Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see May lease deals!
Options
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
I've always said that the real test for GM will be during the next economic downturn. It's easy to make money when times are good - even the weak players can do pretty well.
Edmunds Price Checker
Edmunds Lease Calculator
Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and let us know! Post a pic of your new purchase or lease!
MODERATOR
2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
Edmunds Price Checker
Edmunds Lease Calculator
Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and let us know! Post a pic of your new purchase or lease!
MODERATOR
2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
Now if you could get a 0% loan and then turn around and invest all of it in GM stock, that'd be something.
ACE has 381 members among both hourly and salaried workers at the Chattanooga factory, according to the filing. By contrast, the UAW said last month it had 816 members among the hourly workers alone. That's about 55 percent of the blue-collar workforce.
http://news.yahoo.com/uaw-rival-vw-represented-union-avoidance-expert-211059842.html
If VW had any sense, they'd make a pickup there and use the underpinnings for another SUV or three.
Labor leaders, who were among the strongest supporters of the citywide minimum wage increase approved last week by the Los Angeles City Council, are advocating last-minute changes to the law that could create an exemption for companies with unionized workforces.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-los-angeles-minimum-wage-unions-20150526-story.html
Bingo, I think you hit the nail on the head. Health Care Insurance, Pensions and Dues are all money makers for the Unions. The Employer says I am not going to pay over $15 per hour total and what does the Union do?
Something that is happening in food service in places like Oregon is internal issues where the cooks make a couple bucks over the wait people. Add tips to the MW of $9.25 per hour and the cooks are saying you cook it and I will serve tables. Where my son works the owner has threatened to advertise NO TIPPING. Last I heard they were sharing the tips with the kitchen.
As for servers, cooks, and tips - the service staff making more than the line staff has always been the reality. If a cook wants to make what a server does, let her/him come out of the kitchen and deal with the public.
To hear the Union bosses ask for more on each contract you would not think so. However our Teamster Union turned over our HC to a private insurance company in the early 1990s and soon took it back over. When I retired the company was paying $1200 per month for my plan, and it was not nearly as good as I have under Medicare Advantage with Kaiser. A physical with blood work under our Teamster HC insurance cost me about $500 out of pocket. Under Medicare it is a total of $55. And I don't have any supplemental premiums. Just the $104 they take out of my SS every month.
Don't forget the 85 cents per hour the Teamsters took for their strike fund. And we had a no strike clause in our contract. There are lots of union people in service jobs making less than $15 per hour. At least what they see on their pay checks. Lots of union jobs under $15 per hour. Anyone think the companies will raise those currently above $15.
The UAW allowed Lear to pull a fast one sort of. They got rid of the two tier. And turned it into two separate contracts. Those on the top tier did well. The others not so well.
The UAW considers this a big win because it re-establishes the concept of equal pay for equal work inside the Hammond plant.
But the UAW also agreed to re-classify up to 310 workers as sub-assembly workers, who work at a nearby plant putting together smaller parts of the seats for a lower wage.
Some sub-assembly workers currently make $11 when they start and can earn up to $13.50 per hour. Separately, about 170 of those workers earned only $8.50 an hour from a separate company that did not provide health insurance.
Under the new contract, all sub-assembly workers will start at $12.10 and receive raises up to $15.25 by the end of the four-year contract. They will receive some health insurance.
http://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2014/09/22/uaw-workers-indiana-approve-lear-contract/16041405/
I like the way Coker thinks...:):):)
As Talks Near, UAW Steels for Strike (WSJ - currently a free link)
One question is whether the strike "talk" is just part of the UAW's normal bargaining process.
G.M. said that its ultimate decision was not based on a formula in the contract. Instead, the company said that the $9,000 figure was a combination of regular profit-sharing in addition to a $2,000 performance bonus.
GM Profits are hardly stellar. Not a stock I would own.
For the year, G.M. reported net income of $2.8 billion, a 31 percent decrease from $3.99 billion in 2013.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/05/business/gm-reports-2-8-billion-profit-in-2014.html?_r=0
GM needs to cut costs if they plan to stay in the business of making automobiles.
Despite the boom in the U.S. automotive industry, Toyota Motor Corp. earns more in a year than Detroit's Big Three automakers combined.
That doesn't tell the full story: When average earnings per vehicle are calculated, the Japanese automaker makes more than four times per car than General Motors Co.
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2015/02/22/toyota-per-car-profits-beat-ford-gm-chrysler/23852189/
In the approach to this year's negotiations, the Ann Arbor-based Center for Automotive Research estimated the Detroit 3 won't create net new jobs. Total hourly employment will drift down slightly from 147,000 later this year to 145,000 by 2017, the center estimated.
Ford announced on the eve of the negotiations that it will move the next-generation Focus compact and C-Max out of Michigan in 2018. The UAW said production could move outside the U.S.
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20150719/NEWS/307199987/uaw-detroit-3-to-talk-about-wages-not-jobs-this-time
(I was going to just type LOL, but decided to hedge my bets)
But the UAW also agreed to re-classify up to 310 workers as sub-assembly workers, who work at a nearby plant putting together smaller parts of the seats for a lower wage.
Some sub-assembly workers currently make $11 when they start and can earn up to $13.50 per hour. Separately, about 170 of those workers earned only $8.50 an hour from a separate company that did not provide health insurance.
Under the new contract, all sub-assembly workers will start at $12.10 and receive raises up to $15.25 by the end of the four-year contract. They will receive some health insurance.
http://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2014/09/22/uaw-workers-indiana-approve-lear-contract/16041405/
http://www.opb.org/news/article/coalition-starts-effort-to-raise-minimum-wage-to-1350-an-hour/
So then do you have to raise the Chef's pay so they are making the same as the wait people with tips. I know at Busters they are now splitting the tips with the cooks. Time to do away with tipping I would say.
Unless they want to get tripped (or worse) plating food.
Some places make everyone share tips - they divide them up at the end of the night and then everyone heads to the bars.
Of course, had minimum wage kept up with the declining value of the dollar and most cost of living inputs from the time the geezers were able to use it to fund college, it'd be closer to $15 than what it is now.
Mitsubishi Pulls The Plug On U.S. Factory After Years Of Subsidies (Forbes)
Bottom line, Illinois is a horrible state to do business in. Even when they are generous with tax payer dollars.
“If they could have a do over, I’m sure they’d rather have a non-union plant in a right-to-work state that could offer them more tax breaks than cash-strapped Illinois.”
The UAW reached a tentative agreement with Fiat Chrysler last week but that agreement must be ratified by a majority of about 40,000 UAW members at 37 UAW local units across the U.S. for it to become official. A rejection of the contract would throw the UAW's efforts to negotiate new contracts with Fiat Chrysler, Ford and General Motors into massive turmoil.
At UAW Local 1166, which represents workers at Kokomo Casting, 59% of production workers voted to reject the contract while the skilled trades workers split their vote 50% to 50%, according to a person who was not authorized to speak publicly about the results.
http://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/chrysler/2015/09/24/mixed-results-early-voting-uaw-fca-contract/72737274/
Hopefully that doesn't happen but it wouldn't surprise me if it did.
DETROIT -- In a few years, there will be only one pay tier for UAW members at the Detroit 3 -- just as they demanded.
But it won't be the one they wanted.
If the union's tentative contract with Fiat Chrysler is any indication, the surviving tier will be the lower one: The rich, traditional jobs will go away over time, replaced by a class of auto workers earning less in wages and benefits than the highest-paid today.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20150926/OEM01/309289954/uaw-fca-deal-dooms-tier-1-if-passed
How is he doing these days?
Muddling along. Got a truck driving license. Finding the jobs less enticing than he would like.
"Over the past two weeks UAW members appear to have overwhelmingly rejected a contract that their elected union leaders openly celebrated, dealing an embarrassing blow to UAW President Dennis Williams and his leadership team.
But UAW members, many expecting their leaders to challenge rather than be chummy with management, recoiled when they saw photos of Williams and Marchionne embracing in July as contract talks began."
UAW didn't get through to members (Detroit News)
If they strike my bet is Fiat starts moving operations to Mexico. The Domestics have proven they can sell Mexican made vehicles just as easy as ones made here or Canada.