Will this Strike Kill Ford/Chevy/Chrysler?

[Dave Hess]

I feel if UAW wanted better pay, benefits and retirement they would eventually strike. No way to avoid this strike.

Recent UPS pay increase / contract really set the tone for other blue collar workers in USA to demand a better contract.

My dad was a union A&P mechanic for 30 years, I was a non union employee (with union benefits) for 35 years so I see both sides.


Sonny,

What career field were you working in ?

 

[MSCH]

its humorous to me to note that when the American Middle Class ( 1950's into the 60's) was most successful, union membership was at its highest.
Back then the average CEO's pay was about 30 times what the average employees salary was.
Nowadays the average CEO's compensation is about 400 times what the average employee's wage is..

Aggregated CEO-to-worker compensation ratio for the 350 largest publicly owned companies in the United States from 1965 to 2021
https://www.statista.com/statistics... that, on average,key industry of their firm.

 

[Pablo]

I feel if UAW wanted better pay, benefits and retirement they would eventually strike. No way to avoid a strike.

That's not really true.

Better pay? Ask for a reasonable increase greater than inflation.
Benefits? What more? Ask for couple more, and lower cost health care - better coverage
Retirement? Ask for increase kicker to the 401K within reason.

Management would have agreed to all these things.

 

[Dave Hess]

That's not really true.

Better pay? Ask for a reasonable increase greater than inflation.
Benefits? What more? Ask for couple more, and lower cost health care - better coverage
Retirement? Ask for increase kicker to the 401K within reason.

Management would have agreed to all these things.

UAW wants to get rid of Two Tier pay scale.
Yes, they want more money and benefits.

Obviously the UAW won’t get everything they are demanding.

 

[cptbarkey]

"Will this this Strike Kill Ford/Chevy/Chrysler"

I dont care enough to check, but i'm sure they all raked in a boatload of profit over the pandemic, and continue to do so, so no.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Poor business/engineering decisions that have nothing to do with the union is what killed them

Unions should demand seats at the table, like the works councils they have in Germany. Labor makes half the executive board. This model has been successful where it is implemented, including by Ford Europe.

Volkswagen tried to do this in Chattanooga, but the courts said it requires a union. But this isn't a problem for the Big 3 since they already have a union.

Tesla is proof that unions are not obsolete. Elon Musk is known for treating his employees poorly, and they get paid less than their Detroit counterparts, $20/hr less than someone in the UAW makes, and in an area with a much higher cost of living.

 

[Dave Hess]

Poor business/engineering decisions that have nothing to do with the union is what killed them

Unions should demand seats at the table, like the works councils they have in Germany. Labor makes half the executive board. This model has been successful where it is implemented, including by Ford Europe.

Volkswagen tried to do this in Chattanooga, but the courts said it requires a union. But this isn't a problem for the Big 3 since they already have a union.

Tesla is proof that unions are not obsolete. Elon Musk is known for treating his employees poorly, and they get paid less than their Detroit counterparts, $20/hr less than someone in the UAW makes, and in an area with a much higher cost of living.

Within 5 years there will be a union at Tesla. Maybe not the UAW…. but there will be a union.

Elon won’t be happy when California and Texas assembly lines shut down for 2 months.

 

[MSCH]

I'll give you a funny one,,,, American auto manufacturers are built by both union and non union labor forces ( aka all the import models manufactured in this country are non union)... but in the import models home country where those cars are also manufactured they are all unionized. I believe a German auto worker also makes twice as much as a UAW represented worker.

 

[nickaluch]

That's not really true.

Better pay? Ask for a reasonable increase greater than inflation.
Benefits? What more? Ask for couple more, and lower cost health care - better coverage
Retirement? Ask for increase kicker to the 401K within reason.

Management would have agreed to all these things.

Union ask high management goes low you meet somewhere in the middle that's how it works. They will eventually figure it out that works for both sides

 

[Hermann]

My friend who works at Claycomo (KC) on the Transit line, says they want the 40% more than the rest. Remember most of the people who assemble cars there live paycheck to paycheck.

 

[eljefino]

UAW are greedy.
poor man vs greedy automakers. Disgusting analogy for headline eyeballs. How many truly POOR UAW members are there?

Some might consider it middle-middle class but you can pull in $19.10 an hour putting front ends on Broncos. If this is a result from a contract from a few years ago when inflation was not imaginable, the members feel a need to catch up to now as well as plan for the future.

 

[ammolab]

About 30% of those workers are going to probably lose out to EV.
It takes far less workers to make electric vehicles.

This is true, but times change. They have always changed. No one retains workers that are not needed.
Should the buggy whip makers Union demand that those workers should still get paid, benefits etc?
A lot of workers were out when Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Plymouth etc went dark.

The entire auto industry in Australia is now gone…Unions there had a small part in that industrial death

 

[oldcodger]

A well run union is a good thing. A well run business is a good thing. When either of them make foolish decisions they both hurt. I worked at a facility that had a union. I did not like the idea of being forced to join a union. The 32 hour work week is crap. It costs money to shut down an assembly line and restart it. The union should stick to pay raises and benefit packages. Do not try to tell the company how to run the business. Like someone mentioned there should be union representatives on the company board.

 

[meep]

The 32 hour work week… is this needed to reduce the risk of RSI (repetitive stress injury)? Having lived with an RSI for 15 years, it can absolutely ruin your life, and it seems like assembly line work of any nature is a recipe for disaster here. A significant help is to rotate to different tasks frequently, but even that if it’s all hand-manipulation will add up.

???

 

[ammolab]

The 32 hour work week… is this needed to reduce the risk of RSI (repetitive stress injury)? Having lived with an RSI for 15 years, it can absolutely ruin your life, and it seems like assembly line work of any nature is a recipe for disaster here. A significant help is to rotate to different tasks frequently, but even that if it’s all hand-manipulation will add up.

???

Replace those workers with robots That can’t get RSI.

OOPS! I hear the unions wailing again!

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

If the big three are smart they will let them think about until New Years and just shut it down. Hungary mouths become way more reasonable.

 

[Freischneider]

 

[CKN]

Peter over at auto extremist.com thinks this will ruin the Industry.
He calls the strike and I quote-"is a fool’s errand of the first degree. The reality is that there is no going back to the halcyon days marked by the high points of previous labor movements and subsequent advantageous agreements."

 

[Danno]

Remember most of the people who assemble cars there live paycheck to paycheck.

I'm not remembering this, do you have a link, other on this?
Side note, toured the plant when they were starting the Transit line August 2014. Cool place. The body stamping die was installed in a building, inside the building.

 

[Pablo]

Peter over at auto extremist.com thinks this will ruin the Industry.
He calls the strike and I quote-"is a fool’s errand of the first degree. The reality is that there is no going back to the halcyon days marked by the high points of previous labor movements and subsequent advantageous agreements."

I said nearly the same 4 threads back