UAW sets strike deadline for 11 a.m. Monday »
Posted By TechnologyExpert 1 year ago in StyleThe United Auto Workers set a new strike deadline for 11 a.m. Monday if a deal is not reached with General Motors Corp., according to union local presidents who received phone calls from national UAW leaders late Sunday.
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TimALoftis1 year ago
According to CNN, General Motors workers are now beginning to walk off their jobs in certain areas.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/09/24/news/companies/...
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Teagen1 year ago
This isn't a good day for the unions. GM is already boarding in bankruptcy. Plants like Delphi were sold off and production moved to China and India. Heck even Harley Davidson has parts made there. This will only put a nail in the coffin for unions. The dollar hit an all time low against the Euro and most other currencies. It's probably not a bad time for a lay off by GM, the union is actually helping long-term. Eliminate all labor costs for a while, move production to non-union Asian plants and you stand a good chance of ending union domination of the auto industry. Bad for everyone.
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4mogger1 year ago
The UAW is a joke. They will not be happy until there is not a single US based manufacturer of a vehicle operating anywhere in the United States.
I hope all of the members are going to night school so they can get another job when the rest of the jobs go to Mexico or Korea. Habla espanol?
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CactusAnnie1 year ago
The Union leaders will be sitting pretty no matter what happens. Either way, THEY have nothing to lose.
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sumptuousdigs1 year ago
It's refreshing to see posts from members that are up on labor studies and labor history.
Yes, such courses exist, and excellent comments can be derived from exposer to such information. Ignorance of a subject has never stopped me from airing my point of view, so I wouldn't expect any less from anyone else. So let's have at it, and maybe you can pick up a blue collar clue.
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sumptuousdigs1 year ago
First suggestion I have is to look up the definition of union.
Then make a list of all of the good unions, and a list of all of the bad unions, that you can think of. (If you are married, where you put that union is up to you). If you are a citizen of the United States, that union can sometimes be a mixed blessing. So take that into account.
Some failed unions have collapsed under their own weight, the Soviet Union being a prime example.
Labor unions like the UAW started as a reaction to many unfair labor practices and continued (for a long period) to be an agent of reaction. As the economy boomed the union had become more proactive in it's determination to better the lives of it's members.
Now the economic climate is dismal and the mission is one of protecting important gains made over scores of years while giving consideration to the realities of the emerging global market challenges.
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aceofspades11 year ago
The UAW has helped to kill the auto industry in the US-
Their demands for unreasonable wages for work done & restrictive work rules limited the U.S.s ability to compete on the world stage
Now those workers who demanded high seniority concessions are retired- there is one active GM worker for every FOUR retirees - quite an imbalance for any company providing totally paid for benefits to retirees.
Let em walk - the rest will be driving foreign made cars
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aceofspades11 year ago
The UAW has helped to kill the auto industry in the US-
Their demands for unreasonable wages for work done & restrictive work rules limited the U.S.'s ability to compete on the world stage
Now those workers who demanded high seniority concessions are retired- there is one active GM worker for every FOUR retirees - quite an imbalance for any company providing totally paid for benefits to retirees.
Let em walk - the rest will be driving foreign made cars
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humemacdonald1 year ago
People forget that if it were not for unions we might be working 15 hour days, have no vacation time, or our kids could be working in some sweat shop. Really irks me to see people bad mouthing the whole idea of unions.
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HannibalBarca1 year ago
While unions started out as a plus they have lost their vision.
In 92-93 or near there, 17 floor sweepers in a grain elevator in the port of Vancouver went on strike and were able to get other unions to support them causing the whole grain shipping industry to shut down, 39 ships in harbour, CN/CP stopped from hauling grain, of course it happened at harvest time.
CPAC has the Canadian Gov in their pocket, if a worker is sub-standard at his/her job they get transferred to another dept.
An auto plant in Osahwa,Ont. was offered a deal to stay open, take a $3 reduction in pay ( average salary was $38/Hr)and stay on line but UAW said no so 1200 workers lost their jobs
If unions come to the oil patch then the patch will die and oil will go to $159/Bbl easily
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humemacdonald1 year ago
HB I don't remember the 92 incident but, but if they were able to get other unions to join them then obviously there must have been larger issues at play. My mom is a member of the teacher's union and without that union teachers would still be paid what kindergarten teachers are paid-peanuts.
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sumptuousdigs1 year ago
Yes but we love those cheap imports. It's not for no reason the United States was the last western power to abolish slavery, and at a great cost of blood.
Let's here it for those "right to work states"!
"Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton, ol' times there are not forgotten, look away look away look away, my Dixieland".
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sumptuousdigs1 year ago
The charming legacy that some (certainly not all), in the south (US) seem to harbor is the feudal agricultural economic mentality of the antebellum era. The civil war in the states was fought for many reasons, and many of them were interlinked. Trade protection was desired in the north. The south liked the cheaper imports that could be traded with cotton, (that was cultivated by someone else's labor). Many men that had no real stake in the outcome were convinced by the 'gentry' class to go and fight for the 'cause'. Are you getting a sense of where this is going?
Well ol' massuh has gone global now and cheap labor is still the ticket, isn't it? Enjoy your Toyotas folks. JAW is their union by the way. I think Mitsubishi makes a better car. (Born from Zeros). LOL
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sumptuousdigs1 year ago
Unions are bound by law to rules that keep them responsible to there memberships, and we are watched over lovingly by our benevolent government. Sheesh just keep big brother out of big business, big bro' would be in there kicking ass if he knew (or wasn't owned) about their practices. How is it that unions are asked to take a hit for bad business decisions. Poor ol' General Motors, being beaten up by the mean ol' union. Puh-leez! If you're cryin' I hope you're peelin' onions
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aceofspades11 year ago
OK now that I've gotten a lesson in Canadian Labour unions & practices let's get back to the matter at hand- In many cases in the US a labor union has become a means of extortion for labor unions themselves. At one time I ran a non-union construction shop in NYC we were in partnership with a union shop owned by the son of the president of the joint council of construction workers. My shop would underbid a job & our non - union workers start the job at 8A.M. at 8:15 there would be a union picket line - at 8:30 the contractor would capitualate & pay higher union rates to have the job continue - at 8:45 my guys would be back on the job & everyone would be sharing in the higher rates-
Good old union business in action
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sumptuousdigs1 year ago
Crime unfortunately is an element of real life, so is the FREE RIDE. These two elements that exist, in even the noblest of organizations, drag the hard work of others down, and give fuel to the nay sayers. Thanks for your contribution.
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aceofspades11 year ago
BTW I didn't neg you sump because I don't like to puncture fairy tails
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aceofspades11 year ago
sump since this whole thread seems to be of your comments -rant on - you might have made sense in a past life but the facts are that in the US the unions have become a means of extortion at the cost of most working people - the teamsters union is no longer a union of truck drivers - most drivers are independents now because their demands pushed too many trucking companies into bankrupcy. Local 3 electritians in NY are on furlough more than they work because their wage demands are so high - A fair day's wages for a fair day's work - no question, but excessive labor cost & lowered output hurts us all. So I m,ight be a silly goose but your vision is quacked
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sumptuousdigs1 year ago
Here's a future fairy tale, based in current events. GM is building plants in China. The long term goal is to have 'universal' engines that interchange w/any GM product.
What will happen if China decides to nationalize the assets within it's borders? Will the United States attack? I think not. In the rush to outsource for cheaper labor and to dodge labor safety laws. The company is giving away the farm. This is not a far fetched scenario. It has happened before.
The oil companies were surprised when the ME decided that they would control the assets built in their respective territories, and OPEC was the result. When we rely on products without equitable compensation we become addicts on the cheap. Europe has learned the realities of the modern world and understandably has little sympathy for our gluttony. The fight for equity is an ideological fight as well as a contract battle, and will be fought one battle at a time.
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sumptuousdigs1 year ago
Back to the antebellum romance of the old south. The "Gone With The Wind" scenes of chivalry, graciousness and elegance, were propped up by cheap labor. The freeman of more humble means had elevated status (in his mind) because he was white, but in reality was regarded by the gentry elites as little better than a slave, and potentially more trouble. Eloquent speeches and sops were used to give these poorly educated denizens the illusion of patriotism to a cause that essentially kept them in a fiefdom. Rebels without a clue.
The political party that gives one the feeling of being 'better than' and 'belonging' by dint of ownership, or religious convictions, or national birthright, should be eyed with suspicion.
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sumptuousdigs1 year ago
The posts that point up flaws and some failures as be all reasons to withhold support for a truly worthy cause have criteria that, in my opinion, no group or individual can live up to. Where you have people, you will have diversity, and for the most part that is an asset. The think tanks are polluted my friends. It's time to change the water.
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