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Automotive News & Views United Automobile Workers of America (UAW)
16733 messages, Last post on Dec 02, 2009 at 9:47 PM
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Replying to: imidazol97 (Jul 06, 2008 7:11 am) You know, it's funny how the well known sludge and transmission problems of Honda and Toyota get thrown around.... as if a high fraction of those cars are highly unreliable... every make has its problems.... but there is NO COMPARISON to the problems of the big 3. |
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Replying to: imidazol97 (Jul 06, 2008 7:11 am) When I read the arguments supporting the UAW, it seems everyone wants things to stay the same and that cannot happen. The market place has changed, times have changed. We are now part of a global market. The auto manufacturers have to change with the market. Unfortunately, some of GM, Ford and Chryslers bad decisions are coming back to bite them and the UAW is suffering. With all of these buyouts, I hope the workers are using the money to learn a new career. The economy is not all bad. There are many fields that have shortages. Remember when one door shuts, another opens. You have to be willing to take the step through the door. Too many people are afraid of taking those steps. |
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Replying to: dtownfb (Jul 06, 2008 9:27 am) Right on. There is talk now how the manufacturing jobs will come back to US because of low dollar value. The companies are having trouble finding skilled trades. Of course it's the companies' faults for taking jobs overseas so that no one prepares for skilled trades here and it's possible they don't want to pay what the work is worth. IOW they want to pay third world to the workers (but not the management salaries  ). One example given was welding.
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Replying to: dtownfb (Jul 06, 2008 9:27 am) I certainly believe that is a very debatable topic.Seems to me that there are a lot of companies that went under because of long srikes. |
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"Funny they don't blame Honda assembly line workers for transmission problems or Toyo workers for the poor assembly and sludge in their Toyotas.. You know, it's funny how the well known sludge and transmission problems of Honda and Toyota get thrown around.... as if a high fraction of those cars are highly unreliable... every make has its problems.... but there is NO COMPARISON to the problems of the big 3" Well said...there is no comparison, as the number of bad cars due to sludge and transmission problems probably PALES to the number of cars put out by Big 3 that barely qualified as boat anchors... Mind you, I am NOT anti-American, as I own a Crown Vic and Dodge Ram, and am looking at Buick, Caddy, MKS, Taurus and other...but I have had 4 Hondas, and I believed, as I do to this day, that they were better made than any Big 3 car I have owned...just my opinion, of course...but I have seen my share of American junk and I CAN see the forest for the trees, whereas the union folks just want to be sure that floor sweepers get paid their $30/hour for a job worth $5/hour... I may rail against the unions, but, oddly enough, I have been buying Big 3 since 1998, five vehicles... Does that mean I have earned the right to be critical???... BTW, from a tax viewpoint, Mich and calif are probably two of the worst states to do business, which is why business is leaving to move to Nevada, Ariz, Oregon, Idaho...Michigan business is simply shutting down, as what they make is wanted by fewer and fewer people as time goes on... Looking at this macroeconomically, the auto business isn't going away, it is simply changing, and change is always painful...While Big 3 plants shut down, new plants are being built by competitors in the South...they will NOT hire the experienced workers of the North simply because of their entitlement attitude and militant thoughts, where anytime the sun shines the wrong way they strike...I would bet it will be along time before any plant down south has any kind of a strike... Unions were useful in the 1930s, maybe thru the 50s/60s...after that, they became too powerful, as workers should NEVER control the company, unless they have placed their risk capital on the line...the fact that they work there does NOT give them power...you might call the right to strike the power of the worker, but what you see happening is the long-term response to that right to strike...they will keep the right to strike when there is only one plant left in Michigan, and then the last UAW member will, hopefully, turn out the lights when the last unionized plant closes...
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Replying to: marsha7 (Jul 06, 2008 2:06 pm) How many Toyotas? It's interesting how there seems to have been a coordinated effort to stomp out talk about sludge on the part of Toyotas. If it were so minor, like the wrong snap ring having been installed in certain transmissions, it wouldn't have necessitated a PR effort. But there was a discussion here on edmunds with a rep of Toyota talking about that. But then the snap ring problem evolved into more with the shifting problem that people were having with the new fly-by-wire system. Kind of strange. If GM were to have had the money saved from high paid workers and nonworkers, and high paid executives so that they could have done more PR and more replacements and recalls, it would help their image also. |
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My wife, before she was my wife, was given a 1975 Toyota pickup truck by her brother, in 1978...what is now the Tacoma was just their pickup truck in 1975...even back then, it went almsot 135K miles before breaking down, back when the average Big 3 car had a warranty for 12K miles and wore out after 50K... My first Honda was a 1985 Prelude...buying one living in Detroit at the time was almsot dangerous...paid $12K, put 20K miles on it in 20 months, sold it for $11,500...try that with any Big 3... Next, bought a 1986 4 Door Accord, so we had more room than the Prelude... In 1988, bought 88 Prelude Si 4WS, and 1988 Legend L, easily the 2 best cars I have ever owned...the Prelude had all the power options and 4 wheel steering, which was the best option on any car in history...parallel parking and turning was a dream...kept it 180K miles, until 2001 88 Legend, to me, was the best designed family car I ever had...perfect size, well designed, everything ergonomic like the person who designed the dash actually sat in the car, something I often wonder if Big 3 designers ever do...kept it to 165K, and traded it for a 1998 Buick Regal, almost the worst car I ever owned since the 80s... When we gave away the Prelude in 2001, we bought a 2000 Sable... Ever since the Regal and Sable, altho my heart really wants imports because I believe Honda really makes superior cars, I buy American because I think it is the right thing to do (so far...  ...)... So, I rail and scream about unions and the welfare-entitlement mentality of those they call "members", I think they should be thrown to the wolves for making some of the junk they do, yet I buy American because I want to support American industry...just because I want to support American industry does not mean I can't complain about what is wrong and how to improve it, and dumping the union and its workers WILL improve it... Don't tell rocky I buy American, or I will never hear the end of it...he thinks I have a stable of Hondas and Toyotas, and I don't want him to think otherwise... ...  
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Replying to: marsha7 (Jul 06, 2008 4:55 pm) Our experience was about 180 degrees out. I bought cheap Japanese vehicles from 1964 till 1978. All but one Datsun PU were PURE crap. I went back to BIG 3 vehicles in 1984 with a Ford Bronco that was great. From 1988 to 1998 it was all GM PU trucks and a Suburban. I traded the 98 Suburban for a 2005 GMC Hybrid PU truck that was just tinny. That is the best description I can give. I do NOT blame that on the UAW workers that built it in Indiana. I blame it on the bean counters, engineers and the Federal regulations. They destroyed the toughness of the PU trucks with crumple zones and light sheet metal to save a few pennies on gas. The 98 Suburban was a solid vehicle. I should not have sold it. I switched to a Sequoia as an interim vehicle until I can get a diesel SUV I really like. It will be made in the USA. Not likely by a UAW shop. That I blame on the UAW for making themselves the bad guys of the industry with some of the recent unwarranted strikes against GM. |
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Replying to: cooterbfd (Jul 05, 2008 3:43 am) I beg to differ. FTTP like Fios, is in limited availability because FTTP is very expensive to do on a mass scale and it's not 100% digital like U-verse. I also believe FIOS, doesn't have nearly as many channels as U-verse, and it's more expensive. FYI - U-verse, is available as a FTTP in newer residential area's -Rocky |
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Replying to: lemko (Jul 05, 2008 6:34 am)  -Rocky |
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