GM might close 10 plants and layoff 25,000 workers
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GM might close 10 plants and layoff 25,000 workers
The news from car-land aint pretty.
http://www.freep.com/money/autonews/uaw16_20030516.htm
quote:
"McAlinden told Reuters that the UAW might allow GM to cut 25,000 hourly jobs, or about 20 percent of its blue-collar work force, and close up to 10 U.S. plants over the next three years. In exchange, he said, GM would agree to assist in a major UAW organizing drive among automotive supplier companies, and help ensure that at least 25,000 union jobs were added there. "
http://www.freep.com/money/autonews/uaw16_20030516.htm
quote:
"McAlinden told Reuters that the UAW might allow GM to cut 25,000 hourly jobs, or about 20 percent of its blue-collar work force, and close up to 10 U.S. plants over the next three years. In exchange, he said, GM would agree to assist in a major UAW organizing drive among automotive supplier companies, and help ensure that at least 25,000 union jobs were added there. "
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The way I see this, and I may be looking at it wrongly, is that the union is willing to sell out it's members so it can create new ones (they are looking to unionize suppliers, not transfering displaced factory workers to supplier jobs).
In short, it seems the union leadership is willing to sell out their highly paid members for lower paid ones.
In short, it seems the union leadership is willing to sell out their highly paid members for lower paid ones.
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From: Michigan's left coast
Originally posted by guionM
In short, it seems the union leadership is willing to sell out their highly paid members for lower paid ones.
In short, it seems the union leadership is willing to sell out their highly paid members for lower paid ones.
I seem to remember reading that JCI's UAW workers make something like $17/hr, which is 50% higher than non-UAW shops around here. I also seem to remember JCI passing along a lot of extra cost to their customer (Ford) during their last labor dispute with the union that ended with a pay raise.
So, my feelings on this is while the UAW appears on paper to make a concession, they're just moving around their overpriced labor. The end result should still be the same - exaggerated prices. Do not take this rant incorrectly - I want to see people earning a "living wage", but I also want that to be market-driven.
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More on this from today's the car connection.
UAW: Plant Closings Okay — If You Help Us Organize
A major UAW concession that could be a key to resolution of labor contract talks this summer appears to be in the works. According to an article in the Detroit Free Press, Wall Street analyst David Bradley, of JP Morgan Chase & Company, says insiders hear the union is willing to forgo a four-year-old moratorium on Big Three plant closings if the manufacturers agree to help the UAW organize unorganized supplier and assembly plants.
While GM has all but completed its program of closing unneeded older plants, Ford wants to shut five U.S. plants and DaimlerChrysler is seeking to sell four parts plants. In DaimlerChrysler’s case, the UAW is looking for more proactive help in trying to unionize the Mercedes-Benz M-Class assembly plant in Vance, Ala., and several Freightliner plants in North Carolina. That would give the union a breakthrough as Chrysler Group considers a proposal to build a Dodge Sprinter assembly plant in Savannah, Ga. Bradley’s report forecasts that the UAW is unlikely to strike any of the Big Three automakers because of their dicey financial conditions. The climate portending a strike-free renewal of the contracts would be brightened considerably by the union’s acceptance of a demand to end the plant-closing ban.
Since 1999, when the present four-year-long contracts with the Big Three were negotiated, the UAW has lost 40,000 hourly workers and is now at 275,000. Total membership since its heyday in 1979 has declined from 1.5 million to about 638,000 last year, reflecting Big Three downsizing plus its inability to organize new transplant assembly plants.
Joint-venture assembly plants with UAW contracts include Mazda/Ford, Flat Rock, Mich.; Mitsubishi/Chrysler Group, Normal, Ill.; and Toyota/GM, Fremont, Calif. The Big Three and UAW will begin negotiations July 16-18. The contracts expire September 14. —Mac Gordon
A major UAW concession that could be a key to resolution of labor contract talks this summer appears to be in the works. According to an article in the Detroit Free Press, Wall Street analyst David Bradley, of JP Morgan Chase & Company, says insiders hear the union is willing to forgo a four-year-old moratorium on Big Three plant closings if the manufacturers agree to help the UAW organize unorganized supplier and assembly plants.
While GM has all but completed its program of closing unneeded older plants, Ford wants to shut five U.S. plants and DaimlerChrysler is seeking to sell four parts plants. In DaimlerChrysler’s case, the UAW is looking for more proactive help in trying to unionize the Mercedes-Benz M-Class assembly plant in Vance, Ala., and several Freightliner plants in North Carolina. That would give the union a breakthrough as Chrysler Group considers a proposal to build a Dodge Sprinter assembly plant in Savannah, Ga. Bradley’s report forecasts that the UAW is unlikely to strike any of the Big Three automakers because of their dicey financial conditions. The climate portending a strike-free renewal of the contracts would be brightened considerably by the union’s acceptance of a demand to end the plant-closing ban.
Since 1999, when the present four-year-long contracts with the Big Three were negotiated, the UAW has lost 40,000 hourly workers and is now at 275,000. Total membership since its heyday in 1979 has declined from 1.5 million to about 638,000 last year, reflecting Big Three downsizing plus its inability to organize new transplant assembly plants.
Joint-venture assembly plants with UAW contracts include Mazda/Ford, Flat Rock, Mich.; Mitsubishi/Chrysler Group, Normal, Ill.; and Toyota/GM, Fremont, Calif. The Big Three and UAW will begin negotiations July 16-18. The contracts expire September 14. —Mac Gordon
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