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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
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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I was just looking at US manufacturing which is up for the last quarter. Yet we are still losing jobs. Could it be we are getting more productive as a nation. That does not bode well for the non skilled worker such as those in the auto industry. The UAW along with our Federal, State and local governments are less productive. I was listening to a report on CA state jobs. The state has hired on average 48 new people every day for the last several years. We are now close to 900,000 state employees. And Ahnold cannot figure out why we are going broke. GM and C seem to suffer from the same lack of common sense. We need less people doing more work to compete in the World we have had a big part in shaping. It is not Chinese goods that have caused US problems. It is our own inability to adjust to change. Work rules in a Union contract whether it is with Ford or the state of CA are a detriment to efficiency. Think about it. An engineer cannot pick up his laptop and carry it from one area to another. I say let em go broke until they figure out what caused their demise. I think Ford will respond to clean out the dead wood. http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/Current/default.htm
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gagrice. I think we're gonna be hearing a blockbuster announcement from Fo-Mo-Co pretty soon that details out some mindbending moves. Like down here by me only further south even more! Take production to Mexico completely. Make corporate personnel involved in production move. Heck, Aqua Prieta is a Mexican city only about 80 miles south of us here in Willcox, AZ. They're right on the USA-Mexico border, Douglas, AZ, is the town on the American side. But Ford could build a huge factory there and the workers could live in Douglas if they still wanted to live in the U.S. Or even drive the 70-80 miles south down there from Willcox, Benson or a city like Sierra Vista. Key to this is busting the UAW's and hiring Mexicans to do the bulk of the production work. And save on wages immensely. It's time to bust up Ford's involvement with the UAW's. Ford is the only American automaker I respect. I don't want them to fail. Moving production fully to Mexico, hiring Mexican workers to mix in with some Americans already working for Ford, and busting up the UAW Union should be prime raspbery jelly donut and Seattle's Best coffee fodder at this point in time during major-mover Ford meetings. They need to wake up and smell the beans now, though. Warren Buffett and his 10% ownership of Chinese BYD will only keep panting down American carmaker's collective necks. If the BYD e6 is anything like they advertise...all electric propulsion with a range of 249 miles on one charge, and the movement slowly is towards all-electric vehicles, Ford will need much lower labor costs to compete. The Chinese and Japanese and perhaps even VW will eat them for lunch if they don't make some changes. Another BO bailout should be out of the question completely, too. The first one still gleams as a ridiculous move.  But I spose my point is that Ford is still alive and I actually like the Ford Fusion Hybrid. I like it's production systems and I like it's body design. Who can forget that on April 28, 2009, a Ford Fusion Hybrid wsa driven 1,445.7 miles on a single tank of gas! That worked out to a whopping 81.5mpg! Does anyone else besides me get excited about this? Or is larsb from Phoenix, AZ, and iluvmysephia1 from Willcox, AZ, the only "green car" fans on the Edmunds website? Is this an Arizona thing? gagrice, are you impressed by that Ford Fusion Hybrid test at all? |
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Replying to: gagrice (Nov 06, 2009 6:31 am) In topical news, the Ford-UAW contract is bigger than the national health bill presently before Congress. Benzinga Move more production to Mexico? "Consumer Reports rates the quality of the four-cylinder Ford Fusion higher than the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, and the Lincoln MKZ higher than its Acura and Lexus counterparts. The Fusion and MKZ are built in a factory without job classifications because it's in Hermosillo, Mexico, and isn't represented by the UAW." (same link)
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Chrysler is cutting back on back on the number of union carhaulers it uses, and GM is considering following suit. http://www.teamster.org/content/teamsters-protest-fiatchryslers-attack-american-- carhaul-jobs-outside-embassy-italy So... we've got new union contracts at GM and Chrysler, more non-union car haulers, Boeing opening a non-union plant in SC, and the Ford UAW rejects a new contract to make Ford competitive with its global competition. The union tower is crumbling - which hit will make this obsolete structure finally tumble? |
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Replying to: steve_ (Nov 06, 2009 8:35 am) One of our posters is a Professor in Georgia. He was stunned at the salaries paid to CA professors in our Universities. The top 2277 profs in 2005 knock down from $200k to $999,999. I would like to see a study on the wages paid State by State to civil servants. I don't think there should be much emphasis on servant, as they are more like masters over the middle class tax payers. http://www.sfgate.com/news/special/pages/2005/ucsalary/ In 2009 the top pay in the University system is $2,831,534. http://www.sacbee.com/1098/story/1669273.html
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| ...major manufacturer to accept the UAW. Could it be the first to dump them? | |
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Replying to: gagrice (Nov 06, 2009 12:11 pm) Mexico has strong unions and strong worker protection laws. What happens when this happens? "A labor dispute at an auto parts supplier in India has forced Ford to shut production of its new Taurus full-size sedan one week due to a transmission component shortage, a spokesman said on Friday." Ford Taurus in one-week production halt (Reuters) If there's a labor dispute at the factory, production will be shut down and there won't be any way to shift to a different supplier.
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Replying to: steve_ (Nov 06, 2009 12:55 pm) There are multiple millions of potential scabs that Ford can rely on at the moment if it really wanted to. What a historical lockout it would be if Ford abandoned the UAW! Regards, OW
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