More power to them! Shut it all down and get those shit companies to pay fair wages.
One of their demands is a 32 hour work week, and if they get that, it would be a huge group to do so and may jumpstart the transition in other industries to a shorter week as well.
Huzzah! ✊
Tobias Fünke: “Okay, Lindsay, are you forgetting that I was a professional twice over - an analyst and a therapist. The world’s first analrapist.”
Their demands are bullshit and they have yet to submit a counter offer. They are negotiating in bad faith and all they will succeed in doing is making American Automotive less competitive and more expensive.
They are asking for a 40% raise over 4 years, PLUS a 32 hour work week, and pensions, etc. Today the top hourly wage is $32 per hour, they are suggesting increasing that to $58.50 per hour with these actions (10%^4 + 25%). That would basically double the cost of manufacturing and it would reduce productivity by 20%. Unlike knowledge workers, the 4 day work week in this instance just means they produce less or they have to hire more to produce the same output.
Either way, that would put the big 3 at a huge disadvantage vs the Asian imports and most notably, Tesla.
In its annual executive compensation report that GM filed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, GM reported that Barra made a total of $28,979,570 in 2022 compared with $29,136,780 million in 2021 for running the company and chairing the board of directors. For 2020, Barra took home $23.7 million in total compensation and $21.6 million in 2019
Maybe they can afford to pay their workers more.
That would basically double the cost of manufacturing and it would reduce productivity by 20%
What’s your source? Your own ass or that of the Heritage Foundation? Either way, it stinks to high heaven of bootlicking.
Either way, that would put the big 3 at a huge disadvantage vs the Asian imports and most notably, Tesla.
Again with the baseless anti-worker assumptions.
That would basically double the cost of manufacturing and it would reduce productivity by 20%
What’s your source? Your own ass or that of the Heritage Foundation? Either way, it stinks to high heaven of bootlicking.
His source is math. 32 is 20% less than 40, and in manufacturing, hours worked directly correlates to total output.
Yeah because overworked and underpaid workers are exactly as productive as happier and healthier ones 🙄
Manufacturing productivity is tightly controlled. Productivity targets are met, based on hours worked. The UAW specifically has a hand in setting productivity targets.
I don’t agree with all of the above poster’s takes (for instance, I don’t think this is a hard line the union is setting, but rather a negotiation tactic), but his points here do come from basic math and do not require a source.
I literally refer to the union head of the UAW as “maybe the best I’ve ever seen” like one post prior to this, so if you think I’m opposed to either unions or this strike, you are grossly mistaken.
I am pro-math, though.
Amongst your laughable bullshit:
No one is choosing a tesla over a Ford because of cost. Lots of people were ignoring those cars because they weren’t union, even before Musk went more visibly off the deep end. And they’re completely different products with different value propositions.
Unionism raises working standards for non-union workers as well. These gains would affect the non-US manufacturers the same way they will affect non-union US workers. That’s the point.
Suggesting that workers continue to sacrifice to keep a product “competitive” is sweatshop logic. You’ve got your priorities twisted. If your response is “that’s the way capitalism works…” Only because we let it. That’s how organized labour works.
There is no chance they get both the wages and the 4 day week. They’re arguing for both to get one.
Pretty basic negotiation tactic, and the strategic strike shows they’re trying to push negotiations forward, not draw a line in the sand.
My guess is they’ll get the money and stay at 40-hr weeks, because in the long run that’s cheaper than the additional labor required for 32 hr weeks at their current price point.
Everyone thinks their demands are ridiculous but turn a blind eye to truly ridiculous executive compensation.
All we know for sure, the $100k truck will become standard as the cost will flow to the consumer instead of coming out of executives for their failures.
If they could have charged 100k for a truck, they would already be doing so.
Paying workers properly doesn’t impact this.
Thank you for saying this. The price is set at what the market will bear.
Yeah, the cost to make something doesn’t determine the price it will be sold it. It determines if it’s worth making and selling it at all. And it’s not even based on the current cost or price, but projected ones.
Fully loaded trim levels of the big 3’s trucks do reach towards the 100k price level, if not more
When I made my comment, I assumed people knew this already. “Becoming the standard” was meant to mean the price of standard trims will reach this level in the years ahead.
Let’s see who’s side Biden is truly on.
It ain’t the unions
See rail workers.
Its a lot easier to support the UAW than the rail workers. Not because of the justice of the positions, but because rail workers striking paralyzes the entire country.
Biden could have forced the companies into more concessions. I mean, things like sickdays and having adequate coverage is just… good business…
Or if the company refused to play ball, nationalized the companies under certain defende acts, instituted the reform (both in staffing, and safety compliance, and a few other areas,). But no. He elected to shaft labor- because the oligarchs couldn’t have that.
If you think breaking a strike sets a bad precedent, what do you think nationalizing an entire industry would do?
It’s been done before. it was wartime, last time. but it’s been done. do I think it’s a good idea? no. Do I think that the things the rail workers were asking for (and didn’t get.) were… reasonable…? absolutely. it would likely have been better for the business in the long term- albeit with lower short term profits.
My point being… Biden could have gone to bat for the employees… and reformed the industry. if it’s so critical, while are we allowing idiots who fail to realize that they actually need to staff appropriate to the time constraints, rather than making their employees work shit loads of overtime and cut out safety checks?
Biden could have forced the companies into more concessions.
Genuinely, what further actions could he have taken that wouldn’t just be virtue signaling? It looks like he did successfully force the companies to capitulate several months later.
That’s the whole point. Solidarity is solidarity. They wouldn’t strike if the rail barons dropped even a pittance. It’s the 2020s but it might as well be the 1920s.
Not because of the justice of the positions
Because that was never a concern.
but because rail workers striking paralyzes the entire country.
Sounds like the railroads are too consolidated then. The remedies should be breakup or nationalization. But strikebreaking is easier.
That’s the point.
Id rather support rail workers, the UAW is a pretty shit tier union that’s far too large for it’s own good.
The rail union got everything they asked for. The admin followed up. They just did a shit job of marketing it and the news doesn’t give a shit about feel-good news… just FUD click shit.
And the administration will likely stay out of this.
He literally gave them what they wanted
You’ll enjoy this read (or not depending on how personally invested you are in thinking Biden is anti-union)
https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/23Daily/2306/230620_IBEWandPaid
I mean tbf he then gave them their demands, just without paralyzing the economy.
Edit: Apparently he didn’t.
Edit2: Apparently he did.
no… he didn’t. the unions wanted paid sick days. Like. you know. pretty much every one except walmart and fast food workers. yes, only 4 unions were holding out, but all the unions wanted sick days. Also, keep in mind, the people in question are highly skilled with masters degrees. That’s part of the reason why it’s ‘hard’ to recruit for those positions- that and the absolutely batshit crazy working conditions.
The things they were asking for would have been considered standard for almost any other sector at that level of skill… and really is just basic good-business-sense to give. But, like most stupid and greedy corps, they’re more worried about short term profits being hurt by the overhead of actually staffing adequately than they were about… employee health, the safety of their operations and literally everyone in the public nominally adjacent to their rail ways and yards. The paid sick days would barely even register on their quarterly reports.
FYI, Biden did end up getting them their sick days. He never stopped pressuring the companies. There was just very little reporting on it so I don’t think anyone found out. I thought the same until someone corrected me and linked what I’m putting below
They got all that. Media didn’t cover it because “President’s pressure gets rail workers demands after long process” doesn’t get clicks.
yes, only 4 unions were holding out, but all the unions wanted sick days.
And those 4 unions represented the majority of rail workers.
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He could have used he situation to get laws passed that required minimum leave fornall workers at the national level, effectively giving the workers what they wanted instead of half asking it.
Lol no he couldn’t. There aren’t 50 Senators for any of that, let alone 60.
They actually did get their sick days. Biden continued pressuring the railways after the media coverage was over and the railways gave the unions everything they wanted.
You were right the first time
https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/23Daily/2306/230620_IBEWandPaid
People cared enough to get mad but not enough to follow up
Biden has no say in this because the workers are not bound by Congress.
However, Biden is clearly pro-union
https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/23Daily/2306/230620_IBEWandPaid
We saw with the rail strikes.
So the President will get the union everything it asked for?
Only after the media extensively covers him breaking the strike, giving him negative press for that, but no good press for actually achieving the Union’s goals.
I swear the Democrats are laughably bad at handling the media. It’s truly ridiculous.
With all three automakers reporting record or near-record profits, the union was trying to recapture many benefits they had been forced to give up more than a decade ago when the companies were cash starved and on the brink of bankruptcy.
The unions gave up a bunch of concessions when the automakers needed it most. Now that they are flush with cash and the workers are in a place of need, it’s time to take those concessions back, for the sake of their more recent hires. Fuck forced overtime as well.
The
partialrotating “Stand-up” strike is an interesting move and definitely has the automakers stutter-step a bit, because they had their part stockpiles and narratives ready for an immediate full blown strike. The stories the car manufacturers ran in media sayimg “The union isn’t making any more parts so cars are expensive waaaah” won’t hold much weight for now.I wonder whether the UAW is planning to eye inventory levels to best time a full-blown strike when it hurts most, waiting for employer lockouts or waiting for the car manufacturers to piss them off enough.
Solidarity
Forever
"This is not what I was expecting to hear tonight,” said Jeff Schuster, global head of automotive for GlobalData, an industry consultant. “It’s not the way that causes maximum pain. Maybe it’s a sign they’re getting close and they’re just trying to ramp up the pressure. This is a very unconventional way of negotiating and striking. I think he’s doing a good job of creating confusion.”
This union head may be the best one I’ve ever seen. This kind of “surgical striking” to move discussions forward is brilliant.
Wait, what about other factories, like Nissan, Honda, etc?
They will see these guys and gals win, see what they get in a better and fairer contract, and want that themselves. Union strong!
They aren’t unionized. Neither is Tesla. So all they will succeed in doing is making American automotive less competitive and more expensive.
How dare those workers strike for better conditions just to hurt the American economy!
