PALEEEEEZE!

Obama couldn't make it anymore clear that the UAW and CAW, aka the big bad evil Unions made the sacrifices needed to get a deal done with Chrysler.

It's the big bad suits on Wall Street and the Union "haters" that forced Chrysler in to bankruptcy.

 

 

Wall Street may have forced them into bankruptcy this week, but a better question to ask is who got them to this point the last few years?

 

+11ty billion....and it wasn't just the suits running the company/ies

 

The management teams that left and took millions with them when they did.

Look the facts of the matter are this. Everytime there had to be concessions - there were from the Unions.

Everytime things were about to hit the fan, the Unions stepped in and put a stop to them.

It's always been the Unions giving more and more and more everytime. When's the last time you read that a bank wrote down "X" amount of dollars in debt to help the automakers?

Now when's the last time you read that the Unions accepted lower wages, high healthcare premiums and increased out of pocket cost for retirees? Seems I'm reading a new headline of the sort every few weeks.

Obama made it clear. Bondholders are the ones that put Chrysler in the place they are in now.

 

When the government already bailed out Wall Street, and saved their jobs, it wouldn't have hurt for a few hedge funds to take a hit to aid the process.

Personally, I think Chrysler will come out of this even stronger. I appreciate Obama urging the public to buy American cars. I thought he handled it well.

The rest of you can go forth and complain now.

 

While I might agree with you in principle, the idea of Obama actually saying anything otherwise about the UAW made me chuckle. As if he was going to criticize his party's golden goose....

 

I am pro autoworker. I want our autoworkers to have a decent lifestyle because that is good for the economy as whole. I feel the UAW has given more than it's share in this. I also don't blame them for fighting to keep their wages. The automakers gave it to them in the first place, and I think anyone here would fight having pay or benifits taken away. If GM could not afford it's union contracts, that is on GM's management. It is no different than buying a house too big and whining you can't afford your mortgage. Lastly, the autoworkers can only make what product GM gives them. They don't design the cars or hold control to the purse strings.

That being said, with the UAW as a major shareholder, the landscape changes greatly. The 800lb Gorilla issue here is that for GM to and Chrysler to survive long term, they have to make competitive and profitable small cars. The only solution I see here is that the UAW will have to allow workers in plants making small cars to take lower wages and less benifits. Maybe put the workers with the lowest tenure and pay in small car plants and over time they can graduate to be better paying jobs at plants that make more profitable cars?

If the cost structure cannot go down, small car production will have to go overseas in order to be competive...end of story. I was honestly surpised that Chrysler is gonna build the small car Fiat is giving them in a US plant. Maybe they already have something worked out labor wise to allow it to be profitable.

 

the owners had something to say. doesn't strike me as a bad idea, especially if it was my dime.


Now i realize from a union standpoint it's upsetting to have a finger pointed at you. "wall street" didn't force this. They are just acting on this.

Chrysler bankrupted itself. Just as GM did. In this industry union and management share the blame.

 

The UAW and CAW squeezed all they could for decades, until the automakers cost structure became uncompetitive. Poor management compounded the problem. As a reward, unions get controlling interest in Chrysler, and possibly GM next month. I wonder how Chrysler or GM will be able to compete if outsourcing is banned by the new management? Sure it will mean more US / Canadian jobs in the short term, but in the long run...

 

There is enough blame to go around. Unions wanting more and more and incompetent management. And this is why we let businesses fail. If you can't keep it together then you die. Plan and Simple.

 

Unions do both good and bad. I think it's safe to say workers had it VERY good for a very long time and that's a contributor to the position that unionized shops in the automotive industry are in today.

There have always been very influential and smart people in unions--underpaid, probably. And then there are those that were "being paid $27.50/hr to stick velcro on door panels." And you got the same benefits and raise as someone who did a bad job of sticking velcro on door panels. I think there were/are a lot of these types.

As stated, it's only a contributing factor to the mess that's unfolding today. But with any company, there are always jobs that don't support even a meager lifestyle. The system operates on "haves" and "have nots."

 

Ignoring the how they got there part to bankruptcy part, VEBA is a large portion of what is owed by Chrysler and GM. I thought that is secured debt, but I could be wrong. Either way, the UAW is going to be one of the first creditors to be taken care of. And the suits on wall street will be taking their hits in bankruptcy as well.

BTW, I am not sure how "Union Haters" had anything to do with this.

 

Yeah, and obama made it clear that he didn't know anything about those AIG bonuses. Nor did Senator Dodd. They were SHOCKED when they found out about them. SHOCKED

 

It seems to me that anyone who is making any sacrifices here is making just enough of a sacrifice to let the company get by and suck more money out of the governments of the US and Canada. The holders of the secured debt are being asked to make a sacrifice of about 71% of what they are owed. I don't think they are being unreasonable in turning it down.