At 11AM today, GMs autoworkers union UAW went on strike, after a deadline to reach a new labor agreement had passed.
There are 73,000 UAW members on strike, and it affects all GM plants nationwide.
Reports are that neither side can handle a long strike, and indeed as of late a lot of progress in negotiations had been made.
GM is officially “disappointed”, but negotiations shall continue.
Could this delay the Volt? Will it hurt GMs bottom line? Only time will tell.
This entry was posted on Monday, September 24th, 2007 at 12:16 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Sep 24th, 2007 (1:08 pm)As usual, Unions do more to harm workers than help.
Quote: GM, Ford and Chrysler are seeking concessions from the UAW to close a labor cost gap with Toyota Motor Corp and other Japanese automakers operating in the United States that they say amounts to more than $30 per hour for the average factory worker.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070924/bs_nm/gm_dc_3;_ylt=AggYuUf9GqI0ye8Fl8cyqfME1vAI
Sep 24th, 2007 (1:22 pm)When the unions get finished with this country there won’t be any mfg. left in the US.
Sep 24th, 2007 (1:38 pm)We need universal health care to fix this stuff. GM would have no serious financial problems if they weren’t saddled with the burden of having to pay for their workers’ health care out of pocket. All working Americans desire the best medical care, but employers should not have to pay for it out of pocket, that’s bad business, but because it’s necessary, it’s making our economy weaker by the day.
Sep 24th, 2007 (1:39 pm)With a master’s degree in mechanical engineering I make less than a janitor in a GM factory. That certainly does not cause me to be sympathetic to the UAW. I hope they get their a$$es handed to them.
Sep 24th, 2007 (1:43 pm)Tom,
Stop with the bashing. Whether or not you’re right is best left to people smarter than me, but this comment section has a good reputation for informed commentary. I don’t think anyone wants it to degenerate into a political firebox.
Sep 24th, 2007 (1:59 pm)The problem is rooted long ago when GM knowingly agreed to pay a future benefit, effectively mortgaging the future.
It is rather like the sub prime mortgages mess. People entered into low payment mortgaging ignoring the risk that payments would balloon the the future.
GM entered into what was a low cost payment/benefit plan to employees, ignoring the risk that payments would balloon in the future.
Just like sub prime mortgages were sold on in the form of securities to others that were unsuspecting, many unsuspecting GM workers accepted a deal (in return for their labor) that GM might not be able to honor.
Should the FED bail out those who made bad financial decisions with mortgages or mortgage securities? There is moral risk there.
Should US Gov, bail out GM and others with universal health care? There is moral risk there too. (It may or may not be good for the country, not an issue for this forum)
It is all complex stuff, and there are no clear wrong doers, except those that knowingly made these deals with full knowledge of what would happen some years down the line.
So please do not get into a blame game here.
This forum is not the place for such things.
How this may affect the Volt – yes appropriate.
My 2c
Sep 24th, 2007 (2:37 pm)Whatever happens, I hope this is resolved quickly. I don’t know the full impact on production, sales, etc., but strikes are bad. I hope a deal can be settled soon and everyone can be happy. I don’t know anyone immediately affected by this, but I do care since those are American workers out there. Again, I just hope this can be resolved soon.
Sep 24th, 2007 (2:45 pm)Now the Volt might be delayed or canceled due to this shitty strike. How about we make them pay for our gasoline that we would have to buy because we couldn’t get the Volt?
Sep 24th, 2007 (3:00 pm)I really doubt a strike among hourly-rate factory workers is going to affect high-skill high-salary engineers. If people think this strike will slow down research and development, they obviously don’t know what labor unions are all about. Battery research better continue, unless this causes major financial turmoil for GM, THEN we’ll have a problem with Volt R&D.
Sep 24th, 2007 (3:00 pm)Universal healthcare the answer?? Yeah. Then you know who would be paying for it? EVERYBODY. How? MORE TAXES.
I have a solution: get an education, and get a good job with a company that offers it as part of their compensation.
The UAW has to be in large part responsible for American auto manufacturer’s problems. There are guys that turn nuts and bolts that get paid MUCH more than I do (and I have a college degree, multiple certifications and work on servers running Linux and VMWare – not something your average highschool dropout can!). The UAW is simply demanding more than they are worth.
Initially, unions were a good thing, because they protected workers. Now they know they have the companies by the balls, and they demand compensation well beyond what their job’s skill level demands.
Sep 24th, 2007 (3:13 pm)Do the engineers at GM belong to a union? If so, are they honoring the picket line? If not it shouldn’t have any effect on the Volt since the engineers are still designing it and testing the batteries if & when they are delivered. This is not the place for disertations, but not all the facts may be known regarding quoted wages & job titles. Some apparently highly compensated employees may be in their current pay only temporarily as a result of a RIF. Most unions work that way, the seniority bump system. After a specified time at the new job their wages will drop if they do not find other positions to move to. There have been lots of layoffs at the big 3 lately so there is probably a lot of short term disparity.
Sep 24th, 2007 (3:19 pm)United we stand; divided we fall.
Sep 24th, 2007 (3:32 pm)Even if we got “universal health care” that would probably not retroactively remove the liability on GM’s books (which as I understand it works out to about $1500 surcharge per new car). The proposed plan from Clinton for example would simply require employers to buy insurance or provide coverage. Medicare is supposed to already cover retirees.
We shouldn’t be basing a large part of economy on unskilled manual labor anymore. The future is in robotics. Outsource much of the labor. The workforce needs to adapt.
Sep 24th, 2007 (3:58 pm)OK, maybe we do want a political firebox…First of all, as has been brought up before, this should not impact development, which is a long way out. Second of all, why do we pay more than any other industrialized nation for healthcare and get poorer results? Third of all, you can off shore the labor all you want, but all your doing is trading low cost for exploiting labor in another country. Maybe that’s fine, but personally I have a moral issue with it. Granted, I buy my share of crap from China, but I try to buy local whenever I can.
We need to stop demonizing unions, since they are just doing the same thing that management does, maximize returns for their effort. The US has some real problems in critical industries which aren’t going to be addressed in the current “soundbite” climate. We should realize that sometimes, government works and not treat market based solutions as the be all end all solution to everything.
/Stepping down from soapbox.
Sep 24th, 2007 (4:06 pm)Sometimes I think people forget we live in the free market, as bad as that is for some with no health care. GM isn’t obligated and shouldn’t be obligated to be the social services provider of all its workers and all generations following.
If the UAW wants to see the jobs stay in the continental U.S. and not be shipped over to Mexico or China, my advice to them is pipe it.
Sep 24th, 2007 (4:53 pm)I think Unions are the LAST great thing about our labor work force. Those that don’t like unions are simply saying they all make too much money and those workers shouldn’t expect to make more than MFG workers in other countries.
So Anti-Union people, how do you think MFG workers in this country are going to NOT be a burden on our system when they only make 20k a year. None of them will pay any thing in taxes, none of them will have healthcare, so YOU will have to pay more taxes and pay for THEIR healthcare when they show up at the emergency room and don’t have cash to pay for anything.
In the end the Anti-Union people don’t really care if ALL the MFG jobs go to China.
Also if any of you Anti-Union people are buying goods from China, why are you supporting a communist state?
Sep 24th, 2007 (4:58 pm)We DON’T truly live in a ‘free market’ economy. Much of our products are supported by US government funding as are other nations products. If we truly lived in a free market, then at least initially Ford, GM and maybe even Toyota would probably go out of business because China would wind up making all of our cars for much cheaper than we could.
If you don’t like labor unions, don’t complain about lead in the paint on your car and other products.
The Volt and other products like it are the future. Unions arn’t perfect. What system is?
Sep 24th, 2007 (5:40 pm)[quote]We need universal health care to fix this stuff.[/quote]
America’s free market system is a big part of why this country became great. As we keep slipping further an further into socialism things will continue to get worse and worse.
They say the Clinton health car will cost on the order of 100 billion. But when a person can get free health care why would employeers continue to offer it. Not much of an incentive to work there if you already have health care for free. So companies are going to stop offering it since it is no skin of the employees nose. Then you will double or thriple the cost of the system.
And when the filthy stinking rich greedy doctors can no longer make lots of money there will no longer be many people going into that profession. Then only the truely rich will be able to pay the government for thier free health care and then also pay for out of their own pocket for the few privatized doctors that give good health care.
Healthcare will slowly crumble and you will have to wait for surgery and stuff because you will have to get on waiting list etc.
Sep 24th, 2007 (6:30 pm)Chris,
We like the people that work for Unions, we just don’t like Unions. I have many friends in various unions such as Entertainment, Construction, Airlines, Teachers, Grocery, and Auto. I have not heard any of them say they like the Union’s they are in. Most of them resent how much money they take and how much money their senior management make. Actually, most of them are much happier to take non-union jobs when they can.
Truth is Unions have seen their day come and go. Now they are just annoying. And in some cases, like the airlines and Grocery, they are devastating. In 1998, they almost killed GM.
The UAW and big unions like it only protect themselves as an entity. Now they rule the employer with threats. What is GM to do?
Sep 24th, 2007 (6:44 pm)Well, GM could give less money to it’s shareholders, and upper management, buy some if it’s own stock back. But in the end unless consumers are willing to pay extra for American cars, the American built car is going to be a thing of the past regardless of unions or no unions. As soon as china starts being competitive on the car market, you are going to see a lot of Americans buy Chinese I am afraid.
I have never thought of a UAW worker as wealthy. Do you? Are they rich? What is the ‘appropriate’ salary for a UAW worker?
I think this thread got hijacked from the Volt, but is important non the less.
How can the US remain competitive with Chinese auto makers in a few years? Isn’t this argument mute otherwise?
Sep 24th, 2007 (7:07 pm)[quote comment="8560"]We need universal health care to fix this stuff. GM would have no serious financial problems if they weren’t saddled with the burden of having to pay for their workers’ health care out of pocket. All working Americans desire the best medical care, but employers should not have to pay for it out of pocket, that’s bad business, but because it’s necessary, it’s making our economy weaker by the day.[/quote]
This is not true. France’s unemployment rate is twice ours, and they have universal health care.
In any case, health care is not the stickler here. They have finished that part of the negotiations. It is “job security”, which may mean that the UAW wants GM to promise not to outsource jobs ever again–for as long as time shall last.
Gm probably won’t promise that.
The union is just emboldened by a probable Democratic climate this election season.
Sep 24th, 2007 (7:11 pm)[quote comment="8582"]Sometimes I think people forget we live in the free market, as bad as that is for some with no health care. GM isn’t obligated and shouldn’t be obligated to be the social services provider of all its workers and all generations following.
If the UAW wants to see the jobs stay in the continental U.S. and not be shipped over to Mexico or China, my advice to them is pipe it.[/quote]
They don’t forget. They don’t ACCEPT.
That is what.
Look at “Chris Johnson”‘s response up there.
Sep 24th, 2007 (8:29 pm)The Japanese factories (in the U.S.) go out of their way to avoid organization and unions.
So if unions are so great, how can the Japanese be doing so well without them?
Unions had their time and place. That time is gone.
Toyota’s lead gets higher and higher…
Sep 24th, 2007 (10:37 pm)I work for a Fortune-100 heavy-equipment manufacturing company that employs UAW factory workers. A few years ago, the same thing happened here.
My company responded by quickly mobilizing all non-essential white-collar workers to become factory workers. Thousands of managers, designers, IT staff, etc were in the factories building the end product. Additional factory workers were also brought in from the outside. This went on for several months until the UAW gave in.
In the end, the company got the contract they wanted since the UAW lost much of its ability to inflict damage. However, during those months, lots of R&D came to a screeching halt as well.
So depending on how GM responds, I think this could definitely affect the development speed of the Volt.
Sep 24th, 2007 (10:40 pm)I have been reading a bit more about the details of the strike, it seems the UAW is striking because they want terms that state future products will be produced at US based plants. I am of the opinion that unions in general have been demanding too much as far as wages a benefits go, they do well in those areas, but I find what they are bargaining for now is important. We need to preserve manufacturing jobs in this country, the only thing I lament about the situation is that had the unions put an emphasis on this earlier instead of just on wages an benefits our manufacturing base might not have taken the hit it has over the past several decades. If the government will not step in to help strengthen our manufacturing base I think it is important someone does. It actually makes me believe the unions may have some good left to serve.
A side note one thing we could do to improve our competitiveness in manufacturing is to hold our international trading partners to the same environmental standards that we have. It is the increased cost of doing business in the USA due to environmental regulations that hinders our competitiveness more so than the increased cost of labor.
Sep 24th, 2007 (10:51 pm)Forgot to add..
When the UAW went on strike at my company, the main point of contention was not wages or benefits. Rather, the National UAW wanted the guaranteed future employment of a minimum number of UAW bodies.
More bodies means more union dues, and it means more damage if you decide to have them strike.
I suspect this strike is similar. It’s probably not about protecting workers as much as it’s about protecting the power of the National UAW organization.
Sep 25th, 2007 (2:19 am)You hit the nail on the head. Unions are all about collecting dues now-a-days.
Sep 25th, 2007 (7:36 am)I don’t know where all this will end up but it is sad to see our factories and mfg. leave the U.S. Here in San Antonio, the last mfg. of A/C units in the US is closing it’s doors and moving to Mexico. 400 workere are going to receive a total of one months severance pay.Some of those workers have been there over 30 years.It is very difficult to buy goods manufactured in America.
Sep 25th, 2007 (8:03 am)Paul said:
I work for a Fortune-100 heavy-equipment manufacturing company that employs UAW factory workers. A few years ago, the same thing happened here.
My company responded by quickly mobilizing all non-essential white-collar workers to become factory workers. Thousands of managers, designers, IT staff, etc were in the factories building the end product. Additional factory workers were also brought in from the outside. This went on for several months until the UAW gave in.
In the end, the company got the contract they wanted since the UAW lost much of its ability to inflict damage. However, during those months, lots of R&D came to a screeching halt as well.
I worked 45+ years for that Fortune 100 company. The strike you mentioned and the mobilization of all non-essential white-collar workers to become factory workers did not just happen; it took much planning.
The issue at the time was “pattern bargaining”. The UAW demanded the company and all other heavy equipment companies accept the same contract they had negotiated with the auto companies. The company you referred to not only said “No!”, they said “Hell No!”.
The upper level management came to the conclusion 3 years before the strike that the time had come to “draw a line in the sand” with the UAW; the survival of the company was at stake.
There was 2+ years of planning at all levels of management getting ready for that strike. They mobilized all non-essential white-collar workers to become factory workers, as you said. But, the planning went well beyond that. They moved some manufacturing operations into non-union states, etc. And, they developed plans to fire all union employees who did not return to work by a certain date to be replaced by new hires. The number of applicants from ads placed in newspapers across the country was dramatic. There was no question that sufficient skilled workers could be hired inf necessary.
The end result was a reasonable UAW contract. The company learned much from this ad-hoc work force that subsequently lead to many, many changes (improvements) not only in the factory and offices.
Unfortunately, GM has not planned for that strike.
One last thing of interest. The company mentioned here went on to establish Firefly Energy, Inc., the maker of batteries that has been mentioned elsewhere in this Forum.
Sep 25th, 2007 (12:12 pm)Yes unions have power. That is the point. Yes sometimes Unions do negative things that result in a variety of problems. But saying that all unions should be banned is a bad idea. Unions wouldn’t have been formed if corporations were responsible in the first place.
So you trust corporations to take care of their employees all the time? Naive. There are many more examples of Corporations screwing over their employees than Unions bringing down corporations.
If you let large corporations like GM dictate everything about their workforce, there will be all kinds of new problems. GM will want to make the cars cheaper, so they will move jobs and keep moving jobs until the price is as low as possible while maintaining some level of quality (will be less quality than it is now). No cars will be made in the USA. How about paying auto workers the same as what McDonalds employees get paid? Do you want to drive a car made by unskilled workers?
If you want a USA product, you have to pay for it. Who on this list is willing to say they will never buy cars made in a communist country where workers are often treated as slaves?
Someone said How come the Japanese are able to build good cars without unions?
First the lifestyle of living in Japan is different. Most workers don’t even own cars. Second their culture is very different and they take a lot of pride in their work (sorry but a lot of Americans don’t), Third, Japanese companies treat their employees very well out of ‘respect’, so workers are very loyal and stick around even through bad times. American companies are most concerned about their bottom line, and American workers are more concerned about making as much money as possible and will move to a higher paying job if it available.
Change is coming. I don’t like it either. I would much rather buy a Chevy Volt made in America than one made in China. Chances are I won’t have a choice.
Sep 25th, 2007 (12:40 pm)Universal health care. No matter how you look at it the corporation will have to pay for health care, the only difference is that the struggling company that is in the red won’t and the well off company will because you only pay taxes on profits. This might make it look good, but my idea about health care is about increasing efficiency and forcing americans to become more healthy. Our health care system is “broken” because we broke it, that is the fat obiese pieces of $hit like Micheal Moore, who cause the system to be over-burdened with illnesses that are not necessary. In fact if Americans were healthy our health care system would be the best on earth.
Sep 25th, 2007 (12:53 pm)If you won’t mind leaving out the harsh political talk here. There are plenty of places to have that conversation.
Sep 25th, 2007 (2:52 pm)Chris Jackson,
I asked why Japanese company factories IN THE UNITED STATES can do fine without unions.
Sep 25th, 2007 (3:17 pm)I really think the government needs to get involved.
My opinion of how the White House and Congress seem to care less about Fair Trade and Work Practices, the current administration in the WH only seem to care about war that is draining us dry. For what oil that future cars will not be using.
I fell if the foreign companies don’t need unions the government should step in and either.
By Law
A. Have to make Foreign Companies use the UAW making cars in the USA.
B. Allow GM to get out of its UAW contracts.
The unions striking is absolutely disgusting.
The unions see how there membership has dropped and they are still fighting to kill themselves even more.
A lot of stupid people are running these Unions.
Where American does best is when we are united. Fighting GM is not the correct thing to do and will make them both lose.
G
Sep 25th, 2007 (6:43 pm)In yesterday’s papers it was reported that the biggest issue was a promise that the next generation Cobalt and the VOLT(!) would be produced in U.S. factories.
One of the bottom line reasons I buy GM vehicles is that I strongly believe in the need to preserve U.S. manufacturing jobs.
I assume that the Volt will have enough advanced content that it will command a price which will allow it to carry a decent markup.
If the Volt is produced off shore, my brand loyalty will take a tremendous turn for the worse.
Sep 25th, 2007 (9:13 pm)Chris,
Please understand, I am 32 and have NEVER owned an American car. The Volt is truly the last chance for the American Car Manufacturer to win me back. I can’t stand Unions because they are always ruining large corporate America and always lose more jobs than they preserve. It’s just a fact of the 21st century. What’s really sad is all of those 70,000 workers who are on stike are now making $200 a week instead of $1,100 a week. Wheather $1,100 a week is alot or not, I don’t care. I just think it is obsurd that you would risk all of those jobs and one of America’s biggest companies because you don’t like what that company has to offer you. If you don’t like it, go elsewhere.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070926/bs_nm/gm_uaw_dc;_ylt=AjE5e934ovnBurR6FvPYU9VZ.3QA
Sep 27th, 2007 (6:46 pm)Nick, if you have never owned an American car, then they can’t win you back. You have never tried buying American. Unions are ruining corporate America?
Come on, unions are getting smaller and fewer. Did unions ruin Enron? AT&T? Cendant? WorldCom? Tyco International? Global Crossing? Qwest Communications? How about Adelphia Communications?
These companies screwed shareholders out of BILLIONS all without the help of unions.
No one on this thread had dared to answer the earlier question of whether they would buy a car made by McDonalds? This is where we are headed. No joke. Someone can always make a car cheaper than ~any~ American company. It is only a matter of time until GM will be forced to move ALL mfg plants out of country. Unless… people like you are willing to pay for an American car, that supports American workers and the American way of life and the American economy.
Think about that when you buy Japanese or Chinese.