UAW strike

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Seems like a roll back to. when the auto unions made american cars uncompetitive. Though the management with crappy designs and the govt changing environmental standards were as large or bigger drivers of the decline- and those forces are here also this time.

40% pay raise and a 4 day week? I'm not sure on the details, was hoping for some thoughts here. I know that 4 day work weeks leads to higher personal bankruptcy- one more day to play and spend money- seen it happen. Frankly I think the gov is more than happy to have the personal car market get unobtainable for individuals- all the better to get people into public transport and ride share.

That Trumnp and Biden are on the UAW side has to have the autocompanies a little concerned...

[SomeOtherGuy]

Looks to me like the UAW has three major demands:

1) 40% wage increase over 4 years. On the face of it this is ridiculous, but we have had a lot of inflation in the last 3-4 years and it continues today. So far Big 3 are offering 20%, there is also bargaining over an inflation-index adjustment.

2) Pay for 40 hours of work while only working 32. I think this is DOA and pretty ridiculous. Not to mention that a lot of those workers aren't productive for all 40 hours that they are clocked in anyway.

3) Ending the two-tier pay structure that was agreed back in 2008 when the Big 3 went into bankruptcy (GM, Chrysler) or teetered on edge (Ford). I can see the UAW position on this.

However, while I can understand the UAW demands for 2/3 issues, I'm not all that sympathetic or interested. The UAW is a major drag on US manufacturing and regardless of inflation the wages for their longer time employees are generous relative to the skill and danger of the work involved. Maybe not quite as ridiculous as before the automaker bankruptcies, but better than most other factory workers have. Here's an article looking at worker productivity:

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/do...rit-huge-raise

You can see that the autoworkers are offering rapidly declining productivity in recent years, while other US manufacturing is flat and other US employment is positive. This doesn't support a huge increase in pay!

I've lived most of my life in a "union state" and have seen the UAW effect on once-prosperous cities. I also know that many UAW workers live upper middle class lifestyles while blathering about worker mistreatment and what not. It was once normal for a UAW household to have a vacation home, a boat, and a new car every year (with employee discounts and subsidies). Even with the current pre-strike contracts, someone who manages to get hired as a UAW autoworker can realistically get into a middle class lifestyle by their early 20's, without the delay and debt of college.

Also, while the Big 3 tried using robots way back in the 1980's, the industry is less automated than many others. I expect that will change and will produce better, cheaper products from the companies that manage to go to automation. The UAW is fighting this for obvious reasons, and basically handicap if not cripple the companies that are stuck with them.

Looks like Ford might reach a contract and the other two might dig in for a long fight. I currently own GM products but for various reasons I see mostly Toyota in my future.

Other selected reading:

https://www.thedrive.com/news/ongoin...s-distribution

https://www.mlive.com/news/2023/09/w...warehouse.html

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Edit to add:

https://mises.org/wire/striking-auto...wn-livelihoods

This is a different take on it, basically saying they're shooting themselves in the foot, using Austrian economic theory. Not immediately relevant, but may be interesting.

[ABNAK]

I've gotta tell ya, I haven't gotten a 40% raise over the last few years, and I don't work 32 and get paid for 40 either. Kind of makes it hard for me to cheer for the UAW, but make no mistake there is greed involved on both sides of the issue......why do you think new vehicles are so damned expensive? It's only going to get worse. Like mentioned above, that may be in the nanny-state's interest to force those faggot-ass electric pieces of shit on us or encourage moving to the communist cities for easier control of the masses. Either way it goes the rest of us lose.

[AndyLate]

Inflation over the last 15 years has been about 42%. Has the UAW pay been frozen since 2008?

Honestly, a 40 hour work week is not unreasonable.

I think I broke a newer employee's heart when I told her that expecting a 10% pay raise in a year without changing roles was unrealistic. Then I pulled up Indeed and showed her that her salary was a fair bit better than the local and national average. I cannot fix past decisions that resulted in her being a single parent. I kept the last thought to myself because I am not a complete A hole

Andy

[gaijin]

You might work on that Andy.
The “keeping last thought to myself” part, of course.

[flenna]

Inflation over the last 15 years has been about 42%. Has the UAW pay been frozen since 2008?

Honestly, a 40 hour work week is not unreasonable.

I think I broke a newer employee's heart when I told her that expecting a 10% pay raise in a year without changing roles was unrealistic. Then I pulled up Indeed and showed her that her salary was a fair bit better than the local and national average. I cannot fix past decisions that resulted in her being a single parent. I kept the last thought to myself because I am not a complete A hole

Andy

Our company pays well above average and the benefits are the best I have had anywhere. Yet I still get the same thing from my millennial female employees- giving me personal reasons why they should get a raise (and more often than not because of bad life decisions) instead of professional and job related reasons. I just give them a deadpan look when they start in on that crap.

[HMM]

I’ve been union for 10+ years and I’ve managed union employees for 10+ years. I’m no fan of the union, never was and never will be. If they would manage their own crappy employees instead of protecting the bottom feeders then I’d care about them more. All the unions do that I’ve witnessed (on both sides mind you) is them taking good and great employees and making them average or below average…

Do a little research on how much money the UAW brings in from their members, it’s unreal.

[ThirdWatcher]

So much for bringing jobs back to the US. Ultimately this will provide more jobs in Mexico and Canada. (My cars were made in Canada and the last four trucks I’ve had were made in Mexico, all of good quality.)

[SpecWired]

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares got a 77% increase over the former CEO Mike Manley’s 2019 pay of 13.28 million euros...77%...let that sink in.

Ford CEO Jim Farley received nearly $21 million in total compensation in 2022. Farley’s compensation was up 21% from the $17.4 million earned by former CEO Jim Hackett in 2019. Included in Farley’s total compensation was $15 million in stock

Average UAW worker is $18-$32 an hour. Get back to me when they shave off some of that executive comp and bonuses to pay the people that actually make the cars. And the UAW made comp concessions during COVID, so yes the workers actually have skin in the game.

[ThirdWatcher]

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares got a 77% increase over the former CEO Mike Manley’s 2019 pay of 13.28 million euros...77%...let that sink in.

Ford CEO Jim Farley received nearly $21 million in total compensation in 2022. Farley’s compensation was up 21% from the $17.4 million earned by former CEO Jim Hackett in 2019. Included in Farley’s total compensation was $15 million in stock

Average UAW worker is $18-$32 an hour. Get back to me when they shave off some of that executive comp and bonuses to pay the people that actually make the cars. And the UAW made comp concessions during COVID, so yes the workers actually have skin in the game.

I don’t think any CEO’s are worth that kind of money (that they seem to get, whether they do a good job or not, guaranteed by the taxpayers).

I remember watching the vid from back in the day of the Chrysler Corp employees drinking and smoking pot off-site on their lunch breaks. The garbage they turned out reflected their deliberate indifference.