Posted on 10/10/2007 8:40:04 AM PDT by EagleUSA
DETROIT (AP) -- Thousands of Chrysler LLC autoworkers walked off the job Wednesday after the automaker and the United Auto Workers union failed to reach a tentative contract agreement before a union-imposed deadline.
It is the first UAW strike against Chrysler since 1997, when one plant was shut down for a month, and the first strike against Chrysler during contract talks since 1985.
The UAW apparently is staying on the job at the five plants that Chrysler already had shut down this week because of sagging sales of some models, according to a person familiar with the walkout who asked not to be identified because the situation is in flux.
Brett Ward, a forklift driver at the Sterling Heights assembly plant in suburban Detroit, said he thinks a strike is justified, but he hopes the union can get a better deal than the one it reached with General Motors Corp.
"Hopefully with a strike we'll get some better gains and get a better contract in front of us," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at biz.yahoo.com ...
Perhaps then American auto manufacturing can start over.
:::::
Yes, without unions. Then maybe they can compete against Japan, the world leader in quality autos. They don’t allow unions. They are much smarter than we are....the big three built GIGANTIC CORPORATE WELFARE STATES that finally caught up with them. Japan compensates workers other ways -— and is kicking the butts of the big three, as well as many Euro makers in terms of sales and quality.
Damn right he is talking about trade unions and their criminal leadership!
Back in the early 70s I stood and watched a mob of Building & Trade council members burn the King of Prussia, Pa. Sheraton site to the ground.
Lennard Tose was making the unforgivable sin of hiring non union labor so they bused in their memebers from other states to "picket."
After the riot, the Feds stepped in and imprisoned quite a few of those leaders.
When I was working my favorite job as a steelworker, I knew damn well that Alan Wood Steel could not survive with the union demands. - and it did not.
I never forgave them for that.
As far as the trades went, I remember when I was working at Western Electric (CWA) that I tried to get a job as an electrician I had to be a union member.
When I went to the person in charge at the union hall, he simply told me. "You have to know somebody"
I started giving him the references of other union members when he broke in and said "You have to know me." - It will cost you a thousand bucks to know me."
Whats the difference between a union and organized crime? Ask Jimmy Hoffa.
If the Automakers would have followed the Caterpillar model of the early 1990’s in dealing with Union extortion, both they and the economy of Michigan would be much better off today.
many of the Union workers there are completely Democrat and have no idea of what drives an economy
.
Democrats = High Tax Rates + Less Opportunity
Toyota is investing billions in the NE Mississippi area. Chrysler can go down the tubes with its Unions....There is a Union shop at the papermill at Counce, Tennessee, and many of the Union workers there are completely Democrat and have no idea of what drives an economy..Any debate with them using facts rapidly deteriorates into them threatening you physically.
::::::
The world has the unions’ number now. Just a mob of extortionist thugs. Honda is building a plant in Indiana and they cut the unions off at the knees, by announcing they would only hire from the closest 20 counties, which excludes laid-off union thugs. Again, they are wise to the UAW thugs and want nothing to do with them. Smart...much smarter than the big 3.
“Jobs were for exclusively for next of kin. I felt betrayed as a vet and have never forgiven the unions. I was treated better by the anti-war dope smoking maggot invested hippies than the unions.”
Longshoremens are the worst.
“There are still Union menbers in South Bend, Indiana who are sitting on their porches waiting for Studebaker to come back and reopen.”
LOL!
I like the idea of Tarriffs, not for protectionism, but for revenue. Get rid of Income Tax, and go to import and export tarriffs.
cmon...are you going to make me go out and research the “Caterpillar model of the early 1990’s” or will you go easy on me and give me the general answer?
Hillary care won't save them, and would likely make them less competitive in the long run.
Government health care isn't free. It is paid for by taxpayers. That means the middle and upper classes. That means their workers and their stockholders.
If we get socialized medicine, they will still end up paying for the health care of their workers as well as a share of the health care of lots of other people that don't work.
Might be worth noting that the UAW charges more for labor to Chrysler then it does to Ford or GM. That is Wage/Pention/Medical ect. This IMO, should be illegal
Might be worth noting that the UAW charges more for labor to Chrysler then it does to Ford or GM. That is Wage/Pention/Medical ect. This IMO, should be illegal
He's a fool. They would be damn lucky to get the same deal GM workers got. But even that isn't going to happen. Chrysler ain't no deep pockets anymore and the party is over for the UAW.
So, sales are so slow that the company is shutting down plants and the union thinks its going to get concessions.
Lemmings following the union over the cliff and into the unemployment abyss. Greedy bozos.
Anyone taking bets on how long Cerberus allows the circus to go on before they pull the plug and sell off Chrysler’s assets?? Maybe Chrysler could be re-invented as a smaller leaner company with new factories in the right-to-work states without the killer albatross of the UAW? Is there something in federal labor law that requires the “big 3” to deal only with the UAW?
The way in which Toyota, Honda, and Nissan have utilized non-union factories outside of the rust belt would seem to be the only way forward for the survival of the US auto industry.
Sounds like it’s time for Chrysler to pull a “air traffic control” routine.
fire em all
Put up the want ads.
fuggin unions.
Government health care isn't free. It is paid for by taxpayers. That means the middle and upper classes. That means their workers and their stockholders.
If we get socialized medicine, they will still end up paying for the health care of their workers as well as a share of the health care of lots of other people that don't work.
I see it as a way to take the liabilities for worker and retiree health care away from the company and move it to the public sector.
Companies with a lot of older workers and retired workers are paying a lot more for health care for their current and retired workers than newer companies with younger work forces. In the case of the automotive companies, that is a lot of workers and a lot of money towards health care.
Yes - With government run and provided health care, everyone gets to pay (in higher taxes). Whether it's worth it or not probably depends how much higher taxes vs how much more profit you get to keep with less health care costs.
That said, I can see a lot of problems with government run health care. Not the least of which is how anything run by the government works. And of course having to cover a lot of people who don't make a lot of money or may even be here legally, but who are going to use a lot of health care resources.
I have been told the the company and the union are "very far apart", so that probably means big changes in the next contract...
Like I said in the other thread, I hope Chrystler takes the Reagan Air Traffic Controller approach to this strike.
All Unions have ever been good for is making the US less competitive in a global market.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.