Posted on 12/12/2012 8:30:57 AM PST by SeekAndFind
In the early 1980s, Ford and Chrysler were struggling to make ends meet and Chrysler needed a government bailout to keep going. General Motors' predicament in the 1980s wasn't life threatening so it continued along its merry way without making significant changes.
I don't remember which automaker it was, but in the early 1980s one of the Big Three asked its union workers in Michigan to take a pay cut so that it could continue to operate. The unions were told that if they didn't accept a pay cut, the firm would move production to Texas.
The unions considered the request and unceremoniously rejected it. The company closed the plant and started manufacturing in Texas. That's a perfect example of union workers in Michigan cutting off their nose to spite their face.
GM still hasn't made the kinds of changes that it must make if it hopes remain solvent, and without government intervention GM would have gone down the tubes in 2009. Even with government support, the company's future doesn't look bright.
American taxpayers are the losers and so are auto buyers because GM cars and trucks are still overpriced. A quick look at Forbes' list of the most overpriced cars in 2010 makes my point. During the first seven months of 2012, GM had an 18% share of the U.S. market -- down 2% from 2011, and in the global arena, Toyota is taking GM to the cleaners.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Unions care first, last, and only about union LEADERSHIP. This is why they will happily put thousands of union members on the unemployment rolls, rather than accept a pay cut which would serve as a precedent at other companies. Unions look at only one thing: dues revenue.
hey dont. They care about union members. .... Of course not. They only want the dues coming in so they can skim it.
You now see bizarre situations where the United Auto Workers and the United Steel Workers end up slugging it out with one another for the right to organize a few dozen janitors someplace in California.
“Dont forget GM opens its newest plant in Mexico in March 2013. I would guess that 90% of UAW workers dont know a thing about it. Perhaps too much lunch...”
Our Chevrolet Avalanche was built in Monterrey, Mexico. Doubt if that was UAW labor! Look for GM to phase out of building vehicles in “union run” states. Michigan is just trying to stave off the departures.
Well into the 1960s and 1970s union members were for the most part staunch patriots and vocal opponents of anything that reeked of the liberal/socialist agenda.
They pasted “America - Love it or leave it!” stickers on their pick up trucks and put American flag stickers on their hard hats.
They had open disdain for leftist hippy types, overt faggots, illegal immigrants, welfare moochers and cheats.
Today many (most?) have completed the transition from patriot to outright supporters of socialism and are now allied with the entire moocher class to keep the democrats in power.
Most organized labor is now more about political power than elevating the well being of American workers. Nothing illustrates the fact better than the unions transition from opposing illegal immigration to now supporting politicians who support and enable illegal immigrants. They show little concern for the fact that illegals steal jobs from Americans - their primary concern is about supporting liberal politicians who make sure the unions get favored treatment as a payback for their votes and financial support.
You got it. It’s a way to gain power through the buck while the idiot worker thinks it’s about his well being. Slowly, the idiots are awakening.
Related and prior to Indiana becoming RTW - I read a story not long ago about a GM Stamping Plant on the near west side of Indianapolis. GM said they were going to close the plant, but were willing to sell the plant to another party to keep the jobs in Indianapolis. The party interested in buying the plant asked for wage concessions from the UAW so they could operate profitably. The UAW voted no and the plant was closed.
The interesting part of the story was why the UAW voted no. In short, all the employees at this plant were lifelong and aging UAW workers. They voted no, which cost Indiana and Indianapolis a ton of tax revenue, because they knew they could and planned to use their union seniority to get transferred. Their vote screwed Indiana, the prospective buyer and also screwed a fellow union "brother" out of their job because they voted with only their own interests in mind.
If Indiana had been RTW at the time, I believe they would still be stamping bus frames in Indiana.
That is because you are excellent at what you do. You are not mediocre or a slackard, the two types unions are designed to protect.
Well it would have to be foreign country’s because the Texas plant in Arlington is UAW, however in a right to work state I don’t believe they have to belong to the union. Clarification please? Sad that these folks don’t understand that GM has 11 assembly plants in China. Sure wish they would pay back the 30B the owe us.
“Toyota is taking GM to the cleaners.”
I own a 2010 Toyota Tundra 4x4 CrewMax TRD-limited. I bought a new Tundra in 2007 and then upgraded in 2010. I love my truck and I can’t see me having any other brand. I am 64 and except for towing with my boat or traveling with our Airstream, I am a very low mileage driver. I only have 16K original miles on my truck, so it’s likely my last truck in this life..... I am glad it’s a Tundra.
If Tundra didn’t exist, I would have bought a Ford truck, but NEVER a GMC.
My Tundra was designed in Texas, made in Texas and built by non-union hands.
Question is, how many of them will be allowed to leave the union? I mean, the UAW knows where they all live...
Re: the Hostess closing. Filtering out the usual anti-capitalist hyperbole on this site, some interesting items: (Full story HERE. )
Snippets:
Among the companies reportedly bidding for the Hostess assets are Flower Foods, private-equity firm Sun Capital Partners, liquidation firm Great American Group and C. Dean Metropoulos & Co., whose owner last month said that shedding the complications of the unions and old plants makes it even more attractive.
The players involved also include the trade unions, particularly in the Teamsters and the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM), which are functioning essentially as instruments of rival private equity and hedge fund interests.
In January 2012 Hostess was back in the bankruptcy courts. With the backing of the federal judge, the company debtors demanded an eight percent wage cut, a shift of another 20 percent of health care costs onto employees and the elimination of the eight-hour day. The company also demanded the closure of another 10-12 plants. It unilaterally stopped paying its pension obligations.
The Teamsters, which is largest union at Hostess, pushed through the wage and benefit cuts over the opposition of its 6,700 workers in September. In return, the Teamsters were given seats on the Board of Directors, a 25 percent share of company stock and a $100 million claim in bankruptcy.
I remember when Lee Iacocca was the CEO of Chrysler in the early 80s. The union wanted to strike if they did not get the raise for which they were asking.
Iacocca’s response and I remember it very clearly, was, “I don’t have any $20 per hour jobs! I have $17 per hour jobs or I have zero jobs!”
The union took the deal.
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.