GM workers strike to keep jobs in the US? What do you think?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070924/ap_o...

DETROIT - In the end, the first nationwide strike against General Motors Corp. in 37 years came because the United Auto Workers want something that GM will find difficult to promise: Job security.



UAW officials said the 73,000 UAW members who work at about 80 U.S. facilities for the nation's largest automaker didn't strike Monday over what many thought would trip up the talks: A plan to shift the retiree health care burden from the company to the union. They said they also didn't strike over wages.

They said union members walked out because they want GM to promise that future cars and trucks such as the replacement for the Chevrolet Cobalt small car or the still-on-the-drawing board Chevrolet Volt plug-in electric car will be built at U.S. plants, preserving union jobs.

The strike puts GM, which is restructuring so it can better compete with Asian automakers, in a bind as some of its new products begin to catch on with consumers.

Note that the issue is about health care benefits, not wages. This is bigger than GM and the UAW.

By comparison, GM's Canadian plants are more cost competitive because of universal health care. Wage levels are similar but the difference is that the Canadians have the universal health care system in place.

Toyota and Honda have similar wage and benefit levels although they are non union, but because their workforce is far younger, their health cost bill is quite a bit less.

I think long term, we need to have universal health care in this country (the USA). It will cost all of us a lot less and it will help ensure a heathier populace.

I am really sick and tired of the old calls about "greedy unions" and overpaid workers. What would you do if you had to pay a lot more for your health care? And no, "just suck it up" isn't a valid answer.

The GM workers are trying to lose their jobs. The unions are going to destroy the American auto manufactures. The unions are forcing the manufactures to send their jobs else where.

It really bothers me that when GM finally starts making money and getting out of the red the UAW starts making demands and going on strike. When companies lose money they must cut costs, which often results in the loss of jobs. This strike is going to cost GM lots of money. The result: more lost jobs. The UAW must ask itself what is more important: job security or pay. The best job security is to work hard and make GM profitable, strikes ensure the opposite effect.

GM will just move to Mexico and pay the workers half the price.

Over paid and underworked. Don't be surprised to see more jobs heading to Mexico. I think in about 50 years Americans will be sneaking into Mexico for jobs.

This question wouldn't even have to be asked if the UAW didn't exist.

It's a huge risk on the employee's part because all they are doing is proving more and more to companies like GM, Ford and Delta that moving these companies elsewhere would not only benefit the company right now, it would help guarantee their futures.

Why does being a "bumper installer" constitute being middle class?
Too many people have forgotten that work like that is "blue collar".
They want their jobs preserved? They need to understand that making $45 an hour installing car doors is what is helping to cause these companies to fold.

I've always supported "Made in America" but have felt alone in it. I'm for keeping the GM jobs here, too, but this issue will require more than a simple, corporate action.

GM acting alone risks having every automaker in the world (all with wide open access to the U.S. market) pluck up its market share.

Simple answer: If we want any protections at all - such as those German laborers get by interacting at the level of corporate competitiveness - they must be nationwide and mandated. I'm not pro-union and never have been but models exist with empirical numbers to support effectiveness in the long run.



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I think they are overpaid at $45 an hour. Pay scales are nowhere near inline with the rest of American factory workers.

The man next door is a high school dropout, Chevy UAW retired after sending his FOUR sons through out-of-state Colleges and built an inground pool in his back yard 10 years ago. Meanwhile, the rest of the neighborood watches him live like a king by comparison to us. Don't get me started on how his whole family has great car deals STILL. And...
He STILL has the cadillac of health care plans. You would think he was a physician!

I don't feel the least bit sorry for those crybabies who wanna have things their way. Jealous?
Yeah, maybe.

I think that that is something to strike for. More Workers need to think about doing the same. GM has no one to blame for this mess other than themselves when Japanese auto makers were making great strides in America with their smaller more economical and reliable cars,GM was still ripping Americans off with those gas guzzlers and cars that not last as long as the payments that Americans were paying on those vehicles. Americans made GM what it is and now they are taking the jobs from Americans and given them to other countries that have not supported like Americans have. It is disgraceful the way American workers are being treated after they help build this country and now they want to take jobs away where wages are cheaper, look at Mattel now our children play with toys that have lead and our Babies sleep in defected Cribs Americans have fought hard to be rid of these dangers and now we import them from other countries.

I live in one of the towns mentioned. The trickle-down- effect here is a big concern for our community. If GM is on strike, then our other factories (who make GM seats, and misc. car pieces for them) also slow down, and, may also close when the effect of the strike is felt. We are a community that truly was built around GM. There are only 70000 here, and, we are dependent on GM employees. The poster above me is correct- GM employees start at $25, after x years they make $40+ an hour, and, after 25 years are considered fully vested in retirement, and, can quit- even if they are hired at 20. So, there are people drawing full pension at 45. I think they deserve the pay, though. It is a dangerous job. It is LOUD and dirty. That sucks. They deserve to be well paid.

I think its ironic and also sad that what they hope to achieve by a strike makes it all the more likely their jobs will eventually be off shored to countries without strong labor unions and cheaper labor costs.

I was appalled. It feels like the UAW is not even aware how bad off GM is. I think the car company is heading towards the wrong direction as well.


EDIT>>> In regards to the question about a wall in Canada, Yes, we need one there too. My cousins in Vancouver told me that the Chinese illegal immigrants are smuggled in their ports and then cross over the border to reach New York.
Hopefully some of those who complain about us not talking about Canada's border or illegal immigrants other than Hispanics would see this answer.

well first off i don't think there has been a real American auto maker in quite some time, i don't have a problem with workers going on strike. it has made major improvements in our country, but the union leaders are more concerned with them self's allot of the time, instead of there union members.

if the union members voted to strike well they know the risks and are willing to take them

irishred your last statement is exactly true, and a example of whats been happening with America

Oh yes , GM workers are fighting to keep jobs here.

Gm problem is not the overpaid workers.The total labor costs for automakers are actually about $10 an hour higher in Germany, which manages to compete by making terrific cars. If GM management were not such a mess, its workers would not be paying the pricce.

There is a larger story here. The United States is also needlessly losing manufacturing jobs because it hasn't figured out how to compete globally. This is partly a story of lazy management, but partly of misguided public policy.

Mostly, it is not a story of overpaid production workers. Since 1973, total productivity of the US economy is up about 70 percent while the median wage of nonsupervisory workers is up about 10 percent, according to the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute. Economist Robert Gordon recently calculated that nearly all the fruits of that productivity went to the very top income brackets.

In autos, however, workers in Mexico and China with comparable production equipment and skills are paid less than one-10th the US wage.That is even less than minimum wage here in USA. So I guess minimum wage workers are overpaid.
So yes we need the union otherwise GM would pay us workers the same as mexico workers simply because they can.

Oh by the way,that cut in health care GM wanted in 2006 which UAW took retirees to court to implement that deal went toward building new plants in mexico and china.