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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: dallasdude1 (Dec 29, 2008 5:50 pm) First what would a golden parachute be? Most salaried employees today get some kind of money to leave a company. It used to 2 weeks salary I thought but it seems like many get one year of salary. And it is just not the auto companies in this. Last night I was with someone who was let go from an advertising firm due to downsizing. His one year is almost up. So from this a one year payment would not be considered a golden parachute? Or would it be? From Wikipedia: A golden parachute is an agreement between a company and an employee (usually upper executive) specifying that the employee will receive certain significant benefits if employment is terminated. Sometimes, certain conditions, typically a change in company ownership, must be met, but often the cause of termination is unspecified. These benefits may include severance pay, cash bonuses, stock options, or other benefits. They are designed to reduce perverse incentives. So I would say a one year severance package would not be a golden parachute. It would be some kind of pre agreed package. I do not believe any GM execs have this. Would it be in the financials of a company?
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Replying to: jimbres (Dec 30, 2008 6:04 am) Good point! However, my contention is that there is life after a bail out. Unfortunately, Bill Gates is retired. I did meet his father in law, years ago. Great person and his daughter did well. Then too I met/saw Bill at the COMDEX. These new billionaires are a far cry from the greedy wanna be groups of the past. Warren Buffet and some other older ones excluded. Well educated and wanting to make a difference they are the future. I understand they are dealing with the problems in the third world and have their hands full. I respect and support their efforts. We could go on to the saying. What would a smart man/Bill Gates/Melinda Gates/Warren Buffet do? If you ever have the chance to see Microsoft, I think you would agree that its a perfect model for future corporations. Then again they have our best and brightest working there.
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Replying to: dallasdude1 (Dec 30, 2008 5:44 am) That is my point. GM WAS the goose laying the golden egg. The UAW in their greed wanted more of the egg than GM products could sustain. Now they are in bankruptcy for all practical purposes. As those folks in China see consumer products that ordinary Americans enjoy, they will want the same I would say a portion of them are already buying products and cars. China went from no personal automobiles in 1985 to the second largest auto market. They have passed up number 2 Japan. Some one in China must be making enough to buy a lot of cars. They will pass up the US sooner than later. They may be real close this year. Apple was bailed out by Microsoft. Since then they went on to beat down the famous Sony Walkman brand and are the leader in MP3 players/IPOD's and look to get their IPHONE market going. Another IAMERICAN story of beating the odds after a bail out. Do you think ANY of those Apple electronic devices was built by American workers? So tell me how a Chinese built iPhone is an American triumph? At this point in time the UAW built vehicles are becoming nearly insignificant. The US consumer is not king of the World any longer. Countries like China soon to be number ONE, Russia, Brazil, India are picking up the slack in Auto sales. This year we will buy less than 20% of the world's vehicles. While that is still a lot. It is 40% less than last year. Far worse than the rest of the World. Morgan Stanley now expects global car sales to decline 0.3 percent this year to 58.1 million vehicles after forecasting an expansion of 3.5 percent at the beginning of the year. China will still account for much of the sales increase as its economy heads for a sixth straight year of double-digit growth. But with so much resting on that market, competition is set to intensify just as fast. http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/01/business/auto.php |
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Replying to: 62vetteefp (Dec 30, 2008 6:37 am) It would/should be on a publicly traded company. I looked and it seemed like a waste of time, way too many PDF files. Normally, I do look to see if the corporate officers are either buying or selling stock and or their options. |
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Replying to: dallasdude1 (Dec 30, 2008 6:37 am) So you agree with me that a government bailout is a terrible idea. That's great!
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Replying to: iluvmysephia1 (Dec 29, 2008 8:31 pm) Thats a great story. Glad it all worked out and the best of luck. My company sent me off to train. Factory training and they paid for it. Upon completion we set to make this $500,000 five axis machine tool work. As a team we developed a post, used best practice methods/processes, and a host of other proprietary issues. They told me that if we got it going "people/engineers/programs would be lined up to use it". That meant work. So was/is the case. While at the factory I did see the competition and or the Japanese counterpart. He was excellent. However, they are years behind as our team is much more enterprising and we intend to keep it that way. By their own admissions, they are not capable of making the complex parts in a short time we now make. As a team we did more and exceed the companies/customers expectations. All we needed is respect for one another and a company that fosters innovation by bringing people together. This is a world class a process in progress, which has the potential to bring in more work. I have other interests too. I do community service and am glad that my company encourages it. They also subsidize my gym membership. Time to be with my family and vacations are important. Both my company and union (UAW) have a relationship which has allowed me to raise a family in comfort. Its all about relationships. They did their part and I did mine. This year I'm coming in with a purpose. I'm aiming to kick it up a couple of notches. I've invested well and have done more than enough to provide for the future, but refuse to coast. This is all about ego in some respect. Playing within the system, doing the right thing, respecting others, and we will all be winners. Barring injury or bad luck, we/I'm giong to be a winner. 09 is mine
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Tonight the Senate did not see fit to take care of autoworkers. They’d rather union bust and hand out money to companies like AIG, so they can take spa retreats and give out golden parachutes. They’d rather watch Detroit fall further and further and watch Michigan’s unemployment rate go higher and higher. For Wall St. they asked few questions and wrote larger checks. For Main St. they demand concessions and czars and oversight. Pensions and health care and worker protection were demonized all in the name of business. The pension that keeps people like my grandfather able to pay for care in their golden years. The health care that most Americans would work their asses off for. The worker protection no one has anymore, but sure could use in this day and age. Tonight my government could have helped and impacted those who don’t wear suits and instead will leave them out in the cold. Tonight the missteps of an industry were held up as a symbol of the free market and it’s workers thrown to the wolves despite GOP Senators welcoming foreign counterparts with open arms in the South. Tonight we told American workers they mattered less than the 100% Japanese government funding of plants in our states. I’m not one for bailouts. I’m not one to always scream ‘BUY AMERICAN.’ But I am one who supports local jobs, local manufacturing, and local indstury. I also support the need for unions in a world of WalMarts. Tonight I stand shoulder to shoulder with American workers and hope we weather the storm to come. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=367- x15487 |
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Is Free Trade a Good Thing for Haiti? Deforested lands, farmers forced out to make "Free Trade" zones, no self-sufficiency, no sustainable agriculture, dependence on imports and a population growth that is estimated at 110% higher than world average and 174% higher than the United States. Amid riots and death's, UN forces, led by Brazilian peacekeeping forces and humanitarian food aid, Haiti has overthrow it's leader, in a country where most of it's workers make less than $2 a day. It's a simple fact, with worldwide food inflation, the people in Haiti cannot afford to eat. When you wonder why we as labor should care, take note that many former US employers in the textile industry have opened up shop in this land, and many in Haiti itself, shut their doors when human rights organizations persisted in campaigns for these workers. These companies who contracted clothing for the likes of Nike and Disney, shut their Haitian factories and headed to countries with even lower regard for labor and human rights, such as China. http://anti-union.blogspot.com/2008/04/free-trades-working-victims-2-haitis.html- |
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Replying to: jimbres (Dec 30, 2008 7:05 am) There is ONE glaring problem with Detroit and the Big Three, however. The management stinks. They shoved Detroit (and YOU) down the Road of Greed starting in the 1990's by foisting off huge gas-sucking pigs on Americans when they knew it was shortsighted and stupid. So...management has to go. New blood is required. Don't feel sorry for them, they'll be fine and they will never have to file for unemployment. Barack Obama already showed us the way. As he has said all along, American car manufacturers have to go green and offer up affordable vehicles made for the new rules of the twenty-first century. No more heavy steel tanks, no more gas-guzzling pigs capable of pulling your house off its foundations. Obama has offered tax incentives, help with a medical plan, and other things to the automakers in exchange for MODERN thinking. This would be the sensible course. These automakers are in serious trouble, and they will need even MORE help. But anything beyond an emergency life ring should wait until our new President takes office. Barack Obama is undoubtably angry right now about a host of things, and the major one is the monumental mess left to him by the previous Administration. It's appalling. It is unprecedented, only comparable to Herbert Hoover and FDR, perhaps. Believe this: Obama is going to kick some butts and take names after January 20, as well he should. These automakers deserve our help if for nothing else but the common good. But like when the United States entered World War 2, these factories and the people who run them need to change. They must adapt to current conditions and not only catch up to the Japanese in alternative power, but surpass them. Our homeboys in Detroit should offer up smart autos that working Americans can afford, and in alternative-power versions everyday folks can use. Now do the math. Between the autoworkers, the dealerships, and the small-to-medium size businesses who rely on the Big Three, it adds up to more than three million jobs. Assuming only an average of $200 per week paid out on a typical unemployment claim for 26 weeks, this adds up to $15 billion dollars for three million people. This doesn't include any extensions, which under an Obama presidency would be likely. Wasn't that the minimum amount the automakers were asking for in loans just to stay afloat? Maybe we should let them go broke and pay out the money in unemployment claims. http://adventurebooks.newsvine.com/_news/2008/12/13/2209038-a-straight-talk-solu- tion-for-the-automobile-crisis
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Replying to: dallasdude1 (Dec 30, 2008 8:16 am) And bankruptcy reorganization is the only way to get from here to there, as I know you'll agree. Without bankruptcy, there can be no rebirth. But when I tell you that, I know I'm preaching to the converted. Welcome!
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