Your right, but its good business to do so. However on the flip side, when companies don't pay a decent wage, it hits everybody in the pocket via the grand wealth redistribution scheme charmingly known as federal income tax.

 

First I want to say that the pay raise for the execs was not the smartest thing to do, espcially before trying to make the UAW take a huge paycut.

(Question) How do you compare airport security, a manager at McDonalds at someone working at Wal-mart full time (which is rare) to someone working an assembly line? Wouldn't it be safe to assume that everyone, except for a cashier at Wal-mart, is underpaid for the responsibilty they have? Also, how many years would it take for that Wal-mart employee to make that 26k a year? Lastly, managers at McDonalds and airport security workers have families too, but they manage to make it. The difference is life style, that is what will have to change for the UAW workers. I think the Wal-mart people would probably be the closests person to compare to an assembly line worker. Does anyone think that the Wal-mart employee deserves 50k a year? If a assembly line worker can get that pay why not a cashier at a Wal-mart?

While it is not ideal, UAW workers are not in a good situation. Do you really think that the execs are really conernced about job security at Delphi? Even if, for some azaming act, Delphi does go chapter 13 the execs have their money and will be able to live while they are inbetween jobs. I really think that the execs could careless if the UAW strike seeing as they have their money and are ready to do if things don't work out. The other option is to take some kind of paycut, get the company back on its feet and then demand the higher pay they had.

The real hurting partys out of this could be GM and the Delphi UAW workers.

 

Umm... yeah, I don't know many Wal-Mart employees who have 30 seconds to complete their jobs, and have to complete 500 jobs or more a day . I think if those two jobs were actually as similar as you claim no one would work for Delphi. I believe outsiders devalue the hard work required from assembly line workers. You may claim that it does not require much thought, but it sure is a lot tougher than working at Wal Mart. At least Wal Mart employees have air conditioning. Plus, I think discussion thus far has failed to recognize the demographics of the workers, many of these Delphi workers are not teenagers, or 60+ like I see working in my local Wal Marts.

 

quionM,

Don't the execs only get a bonus if they pull the company out of bankruptcy?

Dan

 

Grrrr....screw it, I had this nice long inflamatory post! and I somehow deleted it with a friggin mouse click.

by an MS mouse.....

 

Skill?...it takes a special breed, for sure.
The pace and accuracy and multitasking required of an UAW line worker are alien to almost everyone who hasn't worked as one. And the physical demands and tolls taken on your body are relentless. Pain becomes normalcy. And I've always been athletic.(6 years Basketball, 3 Varsity H.S.)

I've had comparable salaried jobs, as our entry level $17-$18/hr...and I can tell you from experience, they worked at a leizurely pace compared to Autoworkers!..

And they could go to the restroom at any time, not so on "the Line". And don't even bring up the non-working Walmart employees...not that I blame them, based on their pay. My cousin is a manager at a K-Mart, makes $15k more than I do, and works 50% less...and he'll be the first to admit it.

But asking someone to take a 50%+ cut in pay/benefits is absurd!..
How many good years of their life have they served the company?
And this is the thanks they get?
Did they manage the company?
Did they milk it dry for investors?

Don't be so hastey to judge, til you've walked a while in a mans shoes...

 

Putting aside the executive's pay arrangement, how much would one be willing to take in a pay cut to keep the company afloat?

I'm sure their work is tuf, BUT if they don't take some cut THEY WON'T HAVE A JOB AT ALL. Why is that concept so hard to understand? The executives have their money, and I would doubt they would not hesitate to take the company to Chapter 13 if the UAW don't take A pay cut.

The UAW workers have two choices:

1) Strike and possible have the company go Chapter 13
2) Take A pay cut, get out of 11, and demand more pay when the time is right.

There is no third choice!

 

Very simplistic view. There is also:

3) Strike and have GM bail Delphi out
4) Strike and have Delphi back off
5) Take the paycut and lose your job anyway 3 years down the road when the factory is off-shored
6) Some combination of above

 

3) I doubt GM would bail out Delphi seeing they don't have the money
4) So Delphi backs off and is still not able to pay their debtors and goes 13
5) If the company comes out of 11, then there will be no need to send jobs off-shores. Beats everyone losing their job.

I don't think UAW will strike, just threaten. Plus, GM will step in before a strike happens. What I think will happen, UAW workers will take some pay cut with a garrentee step pay increase to what they have now and a number of percentage job garrentee after Delphi emerges from 11 and is back in the black. At least that is what I would want if I was a UAW leader.

 

mastrdrver -- that's more reasonable.

As has been argued, Delphi is trying to push the union in the corner so that they invoke the "nuclear option" and GM comes to bail everyone out. If Delphi wants to be reasonable, then the UAW would likely do the same.

OTOH, for $16/hr, why even have a union? The UAW must act out of self-preservation here. If Delphi insists on Take It Or Leave It, it only makes sense for the UAW to walk and let the place go non-union.

 

I think this is why GM is stock piling parts as we speak and getting parts supplies setup from other vendors.

I really don't think GM can afford to pay the difference in wages. It seems as though Delphi is prepared to stick it to GM, and with no lube at all.

Delphi suckit!

 

I've been saying all along GM should partner with Bosch. Much better ran company then Delphi (unfortunately).

 

Detroit Free Press reports yesterday that judge Drain is delaying his bankruptcy decisions until late June at the earliest. The unions and Delphi agreed to extend the hearings to this Wednesday and Friday, and as long as they are negotiating, the judge seems willing to back off on a ruling to cancel the union contracts.
Only twice in this decade has a bankruptcy judge tossed out a labor contract and Drain does not want to go down in history as the judge who adjudicated the termination of the Delphi union contract and brought down General Motors.