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Automotive News & Views United Automobile Workers of America (UAW)
16705 messages, Last post on Nov 25, 2009 at 6:56 PM
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Replying to: marsha7 (May 16, 2009 8:28 am) They've been trying but with these UAW sculptors it's taking a while. |
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Replying to: kipk (May 15, 2009 3:03 am) Did it ever occur to you that if everything we consume were made here at union pay, then the common folk would be able to afford all the necessities in life and some of the luxuries, only because they would be paid a union wage????
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Replying to: m4d_cow (May 15, 2009 4:37 am) (sigh.....) Another one......Would everything cost 10 times as much? Quite possible. But the bigger picture is how would everybody's standard of living be? We could, in effect, go back to prices of the 1920's, along with those wages as well (would we accept 25 cents/hr?) but, again, if we could afford a $750 new car on that wage, or buy a small ranch house, then everything would be fine. My wife's grandmother remarked the other day how hard her father had it (he had to take care of 4 girls and a very sick wife). She said that it was very difficult for him doing all that, and paying a $3,000 mortgage all on $16/wk. I could concur that it was a very difficult life, but financially, if you look at the figures, it WAS doable back then. A $25/mo mortgage for a blue collar worker making $16/wk (not the $25/wk that Ford's employees made). Today, around here, that $3,000 house would cost close to $300,000. But, how many blue collar workers can say they bring home $1,600/wk for that $2,500/mo mortgage? Hell, how many college grads can lay claim to that?? Where is the standard of living comparability today as opposed to 80 years ago? I'll tell you where, it's in China and India. |
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I have made my assumptions on the basis that the shirtmakers moved out of this country for a reason, and I cannot believe the reason was the climate...it was, most likely, labor cost... It is also possible that your price comparisons may be simply because some unions made concessions to keep the work here, so that you are seeing the RESULT of what a reasonable union might do when faced with 100% job loss...it is what we expect of of the UAW, but they will not concede enough to make the Big 3 profitable, so more plants will be closed and moved out of the country... My basic underlying premise is simple...most, not all, unions only serve to raise the cost of labor to a company and create serious roadblocks to eliminating the bad employees, so that the overall quality of whatever they do will severely decrease over time...now, if the product or service can tolerate the increased cost by raising prices, everything seems OK (think UAW 1980s, 1990s)...until it reaches the breaking point, either in cost or poor quality...that is what we have here in the UAW...cost went up, quality went way down, customers deserted the companies, and all the union can do is keep the worthless and useless on the assembly line, whereas Honda and Toyota can fire them at will, which is the way EVERY company should operate...if you can dump the bad ones in a heartbeat, the others learn very quickly that poor quality, poor attitude, poor workmanship will NOT be tolerated, a concept that is quite alien to the UAW, and will always be so, since they simply cannot "get it."
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Replying to: cooterbfd (May 16, 2009 10:35 am) Otherwise, just axe the unions and it's cheaper all the way around.  Regards, OW |
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Replying to: marsha7 (May 16, 2009 11:55 am) It very well may be the result of honest to goodness negotiations. But the fact is that they can STILL be made here competitively. But the fact is that Walmart dictates to these companies the price they will pay for "your" product, or the will get it from someone else. A small manufacturing company doesn't have the clout to say no. Levi's aren't made here anymore because "we" don't care about the quality of the jeans, "we" just want the cheapest, and "we" includes corporations like Walmart or K-Mart. You notice the price of an X-BOX is the same, no matter where you buy it. That's because the shoe is on the other foot.
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Replying to: cooterbfd (May 16, 2009 12:17 pm) What we have here is the Wall Street mentality with financial shenanigans. A few years back there was a TV program (maybe more recently on cable) about how Walmart has setups in China to help companies quickly and easily start production of their products there. When companies don't want to reduce their prices enough for Walmart, they are shown how they can produce it in China and sell it to Walmart at the price Walmart wants (and probably make more profit than producing here in US). In other words Walmart has been a moving force in sending jobs out of the country. The idea that if goods were produced here at living wages then people would be able to buy those goods at a sometimes higher price because the people would have a higher income sounds right to me. As more jobs are moved out of any kind of union production to China et al, we lose. |
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