The Friends & Finds Forum

According to Forbes:
Labor cost per hour, wages and benefits for hourly workers.
Ford: $70.51 ($141,020 per year)
GM: $73.26 ($146,520 per year)
Chrysler: $75.86 ($151,720 per year)
Toyota, Honda, Nissan (in U.S.): $48.00 ($96,000 per year)
According to AAUP and IES, the average annual compensation for a college professor in 2006 was $92,973 (average salary nationally of $73,207 + 27% benefits).
Bottom Line: The average UAW worker with a high school degree earns 57.6% more compensation than the average university professor with a Ph.D., and 52.6% more than the average worker at Toyota, Honda or Nissan.
Many industry analysts say the Detroit Three, must be on par with Toyota and Honda to survive. This year's contract, they say, must be "transformational" in reducing pension and health care costs.
What would "transformational" mean? One way to think about "transformational" would mean that UAW workers, most with a high school diploma, would have to accept compensation equal to that of the average university professor with a PhD.

Then there's the "Job Bank"
When a D3 (Detroit 3 carmaker) lays an employee off, that employee continues to receive all benefits - medical, retirement, etc., etc., PLUS an hourly wage of $31/hour.
Here's a typical story....
Ken Pool is making good money. On weekdays, he shows up at 7 a.m. at Ford Motor Co.'s Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne, signs in, and then starts working -- on a crossword puzzle. Pool hates the monotony, but the pay is good: more than $31 an hour, plus benefits.
"We just go in and play crossword puzzles, watch videos that someone brings in or read the newspaper," he says. "Otherwise, I just sit."
Pool is one of more than 12,000 American autoworkers who, instead of installing windshields or bending sheet metal, spend their days counting the hours in a jobs bank set up by Detroit automakers as demanded by the United Auto Workers Union - UAW - as part of an extraordinary job security agreement.

Now the D3 wants Joe Taxpayer to pick up this tab in a $25 Billion bailout package - soon to be increased to $45 Billion if Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton have their way.
The "Big 3" want this money - not to build better autos. No. They want it to pay the tab for Medical and Retirement benefits for RETIRED auto workers. Not ONE PENNY would be used to make them more competitive, or to improve the quality of their cars.
We ALL have problems paying for our Medical Insurance - but the Democrat leaders in Congress now want us to pay the Medical Insurance premiums of folks who have RETIRED from Ford, GM and Chrysler.
Not a good deal for us.
How about Chapter 11 - and getting rid of these ridiculous union contracts?....Well......YEAH!







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/2008 08:34PM by Vernon in Virginia~Formerly Alaska.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/2008 08:55PM by Vernon in Virginia~Formerly Alaska.

I will admit that in the early years of mechanization and the industrial age, plant owners took terrible advantage of employees and even child laborers and unions were very necessary in order to correct and control these many injustices. In today's world, there are no need for most unions. All they do is create unreasonably high benefits for the union members which drive manufacturing costs through the roof which have to then be passed down to the consumers. Eventually the buying public will have had enough and show their displeasure by refusing to buy these over-inflated products that now sit on giant parking lots and dealerships all over the country because other sources, which are readily affordable, take over because they are more affordable, dependable, and less costly to use and maintain. This, my friends, is economics at it's best. Just ask Deusenberg, R.E.O. Speedwagon, Stutz Bearcat, Packard, A.M.C., Pearce Arrow, and dozens of other defunct car manufacturers. A good dependable product at an affordable price will always sustain itself in almost all economic situations. You see the beginning of the same situation in professional sports....... there will eventually come a time when the everyday fan will say, "That's enough, I refuse to pay 100.00 per ticket just to watch a bunch of over payed thugs play a game." How will those multi-million dollars contracts be payed then? T.V. revenues and 200.00 tennis shoes will not be enough. Any how, I could go on for a while yet but I'm hearing "zzzzzz...." now as it is. Bottom line is that Greed, Golden Parachutes, and Unions had a lot to do with putting themselves in this situations, let the cleansing begin !!!!


therick

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Forget what the public needs, let's build vehicles that we can make the most money on. They need money? Let them sell their concept cars to collectors first. It's time to say enough is enough! They dug the hole they are sitting in, let them find their own way out. Plus if Elson could build those dune buggies faster he could corner the market on small fuel efficient cars!

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Unions have their place and had their time, but when a union has the control these have over the govt, major lobby. Plus they have put out product for many years that is mostly substandard, stating that we should buy American when the majority of their vehicles are made outside of this country, ignoring what is needed, having "deals" with the oil companies, thousands of safety recalls because of many, many deaths and injuries and many other issues that would have had other business sued and forced out of business. I say bankruptcy, but our tax dollars will take over the pension accounts. We pay it out of a pocket somewhere.

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