American Auto Makers

[ford9050]

Seeing they failed to get the money again. I'm glad they didn't get the loan and no one should bail them out. They need to redo the whole structure. The UAW has a bunch of morons. That's the main reason they didn't get the loan. They will not agree to lower the peoples pay. No one wants to take pay cuts but it's take a pay cut or lose your job. UAW workers get $78 per hr and American's working on Japanese car lines make $45 thats still very good. American auto makers have to sell their cars for $1500 more to offset the pay also which means it's that much less competitive.

They should file bankruptcy so they can re nogotiate and kick the union out. Union does not want to co-operate because they think the gov. will bail them out like the mortgage companies

[Mustang Shar]

Even tho I am a Bargaining UNION employee with my own contract currently in negotiations for 2009, I think I have to agree with you.
Having a job vs NO job wins out every time and I think the UAW will have to make concession..but so does management. Those CEO's and their private jets and millions dollar salaries/bonuses...just BAD!

I heard the employees receive full pay during layoffs?? Anyone know what their contract is? Wonder if it's on the web....

I do know for a fact, watched a PBS show on this several months ago, that our healthcare is so much more expensive than Japan. How does that factor in with imports made here I have no clue. But the $78 figure includes health and pension benefits and probably apprenticeship programs as well.

I think UNIONS still have a place and are needed such as building trades. Where you have multi-employers...an electrician can work for many different companies at different job sites. Without a UNION it would be difficult to get for that electrician to obtain health insurance continuously and certainly no pension benefits working for a company for 6 weeks. It's just different than our regular jobs alway with our one employer. There are some who are lucky enough to get a big job that will keep them with the same employer for a longer time than that. But just using as an example and I think you can see the difference.

GM and Chrysler are in a crisis situation and they better figure it out! Can't be throwing money their way, just don't know how bad it will get.

[ford9050]

I think the concept of unions is good but so many locals are just there for the money in the people. My 1st job was a Jewel as a bagger. I made $4.25/hr back then and I had to pay dues after 3 months. I quit before that happened.

Shar, you know more about unions then me so why doesn't the company the electrician,plumber,laborer ect. pay for benefits like most companies due? So many companies provide heath insurance. Why does a guy have to join a union if his company provides health insurance,401k ect?

[blackpony04]

The UAW killed Detroit 20 years ago, period. I would love to make $78 an hour (I'd be happy with 40!) but it's killing the industry. Yeah, a union electrician costs a ton of money to employ, but the majority of their expenses go towards education and making sure your house doesn't burn down! The auto industry simply can't support their employee expenses.

[orangefox]

78$ an hour does seem a little extreme most shops dont even charge that much!

[Mustang Shar]

I think the concept of unions is good but so many locals are just there for the money in the people. My 1st job was a Jewel as a bagger. I made $4.25/hr back then and I had to pay dues after 3 months. I quit before that happened.

Shar, you know more about unions then me so why doesn't the company the electrician,plumber,laborer ect. pay for benefits like most companies due? So many companies provide heath insurance. Why does a guy have to join a union if his company provides health insurance,401k ect?

The UNION contractor who hires Union members does pay it all to the Union on Monthly Reports for each man...it is quite the bookkeeping for sure! But Non Union shops...maybe the man can't afford to join the Union, there are initiation fees necessary plus monthly Union Dues as you know. : ) Union Contractors will general get big jobs while non union shops may stay small. Being small, the benefits will also be small - such as $10,000 deductible on medical...I don't know if they offer a pension plan.

Its apples to oranges. A non union shop can't get work with union shops....picket lines will follow and the site shut down. The benefit to someone in building trades are the following: Employer pays all health insurance and pension-nothing comes out of his/her paycheck. When the employee is laid off, if he has worked steadily he will have built up banked hours that will keep his health insurance in force while he's unemployed. In trades,, this is a HUGE deal.

It depends on the type of work you do really. If you are on job sites for example....typically new construction projects. These Employers are "temp" jobs if you will. When the job is completed, you go back to the Hall for another job at a different site. If there is a non union worker on these sites, it's shut down! Occasionally that happens

If you are in SERVICE work, that's a little different. You may be with one employer for years just like you and I. Surprizingly,, there are also Union shops in the service industry. Here's a great example that happened to me 2 years ago:

Our furnace wasn't running right. My Mom <she's slightly blind and doesn't hear well, but I love her bunches!>, called a non union shop. So $495 they said it was fixed. It wasn't, no heat the next morning, we called them back again. <!!!!!!> yes furnace was 25 yrs old, now it should be fixed. WRONG!! Same damn thing no heat next morning. This time they are refusing to come back...this is BS.

So I call MY Union shop that I use, the man has me go over to the furnace open it all up and runs diagnostics with me. Diagnosed the problem immediately via my description! No charge..the guy says call that same shop tell them what we just did and to fix it. The other shop came back again and did what I told them to do...it was expensive but at last it was diagnosed correctly.

Thats what you are really paying for when you have a repair-diagnosing is critical. UNION trained members work their asses off through 5 years of apprenticeship and training. I can't hire a non union service person now. And my mom...well, she hates how expensive it all is..I know. : ) But get the job done right.

Ok I think I've babbled too much here....sorry everyone.