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Automotive News & Views United Automobile Workers of America (UAW)
16738 messages, Last post on Dec 03, 2009 at 10:07 AM
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Replying to: rockylee (Apr 19, 2009 2:29 am) |
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General Motors (GM) disclosed in an SEC filing Friday afternoon that the GM Common Stock Fund, an option in the automaker’s employee savings plans that allowed workers to choose to invest some of their retirement money in the company’s stock, has sold all of its GM shares, and now holds only short-term fixed income investments and money market instruments. GM explained in the filing that the manager of the fund, State Street Bank and Trust, under certain circumstances is specifically authorized to do exactly what it did: : * If “there is a serious question concerning General Motors…short-term viability as a going concern without resorting to bankruptcy proceedings.” * Or if “there is no possibility in the short-term of recouping any substantial proceeds from the sale of stock in bankruptcy proceedings.” In the filing, GM said that “State Street made the determination that this standard had been met due to the economic climate and the circumstances surrounding GM’s business.” GM said the fund began selling the stock on March 31, and completed the sales today. The fund is going to be liquidated, and will no longer be offered as an option on GM retirement plans. Draw your own conclusions. |
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Replying to: imidazol97 (Apr 25, 2009 10:31 am) I don't have to like it. Let the market work. Most of us will be better off. Was Ford paying UAW below the wage rate at GM/C? That's what the post suggests. Ford has a role in here too. Sure it does, but Ford made one brilliant business decision that bought it some breathing space. Back in 2006, before the credit markets went haywire, Ford's then-new CEO, Alan Mulally, called in the banks & borrowed every nickel he could on favorable terms. As a result, Ford is much better capitalized today & stands a decent chance of solving its legacy cost problems & bringing new products to market before its money runs out. Ford isn't out of the woods yet, but it will almost certainly outlast at least one of its rivals & pick up additional market share. That's the market at work - rewarding good decisions. All three were played the same way by UAW with strikes against the one making the most money at the time while the other two continued to produce and sell cars. That gambit worked as well as it did for as long as it did because the D3 worried more about losing sales to one another than they did about outside - foreign - rivals. Convinced that imports would never amount to much in this market, the D3 purchased labor peace by giving the UAW whatever it wanted & then passing on the cost to us. They figured that we'd pay it without protesting. In other words, they behaved like a regulated utility with a monopoly on their customer base. Competition? What competition? People have to buy from us, they figured. Where else can they go? They'll pay whatever we charge. That strategy worked until we, the consumers, decided that we didn't have to put up with it. We could take our business elsewhere, & we did. The D3's market share dropped but their labor costs didn't. As we see now, they were too stupid & short-sighted to deal with that until it was too late. Let 'em die. I'd like to see Ford get through this, but if it doesn't, that's OK.
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Replying to: jimbres (Apr 25, 2009 11:28 am) Yup. That's right. They felt initially the demand for smaller cars would go away. They felt they could build reduced size versions of body on frame vehicles with engines shrunk a little without designing from scratch with the then necessary new factories. Part of avoiding new factories would have to do with UAW problems and agreements. I can't see that the UAW did anything to help fend off the attack. >purchased labor peace by giving the UAW whatever it wanted & then passing on the cost Yup. The problem is doing the right thing in hindsight is much easier to effect than knowing what to do at the time. Some of us should have been in charge of GM/C/Ford through the 80s and we could have set them right in real time rather than in retrospect. Allowing a split pay scale for UAW rather than demanding all take a lesser pay reduction and benefits reduction was a major mistake. |
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" I guess I'd make a pretty bad Communist."...I certainly can agree with that... That is what Ch 11 is for...keep the company running but shed debt and contract obligations...it is the only way for them to survive...GM has to shrink from its current size, if they cannot make money at 9 million vehicles (2007) then their cost structure is too high...assuming (yes, I know what happens when you assume) that they pay similar rates for steel, plastic, dashboards, wheels, tires etc, and if they have wrung out all the costs on those they can, the next variable is labor and its associated costs... Dump the UAW contract and its entire wage structure, start over with realistic wages and no union...have them do what everybody else in this country does, part part of their own health insurance premiums (25-50%) and pay ALL of the additional premium for spouse and children (THAT will place cost controls like nothing else you have ever seen, when they pay for their own from their pocket)...cease and desist on pensions and offer straight 401K with matching (if affordable)...dump retireee benefits simply because you cannot get blood from a stone, and GM has no money... For all those who keep bleating and whing about "but they signed a contract", just what do you think Ch 11 is for???...legalized breach of contract, plain and simple...they said they would, they cannot afford to do so, so they file Ch 11 and void the obligation...voila'... It is no different than my Ch 7 clients...they signed a contract with Visa that they would pay...they suffered a severe income drop (lost their job, spouse lost job, less hours, illness, whatever) and now they cannot pay the Visa payments that they incurred when the income was there...so, they file Ch 7, wipe out the debt, and get the "fresh start"...all it boils down to is legalized (gov't sponsored) breach of contract w/o monetary penalties... Oh, future credit will be difficult to obtain, but the crushing debt that is killing you now is wiped out...my clients are the same as GM except that GM is "slightly" bigger and their debts are simply a "few" billion more...  ...but it is the same thing... Just like my client does not worry about how Visa will make up the lost income, GM will not concern itself with retiree obligations and health insurance for workers...after all the UAW whining, the simple fact is this: THE MONEY TO PAY IT IS NOT THERE...REPEAT...THE MONEY TO PAY IT IS NOT THERE... Yes, I have compassion for those who had something and may now lose it (retirees and their benefits)...but compassion changes nothing...no money, no benefits... As stated earlier...they had virtually no skills whatsoever, very little education and/or literacy, and they were the highest paid unskilled workers...that was a gravy train that had to come to an end, someday... Someday is here... "D3 purchased labor peace by giving the UAW whatever it wanted & then passing on the cost to us. They figured that we'd pay it without protesting. In other words, they behaved like a regulated utility with a monopoly on their customer base. Competition? What competition? People have to buy from us, they figured. Where else can they go? They'll pay whatever we charge. That strategy worked until we, the consumers, decided that we didn't have to put up with it. We could take our business elsewhere, & we did. The D3's market share dropped but their labor costs didn't." Well put...what I have said all along...for years, no decades, they treated us, the buyers, like crap by selling us crap with the arrogant attitude that permeates the unskilled UAW...we went elsewhere, but the Big 3 were not smart enough 20 years, or even 10 years ago, to dump the UAW, or at least half of them, and change the method of manufacturing to put into place the newer, efficient methods of the imports... To the UAW, the Big 3 existed simple to featherbed every single job they could...any attempt at manufacturing efficiency was met with a UAW strike... Now WE have gone on strike by buying the competition...we, at some point in the future, will have done what the mgmt of the Big 3 could never do, stand up to the UAW...we did it by simply making them unnecessary in the numbers that they are...they will dump probably about half of them, leaving an emeciated, starving shadow of its former self, with no power and nobody left to care... While short term pain will exist, in the long run we will win, and in the longer run, America will win...better manufacturing methods, better made cars, no more strikes (no more UAW) and people making cars who will NOT spend every waking moment trying to "get back at the Man", and, instead, will be happy to work and happy people make a better product...too many posters have documented sabotage and work slowdowns, just because the workers could get away with it... Those days will soon be history, and the nation will breathe better when they are gone... Sorry for the length of this...when the last UAW member leaves Michigan, please turn out the lights...mail some batteries to rocky in Grand Rapids so his flashlight will stay lit until he reaches the Michigan border...  
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If GM assembly is a $15 an hour job? If saving for the future is putting away a piece of $15 an hour in order to get a 401k match? If retiree benefits disappear? What will salary jobs pay? My experience is that engineering at the D3 required a design that used cheaper materials to counter the high assembly costs. Will the D3 cars take a jump in quality due to the change in cost structure and new profitability? How will the transplants deal with a level playing field? |
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Replying to: marsha7 (Apr 25, 2009 12:59 pm) I got a bit lost in your long missive Bob. Were you talking about UAW workers or lawyers? UAW in weekend talks with Chrysler (Reuters) "The automaker on Friday announced a tentative deal with the Canadian Auto Workers union for concessions, shifting the focus now to talks with the UAW, which represents the automaker's U.S. hourly workers. Central to any negotiation is the fate of a healthcare trust for union retirees, a Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association, or VEBA, that was created as the centerpiece of Chrysler's UAW contract in 2007." It it works out with the CAW, Chrysler Canada may not need bankruptcy protection |
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realize that they can't have those great healthcare-for-life and pension bene's anymore. Humm....how else can someone have some money for retirement? Ever heard of saving money? They're gonna have to pay half their medical insurance. I know, we don't like the 'S' word in America, but if ever there were a Company that needed to drop overhead, and UAW adds legacy costs like no other Union that I can think of in history, it would be GM. BTW- where's dallasdude, anyway? Working hard at his UAW defense job? He and 62vette are pulling a Dennis Rodman and staying away from everything NBA. |
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"I got a bit lost in your long missive Bob. Were you talking about UAW workers or lawyers?"...I DID apologize for the long post...I did not realize it had gone that long...but a fair amount of it was simply the copy of quotes from someone who said something better than I did... As far as getting rid of lawyers, always remember the lawyer's creed, which I am making up as I go, but will hopefully be useful: Everyone hates us until THEIR rights have been violated, and then, suddenly, instantly, they need a lawyer...they rarely want to pay them, but they want a lawyer... Also remember, all lawyers are crooks, because they bend the law as they see fit...until YOUR rights have been violated, and then we want to shrewest, most crooked lawyer we can find...again, they rarely want to pay them, but they want a lawyer... I think we are a necessary evil...you know, like taxes and the UAW...oh, wait, we are about to destroy the UAW...but hopefully the lawyers will still be around...who else can file GM's bankruptcy, anyway???...  dave: "Will the D3 cars take a jump in quality due to the change in cost structure and new profitability? How will the transplants deal with a level playing field?" The transplants will simply do what they have been doing for years...kaizen...Japanese for "constant, incremental improvement"...it really would be a pleasure to see Honda and Toy actually fear the quality that a new GM or Ford could make... The D3 would HAVE to improve quality with a better cost structure, or they literally have no reason to exist anymore...with no UAW to deal with, or legacy costs, or gold plated health insurance, their cost structure MUST go down, leaving money on the table for better materials inside the car... But, one more thing must change, and it may be the most important one of all...work rules...like it or not, Honda/Toy method of manufacturing is the efficient method of the future, requiring only 1/3 the number of employees to make an equivalent number of cars from GM...so, despite killing the UAW, if they continue to use last century's manufacturing methods, GM will still need 6000 workers to make as many cars in a plant that Honda only needs 2000...that is an inherent labor cost differential regardless of union or not...paying 3 times the workers means that the model is not efficient...workers must be cross trained so they are more versatile...frankly, there probably is not ANY company in America that does not try to use efficient methods to reduce labor costs, and the only one from the dark ages is the auto trade...again, the gravy train for that is over... D3 must dump all UAW simply because they will stick to the old methods and refuse to be retrained or they will, stupidly, strike...remember, UAW members are the most mindless sheeple one can find, and they live up to that charge every day... They need all new workers with no rotten work habits, to be trained in modern methods of automaking...so, D3 management must also change its entire thought process to the better methods out there... Obama promised change...UAW and D3 never dreamed just how much change they will experience, but their entire method of existence is now in question...GM has new management, now all they need is a new workforce, as the old UAW one has bad habits so deeply ingrained, they are part of their DNA...they need to go...NOW... |
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Replying to: jimbres (Apr 25, 2009 9:25 am) Back to the free markets for a minute. That means that Alabama and other states shouldn't be buying jobs by paying foreign companies to build plants there. "Senator Shelby doesn't mention, of course, that his state has already distorted and fiddled with the so-called "free market" by funding foreign-owned Mercedes, Toyota, Hyundai, and Honda to the tune of nearly a billion dollars in taxpayer money to lure those brands' factories to his state."-- |
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