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Automotive News & Views United Automobile Workers of America (UAW)
16701 messages, Last post on Nov 20, 2009 at 3:39 AM
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Investment repelled by forced-labor unionism So Volkswagen is returning, but not to Western Pennsylvania. That was a lesson learned. Twenty years after it blew a perfectly sound strategy to make cars in the United States, Germany's biggest automaker will try again with a new U.S. assembly plant. Once a pioneer, however, it's coming back a tail-ender. And this time, its 2,000 jobs and $1 billion of investment will go to Chattanooga, Tenn. Tennessee is a "right-to-work" state, one of 22 in the United States that give workers the choice to join -- or not to join -- the dominant labor union on the premises. Unions are weak in such places, but job growth is strong. Nearly all the Asian and German "transplants" making cars in the United States are in right-to-work states. America's gasping "Big Three," in contrast, all unionized -- General Motors, Ford and Chrysler -- are losing market share and rapidly turning blue. None has a common stock worth $14 anymore. GM last week warned of thousands more job cuts coming. Detroit vented that grim news even as Wolfsburg, Volkswagen's German headquarters, said it will start building 150,000 midsized sedans a year in the United States, beginning 2011. If the UAW had a reputation for providing a good workforce, you would not see this happening.
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Replying to: marsha7 (Aug 15, 2008 6:35 am) But how to sell $80 sneakers when the no names are $40? Lets give pro athletes free sneakers AND multi million dollar endorsement contracts. Now, all the welfare recipients take OUR tax dollars and spend them on overpriced Chinese sneakers, and the profits go to the very few (CEO's and athletes). Should the garment workers get $25/hr? Well, that's questionable. But if they were paid a decent wage, they could be made here, we could STILL afford them, and these people who would be out of work would now be gainfully employed, and be able to purchase OUR goods and services, thus allowing the world to go 'round. |
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Replying to: cooterbfd (Aug 15, 2008 12:58 pm) My mother and grandmother were in the garment workers union in the 1940s in LA. They all worked piece work back then. The faster you could sew the more you could make. I still have about 8 pairs of VANs from when they were made here in So CA. I would not buy a pair of Chinese made shoes unless it gets dire. I think I have enough shoes to last the rest of my life. I stocked up on Dexter's before they shut down here in the USA. I have to wonder if all the UAW members were so worried about buying stuff made in China?
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Replying to: gagrice (Aug 15, 2008 2:34 pm)
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Replying to: cooterbfd (Aug 15, 2008 2:44 pm) My wife took me into Kohl's last Christmas. I did not see a thing made in the USA. The kicker is Senator Herb Kohl is the Richest person in Congress. He is a DEMOCRAT that is getting filthy rich off of Chinese goods. That sounds real neighborly of him being from Wisconsin next door to the Big 3 and the UAW stronghold. I wonder how many UAW workers shop at Kohl's? In fairness Kohl did vote against NAFTA and no longer has any direct control over the department chain. |
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"Should the garment workers get $25/hr? Well, that's questionable. But if they were paid a decent wage, they could be made here, we could STILL afford them, and these people who would be out of work would now be gainfully employed, and be able to purchase OUR goods and services, thus allowing the world to go 'round." Yes, the sneaker are still $80, but it is my guess that they would be $125 or more if made here... Using your quote above, I question your phrase "we could STILL afford them" as to whether that is accurate... While I am not aware of exactly WHY Levi left the USA, the fact that they tried to hold on for so long, makes me think it was simply labor cost... I continue to maintain what is to me, the obvious: if you pay a decent wage to a US worker for a product, say clothing or sneakers, that item will be priced at least 50% or more higher than it is now with the cheap Asian labor... What this nation MUST face is that what USED to keep this country humming, unskilled labor making repetitive products on an assembly line, is rapidly disappearing...so, while the factory can move overseas in a year, the displaced workers must literally retrain their brain, and possibly 20-plus years of work habits, and change their lives just as fast...which is extremely difficult... The skilled worker who is used to constant training and retraining has a different mindset, and can more easily adapt to another job, selling a home and moving for a better opportunity...the unskilled worker, without sounding elitist, may or may not be smart enough, or MOTIVATED enough, to make the same change, as they are stuck in habit patterns that may not easily adapt simply because the unskilled worker refuses to do so...psychology has a term for this, but I do not recall it... I saw UAW workers in the 80s saying things like, "I can't do ANYTHING but install windshields, it's all I've done for 10 years" Obviously, this is an immature mind speaking, since they obviously CAN do something other than windshields, but the mindset is that, quite frankly, retraining is hardly the first thing on their mind...they are stuck in this childlike trance (and childlike it is) of literally doing ONE thing for a living... So please don't brag to me about how highly trained, and TRAINABLE, the UAW workforce is, because it simply isn't...many of them (not all) have a childlike view of the world that may take YEARS of counseling for them to open their mind to the concept of doing something new for a living... THAT is why companies are traveling south for their factories...no union to deal with, certainly no union mindset as described above, no rotten work habits to break, and people who are probably more flexible from the get-go...former UAW workers, if you REALLY look at it, have NOTHING to offer an employer who makes cars different than the Big 3, and the Big 3 make cars that way because of the work rules of the UAW...they caused it, and now they reap what they sow... If I was an automaker coming south, like VW, I would give simple psychological screening tests to prospective workers simply to see how flexible they are in the mind, which will make them better for cross training for ANY job in the plant...take away stupid union work rules, and the UAW will slowly melt away like ice on a hot summer day... They had their day when they were necessary...now, those who see the union in THEIR future have no future for themselves, and they are stuck in the past that will never come back...like the dinosaur that could not adapt, the union is a dinosaur that will soon die off...too bad it will not turn into crude oil... As the Big 3 change and shrink, nobody has actually noticed that we are not losing our automotive manufacturing base, it is simply evolving to the south with nonunion workers...as Big 3 lay off, imports are hiring, just not the same people...imports do not want the contaminated workers of the UAW, who think the worker runs the show... It is ironic as Detroit closes plants claiming recession, yet while they scream about job loss, imports are building new plants daily...the auto business isn't leaving, it is simply changing, from the old contaminted union model, to the germ-free model of flexible workers who really want to work instead of strike... UAW: goodbye and good riddance.....................
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Replying to: marsha7 (Aug 15, 2008 5:53 pm) Then you fail to see that in the UAW, the workers are the UAW. They sit across the table with management and make the rules/contract together. Together they opt not to make the workforce/membership the jack of all trades and the master of none. The local GM plant here in the Dallas area is UAW. They build the Tahoe, Yukon, and Escalade. Demand for these is absolutely related to the price at the pump. Lots of these SUV's are going overseas these days. If you stick to supply and demand, the true economics are apparent. The AMA (American Medical Association) has limited the amount of doctors and therefore the price, the allocation/rationing, is increased. The opposite is true about lawyer, the ABA (American Bar Association) has failed and in the near future one in seven Americans will be lawyers. However, this group is sure to create their own litigation and fuel a society which is surely in search of tort reform. So it would be possible that even the most mundane tasks in a society be well compensated due to the shortage of workers able and or willing to do these tasks. Affluent neighborhoods here in the DFW area have had problems hiring retail clerks in the mall. The transportation issue, in an area which had no mass transit, was apparent and had to be factored into the wage. Its useless to have goods for sale if there are no clerks during the mass consumption Xmas season. The AMA, UAW, ABA, IBEW, AARP, NRA, and others are Representatives of their members. Hence, they are the membership. Union bashing reminds me of the ignorance of a society. Social scientist have seen this every time times have gotten bad. A group is picked so that all our woes can be blamed on them. As the Germans did the Jews. I'm not too sure if the aristocracy wants us to blame illegal aliens, organized labor, or any other minority. Its silly to think that Mexicans are responsible for all the jobs shipped overseas in the Carolinas, since they (hispanics) are less than 2% of the population there. However, foreign companies like BMW and Michelin bring back 3000 or so jobs to replace the hundreds of thousands and thats makes it ok. Do times have to get so bad, before we act? We have boycott power now!!! Will we have it in the future? I sense that those who resent the UAW are ignorant to the fact that an injury to one is an injury to all. They may come for the Jew today, but tomorrow it may well be your turn. Tell them we support our own workforce as we support our troops. Don't allow the corporate owned media shape and or state your views.
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Replying to: gagrice (Aug 14, 2008 8:06 pm) Also if you detest socialism, will you send your social security check back? Then too if you shop at Walmart, buy goods made in a communist country, are you supporting communism? The State Dept forbids your purchases of Cuban cigars. Cuba is a communist country.
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Replying to: marsha7 (Aug 15, 2008 6:35 am) Could be that corporations willfully and wantonly fed you tainted milk and still don't even realize it. Its possible since two Fox reporters weren't allowed to do a story, since the big chemical concern was a big advertiser on the Fox network. The product was banned in Canada and Europe. Hence, this chemical fed to dairy cows has affected your ability to reason as a sane person and or think for yourself. |
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a few years back, and I don't think they were made in the USA. I could be mistaken, though? Are ALL of their shoes supposed to be USA-made? One thing I've noticed with shoes though, is that when you buy cheap knockoffs, somehow it just seems to show. For instance, I've seen these cheap knock-off Adidas looking things that they try to peddle at K-mart and such. They have 4 stripes instead of 3, but I just notice little details like the stitching doesn't seem as good, the leather parts don't fit together quite as well, etc. The cheaper shoes will usually start falling apart quicker, too. I think Adidas used to be made in France, but now they're made in China. I've heard that the quality did go down when they made that transition. Timberland boots used to be made in the US, and now they're supposedly made elsewhere. Similarly, I've also heard people complain about that hurting their quality.
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