2018 Commondog

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Qwerty321

The thing a lot of people seem to forget is that a company cares purely about profits, not market share or sales. Odds are GM will make more profit selling 1000 imported Commodores a month than selling 2500 VFs. The profit margin is no doubt going to be higher with the next gen as GM will only have the expense of running one Opel factory rather than an Opel factory AND a Holden factory.

On that note, I heard that Opel were on the chopping board just like Holden were. The only difference was the Opel unions backed down and struck GM a better deal than the Holden unions. Unions are what ultimately killed local manufacturing. Someone needs to remind them that having a job is better than having a pay rise and loosing your job in 2 years. Everything past matching for inflation was pure greed on the side of the union, and as a result Opel got to keep trucking on and Holden got told to walk.

Complete rubbish. Wages only make up a small % of costs, it's the economy of scale that killed it. They build heaps more cars in their plants per year, which means all those fixed costs per vehicle are much lower (electricity, gas, taxes, OHS costs etc).

German auto workers are higher paid than Australians are anyway.

[Carrion]

Originally Posted by EBSXR6

My mate refers to them as Commodes or Dunnydores.

I like the sound of Commodes (Sh%#box on wheels) LOL

[Blue Roo]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Complete rubbish. Wages only make up a small % of costs, it's the economy of scale that killed it. They build heaps more cars in their plants per year, which means all those fixed costs per vehicle are much lower (electricity, gas, taxes, OHS costs etc).

German auto workers are higher paid than Australians are anyway.

True,
At the Mercedes Factory. the workers are allowed 2 free beers on their lunch break.
How good is that!

[stazza]

Anyone who thinks unions killed local manufacturing needs to turn off the TV and throw their newspaper in the bin.

Wages didn't kill anything. You've got CEO's and all the top office staff on several hundred K, or more, per year that continually get bonuses and this and that while the workers wages drop and the price of living still climbs.

Yes unions have been and can be greedy, but don't ask don't get, right? Do you really think that a company is going to give the workers more reasonable hours, holidays, sick pay, overtime rates out of the goodness of their hearts? **** no. A lot of people spend up to 12 hours or more a day at their job (I know I do), 12 hours! That is a long time to spend at a place so that you can afford to live. Without unions who would put pressure on the employer to rightfully reward their workforce with a reasonable compensation for their precious time spent helping that company make its profits?

Think. There is plenty of money going around in the world, and if you think that a lowly workers wage would bring a company to their knees then you are off your head.

[arronm]

Originally Posted by Carrion

I like the sound of Commodes (Sh%#box on wheels) LOL

image

Maybe. But here is the equivalent falcon

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by arronm

Maybe. But here is the equivalent falcon

image

Nah, the Lame Lion and the wannabe Commando can never hold a candle to these beauties by the same name

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Complete rubbish. Wages only make up a small % of costs, it's the economy of scale that killed it. They build heaps more cars in their plants per year, which means all those fixed costs per vehicle are much lower (electricity, gas, taxes, OHS costs etc).

German auto workers are higher paid than Australians are anyway.

Dont let facts get in the way an opinion.

We all know the wages of the guys building the cars are the highest cost in building a car.

[Brazen]

Originally Posted by vztrt

Dont let facts get in the way an opinion.

We all know the wages of the guys building the cars are the highest cost in building a car.

No way, its a tiny percentage in the scheme of things of a high volume plant. The currency fluctuating has a bigger impact.


Some of the highest wage places on the planet have successful car industries: Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Sweden, South Korea, UK... etc. These are countries with much stronger unions and drastically better conditions than Australian production workers. Australia is even cheaper than the US due to no mammoth legacy pension and healthcare obligations.

The big determinate is really economies of scale, government support and access to markets.

[cycle myth]

The topic might be broader than the hourly wages alone.

Productivity is key - and when parties make things difficult, the obligations are significant, and the volume low - well there's a few parties that need to consider how they impact things in this country.