Filed under: Government/Legal, Chrysler, LLC., Ford, GM We've gone from $25 billion to $34 billion and back down to $15 billion. The Detroit 3 CEOs have appeared before Congress twice. Congressional Democrats and the White House have spent the last few days wrangling over the final version of a long-in-the-making Auto Rescue/Bailout Bill and just before it's ready to take center stage on the floor of the House and Senate, this happens. House Republicans today have introduced a new bill in the 11th hour as an alternative to the bill we've all been talking about this past week that was engineered by Congressional Democrats and the Bush administration. The new House bill proposes that instead of handing over loans to U.S. automakers before a viable roadmap for their long-term sustainability is in place, the government should instead provide insurance that would be funded in part by the automakers themselves and cover up to 50% of the losses of new investment in the case of default. This can be difficult to follow, but it's similar to a plan introduced during recent Congressional debates over federal aid for the financial industry. In essence, the U.S. government would be insuring private investment in the Detroit 3, which House Republicans hope would help "unlock immediate private investment" in them. If the U.S. auto industry still went under, those investments would be covered up to 50% until March 31, 2009. House Republicans think their bill is superior because it doesn't make the U.S. taxpayer a direct stakeholder in the automakers, while we think it's ludicrous because there's no guarantee that investors would suddenly pour money into Detroit just because half of their risk is covered. It sounds like a really fast way to lose half a fortune to us. You can check out verbiage of the American Automotive Reorginization and Recovery Plan for yourself after the jump and sound off in the comments if you think it's the right way to go (or not). [Source: Politico via TTAC, Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty]Continue reading House Republicans throw wrench in the works, propose their own American Automotive Reorganization and Recovery Plan House Republicans throw wrench in the works, propose their own American Automotive Reorganization and Recovery Plan originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments More...
We shouldn't give them a penny until the average union pay goes down from $75 an hour, to the more reasonable non-union auto worker wage of $30 an hour! That and legacy wages cut out would knock several $$$$ thousand off the price of each new car! The union contract requires that unemployed auto workers get paid for several months after being laid off! So, they get laid off, aren't working, yet are still getting $75 an hour, for NOT working! They call it the 'labor bank'... Break the unions and save the industry. Also, a wealthy investment firm just recently bought Dodge... They have more than enough liquid worth in the bank to bail out their own company! Only they figure that if DC will bail out Dodge, why should they... Sounds like they bought a sure thing! Got it cheap from Benz, then ask DC for a bailout rather then spend their own money.
It cost as much to build a chevy as it does a cadillac.Layed off workers get"sub pay" its only 60% of regular pay.(the auto manufacturers AGREED to it in contract negotiations)The average auto worker does not make 75 beans an hour(i dont know where people get this stuff)It cost roughly 53 to 64 hundred bucks to build one car.This cost includes ALL overhaed...legacy money included.Yes the auto makers are greedy...yes the union is greedy... yes the workers want to make big money(WE ALL DO)When the upper echelons stop giving themselves multi million dollar bonuses and 6 figure raises every quarter there will be more money to go around.Cuts need to start at the top.Dont blame the union for getting what the companies AGREED to give the workers in negotiations.They have all done it to themselves.Lets remember the workers also loose bennys in the negotiation process as well as get.The big three are trying to live the high life in bad times and feeling the pinch like the rest of us and they have the power/influence to be heard when they cry poor.Unfortunately the averge people dont get the same attention since we are not finacially influential.(lets all face it "money talks")And remember we know what a loaf of bread cost us when we go shopping...The big three upper echelons dont, nor do they care.If you get sub pay for 3 months and your laid off for...6...12... 18 months... then what????Most auto workers today make on average 14 to 18 dollars an hour.Not 75... health bennys and paid sick time/vacation only adds up to another 10 to 15 beans so...28 to 33 bucks an hour is more like it.My dad gave 43 years of his life to Ford.Do you want to be summarily dumped after 25...35...years of service and hung out to dry???? these people have earned their retirement money dont you think???besides the auto manufacturers have allready cut alot of people loose with the buy outs.The big three???Its their own fault they havent kept up with the market... not the workers.They have the technology to produce 30...40...50 MPG cars....OH! Wait they do... in europe... ask why they dont bring that tech here...and dont tell me it costs too much.Horse hockey!!! I was a teamster for ten years... big deal... the union was good at helping guys who should have been fired years ago keep their jobs.They were also good at getting a level pay scale for the workers where I was employed to make it "fair" for all involved.Unions do still serve a purpose... some good...some not so good but hey...The NRA is a multi million dollar a year organization.They have the financial as well as lobbying power to have all gun laws on the books removed for constitutional reasons...Why dont they??? Becuase we wont need em so much then.Now guess what happens Now the NRA doesnt make as much money every year.Just my dollar fifty gang...Peace out!!!
It was on one of the Sunday news programs... Union auto worker: $75.00 an hour average. Non-union auto worker: $34.00 an hour average. I know the non-union one to be true. I helped build, and know folks that work at the Jackson Miss Nissan truck plant. If the non-union figure matches what I know, then why would the union figure they compared it to NOT be accurate? I don't remember which network show it was... I flip between all the Sunday shows and don't keep up, but they are all reasonably trustworthy to parrot an 'industry average' figure. I blame both sides equally, but right now the hold up IS the unions, and they need broken. They get what they want in good times, and the 'contract' keeps the company hands tied in bad times like now. The contracts are built upon gradually over many years. They get a little more and more each negotiation, most of which are done in prosperous times. So you end up with big, bloated contracts. The union must have a little more each contract negotiation, or they threaten the company. There have been far more good times, than times like now, so the contract never 'regresses'. I spent several years in the union, and it made me the most anti-union person you will ever meet. Do you know what it is like to live somewhere that if you are NOT in the union, you are not legally allowed to work???? It sux REALLY bad! The unions don't have secret ballot either when you vote on anything. If you don't vote the way they want, they find a reason to kick you out of the union! I had to keep away from union meetings. They knew how I would vote on issues and pretty much told me if I came to a meeting, I should find a new line of work cuz they would monitor how I vote! Now unions want to make it law that a non-union business vote on wiether or not to form a union MUST BE BY PUBLIC BALLOT! This is so they can intimidate folks into accepting unions into their profession. Right now folks don't vote to unionize because they have secret ballot. You would think it would be the other way around, wouldn't you? The company should want public ballot so folks will be afraid to unionize, and the union would want secret ballot because everyone just loves the unions... Don't they? Apparently not if secret ballot doesn't unionize. Ever get a monthly union magazine... (another way for them to squander your dues) The cover always has union cronies. They look like family pictures straight out of the Sopranos or the Godfather! No joke. And all the folks running the union have the same names. Nepitism runs wild. Keep in mind that the folks running the union are NOT tradesmen. They run the union, that is their full time job. Take the dues of the pros and pay their own self determined salaries. Then hire their wives and kids for subordinate positions at a salary the officer sets. It's a scam. I know. I have been there, done that. Glad to live in a right to work state now. Sad to see the day when Obama says my state must vote for unions in a public ballot. It's coming, and it's sad.
I can't believe I missed this statement. Not true. The labor union in Minnesota pays $30 an hour to unskilled labor. The UAW is considered skilled labor. That, combined with the fact that non-union auto workers get $30 an hour from my own first hand knowledge, leads me to firmly believe the UAW pays $75 an hour. What is your source on the 14 to 18 figure?
Who pays all the retirement benefits everyone who has retired? ... UAW or Ford/GM/Chryser? I bet you it's UAW signing the check and the BIG 3 funding most of the pot .... SHouldn't all the retirees be blaming the UAW for loss of benefits? UAW is the one negotiating and signing contracts. UAW should be the one investing money and making a profit. UAW is the one that should be lowering benefits to retirees ... just like everyone still working has had to contribute more to benefits. I work for UPS and last year we gave the Central State Teamsters $4 BILLION dollars to get UPS employees out of the mess of a retirement account the Teamsters have and into a UPS run retirement account. Cost UPS big bucks up front but in the long run it will save UPS Billions of dollars that the union wastes. But when they run out of the $4 Billion UPS gave them all those folks can blame the Teamsters since UPS wash their hands of it.
Okay... What that is saying is that the UAW take home is roughly 28 an hour. However, it also clearly shows the UAW package, which is roughly 75 an hour. Makes sense. Also makes sense that the non-union "package" cost per worker is 40 something. That would give a bring home pretty much equal to the UAW bring home of 28. It all fits. The union worker 'brings home' what a non-union worker does, but the dues and bennies the company pays the UAW per-hour/per worker are much higher than the independent benny costs. The non-union workers still get bennies, just nothing as extravagant as the union, then you must also pay the union administration and legacys.
When I was in the union, the union signed everything. My regular pay check was from my company, but anything else was union check, bill, letterhead. My vaction pay was on a union check. My Christmas bonus was on a union check. Union checks paid my doctor or reimbursed me for med bills. A branch of the union negotiated my prescription co-pays. If I mispaid a co-pay, I got a bill from the union puppet company. It's all about how much money they can squeeze, extort, and take from BOTH sides... workers and company. They also had REALLY strict rules on how benefit monies were handled. All the money you are required to give them that they agree to give back, like Christmas fund money... gains interest. Well, if you don't cross every 'T' and dot every 'I', or you miss a date, or miss a goal figure, you lose all your interest to the union. They will take interest off any of your required inputs for the dumbest reasons. If you miss a date, or do any sort of emergency/early withdrawl of your own money, they not only take your interest, they take a large portion of the balance in your account. God help you if your company has trouble paying the union package on your behalf. The union hassles YOU, not the company. The idea is that if they empty your accounts, cut off your doctor, stop your prescriptions, and exclude interests, that you will bug your boss into paying the union package. And you do... it hurts when your company gets you backed into a corner. Just that if times are bad, and your company truly can't afford to pay the union right at that moment, you are risking your job.
I never said I liked unions Ratio...You shouldnt believe all of what you hear in the news.Its as corrupt and decietful as our present administration.And most of the news corporations are owned by billion dollar buisinesses who tell them to what to report and how to spin it.Most of the info I stated comes from my freinds who work at the tonawanda engine plant... ford stamping plant in woodlawn(my father as well) and two freinds of mine who are loosing their jobs at Delphi and american axle because GM is shipping those jobs to CHINA.Soo you could say I have first hand knowledge not from the news agencies but from people in the "trenches" so to speak.I know how bad unions can be...seen it first hand...I was a teamster.
