GM Strike

[jeeper61]

Some places have multiple unions depending on the trade and I have seen one strike and the others keep working 

[masteinmann]

9 hours ago, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

The UAW can cry me a river. I get mailers from them all the time telling me who to vote for. I’m not talking about the members, but the UAW is helping cause the problems they complain about. It must be nice to spend big bucks on putting your cronies in power and then when it blows up in your face demand I pay more for vehicles.

That I will agree with you on. I get flyers from all sorts of groups that want me to vote for them. 

[F-301066460puller]

19 minutes ago, Binderoid said:

Can you elaborate on this a little? Is this within the factory or at the retail level… and why isn’t it union when the rest of the place is?

CAT dealer in Illinois. Shop had to be in the operators union class B I believe so they could work on equipment in a union environment. Another life experience that makes me dislike unions. 

 

[MTB98]

10 hours ago, iowaboy1965 said:

I thought someone had figures of 5 to 10 % of vehicle cost is currently labor. I don't know what it would be if they got all they are asking for.

The percentage will stay about the same.  The cost of the vehicle will increase to cover all the additional costs to build it.

Just more inflation for everyone. 

[F-301066460puller]

2 hours ago, smfarms said:

Wonder what labor costs are on tractors or combines. Most are built by UAW

Likely they will strike too in solidarity if it lasts long enough.

[hillman]

24 minutes ago, MTB98 said:

 

Just more inflation for everyone. 

x2 . wait until every union gets the same idea and you ca't blame them but it drives inflation and the rest of us won't get increases to match so our standard of living drops

 Mary Barra only makes $29,000,000 ! greed!! that will help drive members

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/companies/here-s-how-general-motors-ceo-mary-barra-justifies-her-29-million-salary/ar-AA1gOKCP?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=bb488adea16743d4b62f5e520c8a7147&ei=11

[iowaboy1965]

9 hours ago, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

also have a very sour taste in my mouth because the UAW chose to strike at John Deere during harvest which they knew would maximize leverage. I could not get parts and had to park a combine to cannibalize parts to be able to keep the other machines running. They care about “the little guy” but used farmers as leverage for their demands. 

The contract dates are set. Uaw didnt chose to just go out in the fall to screw over farmers. Really would there ever be a time that was convenient for you? Maybe the spring when your planting? Maybe the middle of summer when you might be making hay or spraying for weeds or bugs?

Don't kid yourself the companies like to use the poor consumer as leverage too. Also companies are not at all opposed to contracts coming due in the fall. The mental threat of being out of work and walking the picket line all winter and being out of work going into the holidays plays in their favor. 

No I don't agree with much of the unions political stance these days. But I do believe in the power in numbers when it comes to contract negotiation. 

You keep fussing about 1 fall you were inconvenienced. Not fun I'm sure. But Deere contracts run for 6 years. 6 years they were either blessed or cursed (depending on your viewpoint) with the terms of that contract. Depending on inflation and other factors that's a long time.

How many years had it been since there had been a strike? Last one I recall was in the 90s sometime. Maybe you should stock up for the next one....

By the way I think the uaw is dreaming on some of their terms for the auto workers. But that's how negotiations work you start from opposite spectrums and work your way to the middle. How much of this is just bargaining chips remain to be seen. I hope they don't go out. I hope they come to reasonable terms and life goes on.

[jeeper61]

7 minutes ago, iowaboy1965 said:

Uaw didnt chose to just go out in the fall to screw over farmers.

They choose when they starike so they can pick anydate after the contract expires or they can choose to contiune working

[F-301066460puller]

5 minutes ago, jeeper61 said:

They choose when they starike so they can pick anydate after the contract expires or they can chose to contiune working

Yup they work without contracts all the time.

[766 Man]

......Just more inflation for everyone.

 

  That was more so my point than a peeing match between workers and management.  I'm sticking with a cost increase of 30 percent until proven otherwise.  Then the associated costs of interest and extended warranties (which most consumers are forced to take on).  Who is buying a pickup at 150,000 dollars when this is all put into place?  It is also not helping the used inventory if more buyers put off a purchase until their vehicle will not pass inspection without a ton of money spent.  

[iowaboy1965]

8 minutes ago, jeeper61 said:

They choose when they starike so they can pick anydate after the contract expires or they can chose to contiune working

But they don't chose the date the contract expires and they can't just call a strike out of the blue. Yes they can keep working with out a contract under the terms of the old contract. But the company can also shut the gates if they chose. Also working without a contract is sign that there is progress or the hope of progress being made in negotiations.  Usually both sides will make an effort to keep working under the terms of the old contract till a settlement has been reached. And to work till it was convenient for every consumer before calling strike would be impossible.  The union is paid to get the best possible terms for their members. That would be their first concern. Nobody really ever wants to go on strike if they are smart. 

[MTB98]

22 minutes ago, F-301066460puller said:

Likely they will strike too in solidarity if it lasts long enough.

Both Deere and CNH UAW workers were on strike recently when their contracts expired. I don’t think they’d strike again. 

[MTB98]

37 minutes ago, hillman said:

x2 . wait until every union gets the same idea and you ca't blame them but it drives inflation and the rest of us won't get increases to match so our standard of living drops

 Mary Barra only makes $29,000,000 ! greed!! that will help drive members

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/companies/here-s-how-general-motors-ceo-mary-barra-justifies-her-29-million-salary/ar-AA1gOKCP?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=bb488adea16743d4b62f5e520c8a7147&ei=11

The CEO salary is irrelevant to workers pay. They don’t do the same type of work and have entirely different roles. 
GM claims to have 50,000 UAW workers, 92,000 total US employees and 165,000 employees worldwide. If she worked for free and redistributed her total salary to all the workers it breaks out like this

UAW employees only each receive $580 annually or about $10/week. 
US abased employees only each receive $315 annually or $6/week. 
All global employees each receive $175 annually or about $3/week. 
Yes $29 million is a lot of money but “sharing the wealth” in a company the size of GM doesn’t go very far when broken down to real numbers. 

[jeeper61]

32 minutes ago, iowaboy1965 said:

But they don't chose the date the contract expires and they can't just call a strike out of the blue. Yes they can keep working with out a contract under the terms of the old contract. But the company can also shut the gates if they chose. Also working without a contract is sign that there is progress or the hope of progress being made in negotiations.  Usually both sides will make an effort to keep working under the terms of the old contract till a settlement has been reached. And to work till it was convenient for every consumer before calling strike would be impossible.  The union is paid to get the best possible terms for their members. That would be their first concern. Nobody really ever wants to go on strike if they are smart. 

I have expreance with it all being a former IAM member involved in the longest strike in history 

Rhode Island paid unemployment for labor disputes at the time so there was a history of walk outs every contract to get an extened paid vaction 

This was shortly after Reagan threw the air trafic controlers out 

I was just out of high school so it realy didn't impact me that much as I just went on and found other work

I did work in a couple union shops afterwards and went to work at Brown&Sharpe as an  engineer in the 90s

IMO it is better if they don't have a full blowen walk out it hurts the workers more than anyone else 

I have been invovled in 3 strikes 

https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2018/10/day-labor-history-october-18-1981

 

[hillman]

5 minutes ago, MTB98 said:

The CEO salary is irrelevant to workers pay.. 

I didn't say it was but the crazies will feed off it 

[Steve C.]

As usual, TPTB find another way to pit us against each other.

Inflation happens when the money supply is increased without anything to back it up.  Everything else is downstream from that.

It's a massive tax hidden in plain sight, and if it goes far enough it wrecks everything in its path.  Check out how the German inflation of the 1920s worked out.

The train jumped the rails when we went off the gold standard in 1971.  And lest anyone think that I'm getting political, remember that a republican president took us off the gold standard, but it was accepted by both major parties.   And that was when the inflation of the ''70s began, resulting in the bloodbath of the '80s.

[MTB98]

6 minutes ago, hillman said:

I didn't say it was but the crazies will feed off it 

I would bet she could do any of the assembly line jobs but none of the UAW workers could do her job. 
When you break down big numbers and put them into perspective of what they really mean it destroys that “not fair wages” argument very easily. 
If GM came out and said “OK we are firing the CEO and have someone who has agreed to work for  FREE and we are splitting up the $29 million with all of you hardworking UAW members!” they’d be met with raucous cheers. Until they got their first paycheck and see that is a few cents per hour more. 

[jeeper61]

IMO if the union management pay was cut to the strike pay during a strike they would feel the pain as well and be more likely to negotiate faster 

[Sledgehammer]

53 minutes ago, MTB98 said:

I would bet she could do any of the assembly line jobs but none of the UAW workers could do her job. 
When you break down big numbers and put them into perspective of what they really mean it destroys that “not fair wages” argument very easily. 
If GM came out and said “OK we are firing the CEO and have someone who has agreed to work for  FREE and we are splitting up the $29 million with all of you hardworking UAW members!” they’d be met with raucous cheers. Until they got their first paycheck and see that is a few cents per hour more. 

I don’t know the GM CEO or if she could do those jobs or not. I know the CEO of the company I work for makes more than 20mil over what any employee does and couldn’t even pack water to the fires I could start before breakfast time. There isn’t 2% of CEOs (corporate world) that could even hope to keep up with their workforce. The reason is, they have never done the job for which they oversee. They were placed in power to look good in front of a board and lie on paper to make earnings show positive no matter what the economy looks like. 

[jeeper61]

You can't trust either side the worker is just a pawn 

 

[766 Man]

Inflation during the 1970's had two major drivers.  The grain deals where we sold wheat to the Soviets during the early 1970's and the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973.  Both limited supply of food and fuel to US citizens.  A decision was made to raise interest rates during the late 1970's which showed a lack of understanding of the problem.  The rates of which peaked over 20 percent during 1981 lead to a deep recession.  This was as much a reason as anything else as to why IH failed.  

[acem]

Whatever happened to the farmers union?

 

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

19 minutes ago, acem said:

Whatever happened to the farmers union?

 

I remember my dad talking about going to meetings. He said there was just no willingness to cooperate. He also said he thought he may have went broke if he did what they wanted. He couldn’t afford to cut production. He said if he did cut production on the hopes of higher prices the neighbor would have likely just stepped in to raise it back up. If US farmers cut, other areas of the world will just make up the difference. Put USA farmland in CRP and Brazil will just bulldoze more rainforest. The same as what is happening now. Factories will close, production and automation moved elsewhere. It’s not hard to figure out. There have never been more pieces on my equipment that have foreign countries cast into them. 

[MTB98]

1 hour ago, Sledgehammer said:

I don’t know the GM CEO or if she could do those jobs or not. I know the CEO of the company I work for makes more than 20mil over what any employee does and couldn’t even pack water to the fires I could start before breakfast time. There isn’t 2% of CEOs (corporate world) that could even hope to keep up with their workforce. The reason is, they have never done the job for which they oversee. They were placed in power to look good in front of a board and lie on paper to make earnings show positive no matter what the economy looks like. 

What part of the qualifications for an assembly line worker would she be unable to fulfill?  She appears to be able bodied and apparently is intelligent. 

[Sledgehammer]

1 minute ago, MTB98 said:

What part of the qualifications for an assembly line worker would she be unable to fulfill?  She appears to be able bodied and apparently is intelligent. 

Well, I do not work on an assembly line and I never said the GM CEO could not perform those tasks? Please reference my words… “I don’t know the GM CEO or if she could do those jobs or not.”  I was speaking to the abilities of the CEO of the company I work for in kind as to making exponentially more money than the rest of the workforce.  The appearance of being able bodied and the fact of being able minded are far different things. Similar to being work strong or weight strong.