From today's Wall Street Journal:

1) From an interview with Steve Miller, Delphi's CEO: "And Ron Gettlefinger (UAW President), I wouldn't want to be in his shoes for all the tea in China. He's going to have to help half a million workers get used to the idea that globalization has taken away the ability to have someone who mows the lawn or sweeps the floor to get $65/hr (including health and retirement benefits)"

2) An article titled "Why Delphi's Asia Operations are Booming:" "He (Choon T. Chon, Delphi's VP of Asian Pacific Operations) has been explaining the bankruptcy filing of the U.S. operations to his staff and customers by likening Delphi's Asian operations to the children of a sick American mother. "Our mother has a tumor. This tumor is the UAW," he says, referring to the powerful United Auto Workers union that represents 25,000 Delphi workers and 10,000 retirees...."We know hat she's going to come out of the hospital very well," he says, referring to the U.S. company's Chapter 11 status.

A couple observations...

1) When considering things such as free health care, $65/hr all-in benefits (more than I make right now with an MBA!!!!) and job banks, likening the UAW to a tumor is positively brilliant.
2) With the all-in cost of a Chinese worker costing Delphi $3/hr, guess where more U.S. manufacturing jobs are headed???
3) Why are people mowing lawns making so much?
4) Steve Miller is VERY sympathetic to GM's situation for a couple reasons. First, obviously GM is over 50% of their business...if he screws them, he screws himself. Secondly, he has faith in Rick Wagoner. I said that just so if BM is trolling, he can blast me on that one Thirdly, he recognizes GM has a significantly tougher situation than Delphi, saying his company is in more urgent need of restructuring, but recognizes GM's crushing pension and health care problems...I think Delphi will work with GM as much as possible, based on the tone of the article.

This wasn't meant to be a UAW bashing thread, but when things like the above still exist, what gives???? Last week I read about a guy in the job banks that was laid off in Baltimore, and was still paid while volunteering all summer for the local park service!!!! WTF??????????????

And a lot of you wonder why GM can't get cars out faster? They've trimmed white collar so much, I don't think they have enough design staff to get this stuff out! Granted, there is still too much corporate fat, but where it needs to be (R&D, styling, etc) I bet its getting real, real thin...

 

Here's are some Delphi quotes:


"You're fired"


"Clean out your desk"


"In Asia they do this stuff for $2 an hour"

 

Something tells me you didn't get those from an article

 

No you're right... Those quotes came from my 'sources' in Michigan...

 

Once again, this is because collective bargining makes the unskilled worker worth as much as the highly skilled worker. Its "pay this guy for sitting around all day or the guys that run your line walk out". Personally it would pi$$ me off to have a janitor make the same amount I do, no matter how long he was there. The UAW needs to subscribe to a new theory: "Pay em what they are worth!!". Even if they made comparable salaries to what other companies in that area pay, GM would save millions a year. Just because the company makes billions, it does not mean you deserve a larger salary just because you work there. This is the reality that unions have to face or continue destroying American companies.

 

If only it were that easy.

 

Not sure if this made the WSJ or not...

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/...hi-execs_x.htm

Or this, taken from Ed Wallace's column...

While Delphi’s new CEO, Steve Miller, was offering his workers as little as $10 an hour to stay, he’d already negotiated a huge settlement package for himself and 20 other executives — “in case they are let go or retired due to the company’s problems.” A Delphi official said their old executive package “wasn’t competitive.” And 10 bucks an hour is? Just another inequity: “competitive pay for employees” means Chinese wages, but “competitive pay for executives” means untold millions more.

Smith and Miller will never have to sign up for food stamps or be served an eviction notice — but you and I as taxpayers will likely wind up paying for the pension plans of Delphi’s workers, all the while blaming laborers instead of management.

 

This is what they do for the white collar workers...

 

CLEAN,
Yeah, I read that article too...I was quite pissed over that one. I can't say I blame the UAW for getting mad over that (which they supposedly did according to the article I read). The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. Its disgusting.

 

I haven't read to much about the Delphi bankruptcy or the other threads on the subject, but what effect if any will this have on XM Radio since Delphi makes a large portion of the XM recievers? It seems XM is going strong, they just recently past the 5 million subscribers mark. I wonder how many of those 5 million have Delphi related XM equipment?

Over the weekend I just picked up the Delphi MyFi, what a awesome little reciever for XM.

 

Question.... Is UAW to thank for foriegn outsourcing at GM?

 

Quite possibly. If wages were around $15/hr instead of $27/hr, and health care had been realistic for some time (I work at a small regional bank that makes $350 million a year, and I STILL pay for almost 30% of my health care!!) instead of free, and retirees were going through MediCare instead of GM, uhm yeah...I'd say the exodus to China, while possibly inevitable, sure would have been slower.

 

If our standard of living was lower or if we didn't have as many rights in this country we wouldn't have seen outsourcing either

 

Bingo. To the folks with an expensive college degree, sitting at a desk right now, I have this to say - you're next. Or rather "we're next", since I happen to fall in that group, too. If anyone wants to compare UAW labor costs to those in China, well, then we might as well mention that an engineer who makes $60K in the USA can be had for $5K in China. Maybe all this glee over what's happening to the UAW is simply some sort of mechanism to help some people from facing their own destiny.

Welcome to the Race To The Bottom.

 

Anyone see that Steve Miller will only be paid 1 dollar until they return to profitability? Was in the paper today.