.

 

[alarmguy]

If it gets too expensive to manufacture in 'the South'...the companies will move further south....as in Central or South America.
Make no mistake about it....the push to 'globalism' will make some people better off but it won't be working class Americans.

Yes and no.
It's always been this way with all manufacturing. Our higher standard of living = higher labor cost. Manufacturing moved offshore decades ago, we can all make the money that they make in China or just hold our own like we have done for over 60 years.