I can't tell you how many times I have heard this. Usually it is from people that have not done 5 minutes of research themselves to learn about how different the US automakers are now compared to 5 - 10 years ago. It is also hard to find news coverage of the events that have occured to change the Union and the companies in the name of competitiveness.
Take a look at this video. At 1 minute and 28 seconds (1:28) you will see where some of the Japanese companies (Toyota and Nissan) are actually paying their employees MORE per hour than the UAW employees.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677#28184396
In 2005 the UAW re-opened the national contract (usually never done) in order to renegotiate terms to make the companies more competitive. Local contracts were also opened and "Competitive Operating Agreements" agreed upon to make even more CONSESSIONS to help the companies become more competitive.
In 2007 a landmark contract was approved with wages for new employees set at 1/2 current employees. Benefits for new employess were greatly reduced. Wages for current employees have been frozen. Co-pays for healthcare on the part of the workers raised. Some jobs normally performed by the company employees are now outsourced by the company. Healthcare for retirees will be taken off the manufacturer's books and administered by the Union (January 1, 2010). The list goes on and on and on, and as we speak the President of the UAW is negotiating with the big 3 making even more consessions.
By the end of this contract (2011) the UAW total labor costs will be about equal to all the others. Mind you, this is being accomplished while the US auto makers have
1 million retirees to account for while the foreign companied operating in the US only have about
1,000 combined. The US companies have been around on average 100 years. The others have been here 23 years or less, and most of them significantly less. That's the reason for the difference in retirees.
So if you have 2 companies that have the same labor cost, but one has 500,000 retirees receiving pensions and healthcare, and the other has 248 retirees, which one is getting stuff done cheaper?
During the hearings in Washington several Congressmen and Senators praised the UAW for having made so many cuts in wages and benefits, consessions and work rules.
It costs $1,300 in labor (wages and benefits) to build a Ford Escape. If you cut labor down to 50% you still only save $650 per vechicle. Do you really think that this $650 is the saving grace of the companies? They give that much and more back to the customer in rebates!
The UAW President stated to Congress and the Senate that total labor costs make up 10% of the price of the car. That is an average among the Big3, and Ford is below that average.
Why is that specific 10%, and cutting down a part of it, believed to be the whole problem? There is another 90% that makes up the cost of the car.
And if the Big3 have run their companies into the ground and the Union helped cause it, why is every auto manufacturer in the world in dire straights? The European Union is being asked by the auto industry there, with Volkswagon, Fiat, and Mercedes among them for
$52 billion USD. Don't hear about that in the news too much. Sweden is giving Volvo over $6 million USD. The Japanese auto industry is in bad times, the worse since 1974.
$52 Billion asked for by European Auto Makers
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...=2008812110328
Japanese worse since 1974
http://www.leftlanenews.com/japanese...-year-low.html
I'm not making this stuff up.
Did ALL of these companies run their corporations into the ground AT THE SAME TIME? No, it's the economy, dang it!
My point is this.
PLEASE do some research. Learn what the Union has done over the past 4 years to reduce labor costs. Learn what Ford has done to increase production efficiency at all levels, reduce costs of parts, reduced it's manufacturing capacity (closed 17 plants and reduced the number of workers by
50,000), stepped up quality (Fusion and Milan have higher quality ratings than Camry and Accord, Ford is in dead heat with Toyota and Honda in quality), Safety (most 5-star crash test ratings of any manufacturer in the US) and more. Read the plan they submitted to the government boards they were required to go in front of. You can download the document here....
http://media.ford.com/article_displa...ticle_id=29505
Click on
Ford Motor Company Business Plan
Ford's plan was working as they turned a profit in the first quarter THIS year. Then gas shot up and the economy crashed.
If you don't do this research then you are just another of those that would rather just jump on the bandwagon of the ignorant and enjoy the bliss without knowing the real world. Those people look like fools.
Yeah, I am taunting you to look into this. If I tick you off you just might. If you do, then thank you.
Steve
14-12-2008, 09:52 AM
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