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United Automobile Workers of America (UAW)

19798 messages,  Last post on May 05, 2013 at 2:30 PM

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Messages Page 1885 of 1981

#18834 of 19798 Re: Totally off topic [tlong] by imidazol97

Jun 16, 2012 (10:49 am)

Replying to: tlong (Jun 16, 2012 10:22 am)
>top 10%
 
Top 1%. Close to _Perfect_ are we all!

#18835 of 19798 Re: Auto Bailout or UAW Bailout? [berri] by gagrice

Jun 16, 2012 (11:06 am)

Replying to: berri (Jun 16, 2012 10:47 am)
I think reliability will have to be maintained at a high level or the nameplate will lose its glitter. Though none of the German makes have a stellar record for reliability. They all have improved over the last few years. VW has been made all over the World. So it is not easy to pinpoint the best workers. I think USA workers can compete with any in the World as long as their attitude is to make the best vehicles possible. That is an attitude the UAW does not seem to instill in all its workers.

#18836 of 19798 Re: Auto Bailout or UAW Bailout? [gagrice] by steve_ HOST

Jun 16, 2012 (11:20 am)

Replying to: gagrice (Jun 16, 2012 11:06 am)
It's interesting that the Koreans are getting the reputation for reliability that the Japanese used to have. Last I heard, their unions were pretty militant. Not to mention their Congress. As snippy as ours is, we've yet to have a good barroom brawl like the Asians have. Some of their fights sound a bit staged though, like professional wrestling.

#18837 of 19798 Re: Totally off topic [imidazol97] by tlong

Jun 16, 2012 (12:48 pm)

Replying to: imidazol97 (Jun 16, 2012 10:49 am)
Top 1%. Close to _Perfect_ are we all!
 
Who could argue with that?

#18838 of 19798 Re: Auto Bailout or UAW Bailout? [gagrice] by tlong

Jun 16, 2012 (12:54 pm)

Replying to: gagrice (Jun 16, 2012 11:06 am)
I think reliability will have to be maintained at a high level or the nameplate will lose its glitter. Though none of the German makes have a stellar record for reliability. They all have improved over the last few years. VW has been made all over the World. So it is not easy to pinpoint the best workers. I think USA workers can compete with any in the World as long as their attitude is to make the best vehicles possible. That is an attitude the UAW does not seem to instill in all its workers.
 
Agreed - it is definitely a shared responsibility. I've worked in environments where (overall - there are always bad apples) the management is supportive and helpful to the workers, and the workers are motivated to make their company successful. There is a feeling of ownership in success and excellent work.
 
Once you turn it into a union situation where it is "us vs. them" that antagonism does a LOT to cause the decline in a company's products and services. The employees are aggravated and the management digs its heels in. What suffers is paying much attention to the products of the company. There ends up being so much overhead in councils, grievances, negotiations, meetings, etc. that the company carries all of that cost and baggage. And that is even before you get to the often unreasonable salaries and benefits.

#18839 of 19798 Re: Auto Bailout or UAW Bailout? [gagrice] by fintail

Jun 16, 2012 (1:02 pm)

Replying to: gagrice (Jun 16, 2012 7:33 am)
How sustainable are these jobs though, really? For one, they all require some kind of subsidization/bribery to get the plants built in the first place, and secondly, demand to keep the lines going can only exist for as long as there are widespread jobs which pay enough to buy these vehicles. Looking at income and cost of living trends and what has happened to the socalled middle class over the past generation, it is not a positive outlook. So much debt has been required to keep thing going, and it can't exist forever.
 
It makes sense for foreign makes to have NA operations - cheaper labor, cheaper shipping, probably even cheaper raw materials and an easy base for the dumbed down bland products the Germans especially like to foist on us.

#18840 of 19798 Re: Auto Bailout or UAW Bailout? [tlong] by fintail

Jun 16, 2012 (1:02 pm)

Replying to: tlong (Jun 16, 2012 10:20 am)
Oh, temporary. It's a nice place to visit, but it would be tough to live here...well, maybe if I had something like my Seattle salary here, I could be comfortable...I could afford a pretty nice spread, and my income would be far above the local average. The friend I am visiting for a couple days is from the same area as I, and he still has some mixed feelings about his move. There are some developmental problems here, to put it nicely.
 
The migration of auto manufacturing reminds me of the old textile mills...in the north, moved south, then away, and a few who didn't deserve it made huge gold for their actions.

#18841 of 19798 Re: Auto Bailout or UAW Bailout? [tlong] by fintail

Jun 16, 2012 (1:04 pm)

Replying to: tlong (Jun 16, 2012 12:54 pm)
I think the "us vs them" ideal isn't only a union problem, but a regional issue. I suspect friction between managers and people who actually get things done is higher in higher in the US than in any other developed nation. There's a definitely different workplace culture here,.

#18842 of 19798 Re: Auto Bailout or UAW Bailout? [gagrice] by fintail

Jun 16, 2012 (1:08 pm)

Replying to: gagrice (Jun 16, 2012 11:06 am)
As long as a product isn't cost cut/engineered downward to the point of being junk (typical Big 3 problem) and the workers are properly trained and motivated (probably an issue in every new factory), American workers can certainly make something on par with their competition. They did once, and still do in many cases. The attitude of the "high earner" suit wearers is every bit as important as the attitude of the guy installing headlights. The former group has at least as much of an entitlement mentality as the latter.

#18843 of 19798 Re: Auto Bailout or UAW Bailout? [fintail] by tlong

Jun 16, 2012 (1:19 pm)

Replying to: fintail (Jun 16, 2012 1:02 pm)
How sustainable are these jobs though, really? For one, they all require some kind of subsidization/bribery to get the plants built in the first place...
 
Agreed that we need an economy of car buyers to keep any auto jobs going.
 
But comparing subsidies for foreign plants (which is more a reflection of the health of the parent company) - those states would also have happily subsidized F/GM/C if THEY were building plants there) to the *bailouts* that without which GM and C wouldn't even be alive is like comparing a fly to an elephant.

Messages Page 1885 of 1981

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