Heung: I'm the new owner of this company of yours. We picked it up rather cheaply this afternoon -- our government had to spend some of those worthless dollars they have after all. The Boomers needed the cash for their pensions, and you're 401K owned. It's great.
CEO: What?!? But we're an American company!
Heung: Oh, please Jack. An American company? Let's review things, shall we?
Heung: In 1999, you closed your factories in Ohio, Michigan and North Carolina and subcontracted out production to a company owned by the Red Army in China.
CEO: It saved money and boosted profits in the short term!
Heung: Yes, and it also resulted in the layoff of most of your staff.
CEO: That's the free market!
Heung: Indeed. Then, you began to lay off all the Boomers working for your company in the IT, finance and marketing departments. They were getting too old and expensive, right?
CEO: Sure, and lazy and entitled!
Heung: Then, you stopped hiring young Americans to replace them.
CEO: They were demanding 10 hour days and weekends off! And they didn't have the skills we were looking for -- PhD level educations willing to work 60 hour weeks for $40K a year.
Heung: Yes, so you outsourced everything but management to labor from Tata and a Red Army owned IT consultancy.
Heung: In fact, 98% of the people who do any useful work for this company are Chinese, Jack. I'm just here to finish the job. You see, I'm going to be charitable and say you're doing SOME useful work, but you won't be needed anymore.
CEO: WHAT?!?
Heung: You've been outsourced, Jack. You're too expensive. Look at your benefits -- your expensive health care. Your golf club membership. The country club membership too. And all those dinners and Gulfstream jets and corporate apartments.
CEO: BUT I AM VALUABLE! I CREATE VALUE!
Heung: Nowhere near enough value, Jack. Besides, you're obsolete -- as entitled and out-of-touch as all those workers you laid off. And Jack, just look at yourself. You're fat and lazy and entitled. You think you have an entitlement to your own house and your own car! CEOs in China still live in apartments and drive around on mopeds, Jack. They don't have country club memberships -- heck, a lot of times they don't even have hot water. And they're willing to work for under $100K a year. You're just too expensive, lazy and high cost.
CEO: YOU CANNOT DO THIS TO ME! I HAVE WORKED HERE FOR 10 YEARS!
Heung: Ah, yes, ten years. I remember when the union at the plant in Charlotte said the same thing. But the fact is, Jack, you're too expensive. And it's a Chinese world out there. The times have changed, and you haven't kept your skills up to date.
Heung: But don't feel bad. A few years in community college and I'm sure you'll be able to find a new job in the service economy! See you later.
CEO: (looking defeated) Fine. Fine. I'll show myself out.
Heung: Oh no, what are you doing? You cannot leave with your shirt on. That's company property.
CEO: What?
Heung: You put that suit on the company American Express. Take it off.
CEO: WHAT?!?! You want me to leave naked?
Heung: Well, you said you weren't the sort to give your employees the shirt off your back. So you will give it to me instead. Besides, you're awfully entitled, thinking you have a right to a free shirt. BTW, I called a cab, since we've already taken back the company car. Hopefully the cab takes VISA, since I know most of your cash goes towards those mortgage payments on that house out in the hills.
Pays to wear your own suit and drive your own car. Along that line think of all the companies in the UK that Tata now owns. You think that the Indian people do not hold some resentment for all the years Great Britain held them in slavery? Now Tata owns the largest UK steel company Corus and just bought Land Rover and Jaguar. What goes around comes around. I would say.
My thought is the smart UAW guys took the packages or used the job banks to get some education. When Toyota builds that new Oldsmobile plant near Detroit they will be Non-Union.
I wonder if "Heung" could be pronounced like "hang"...a fate deserved by much of the upper corporate ranks. When what goes around comes around, the British won't be the only ones wincing.
Consumer Report list the best used cars to buy and the used cars to avoid.
To be competitive at any price line: If labor,salaries, wages, and bennefits are excessive, there is less $$ to put into quality parts. Without quality parts, longevity suffers and people don't want the product.
It appears the Buick Lacrosse and 2 Lincoln Sedans are the only UAW cars to make the "Buy" list.
Those high executive wages from a company bleeding red ink, does not inspire the guy or gal on line to work harder for less pay. I think our corporate greed will be our downfall.
The management rights to high pay have caused a lot of the problems for our businesses through the last decades. They have turned the US into a two level system: highly paid, entitled management and lowly workers--no middle class any more.
The low worker pay in other countries will be cited as justification for lowering worker pay in US, but the lower ratio of executive pay compared to worker pay in those same countries is never pointed out. That would justify drastically lower management compensation here.
The average chief executive pay to average worker in US corporations was about 13 times in 1970. By 2000 it had jumped to about 500 times more than the average employee. Sadly Ford is paying the going rate in a sinking ship.
Ratan Tata is a huge Anglophile, as are many of the Indian Upper Class, by most accounts. I don't see anything being done to damage the internal working of Land Rover, Jaguar, Corus or Teatley tea.
In fact from what I have heard Corus and Teatley tea have had business go on pretty much as usual since they were acquired.
The real issue is that here in the US all execs are paid very highly. In fact the automotive execs are paid much less than non-auto execs.
I know of one auto exec that quit and went to Pepsi. Makes 3-4 times what she was making automotive.
I will agree that is probably OK since Pepsi is hugely profitable while the US auto industry is not. BUT they have to pay them a somewhat competitive wage or they will leave. To bring these non-auto execs in from outside the auto industry they have to pay them at least what they were making to get them to come over.
But on another note, since many here want to say that US auto execs are worthless we now have a chance to see if it is really the CEO that makes the company. Jim Press was the top person at Toyota and worked there his whole career. Those who say domestic management stinks normaly in the same breath also say Toyota is the most wonderfully run auto company in the world with the best management.
Now that Press is at Chrysler and with a non public holding company he has the chance to take Chrysler and turn them into a Toyota profitable concern. If he can do this then we have a real data point on how domestic management sucks. If he cannot maybe the issues are a bit more broad than management.
He does have his work cut out for him. He is used to running a company with mostly Non-Union Labor. That will be an obstacle for him. If I was running Chrysler I think I would pare down to Jeep and Dodge trucks. Sell off the rest for someone else to try and salvage.
Now that Press is at Chrysler and with a non public holding company he has the chance to take Chrysler and turn them into a Toyota profitable concern. If he can do this then we have a real data point on how domestic management sucks. If he cannot maybe the issues are a bit more broad than management.
However, one difference is that Toyota was basically not screwed up at the time Press joined. Chrysler OTOH is pretty much a basket case. Even talent may not be able to turn around a company that's already in big trouble with (arguably) the poorest American Auto products on the market (certainly in cars, perhaps less in trucks).
we can't just eliminate Chrysler yet. I say that because of their most important connection with Chery of China. It might seem a pointless exercise in futility, but remember Chrysler, like GM, can sell cars in countries other than America. Countries that are hungry for new automobiles to buy, like China, for instance. Chery is hungry to become competitive globally, but, their CEO made a statement last winter that they would homogolate very carefully and fit for a particular market very carefully, all the while making sure that their own countrymen still want to buy Chery automobiles. And buy them they will, my American car-crazy pals. Just watch them.
Small is the automotive future, the addition of China in the worldwide marketplace will hammer that truth in to null and void pickup and SUV buyers in the U.S. Because the addition of China and Brazil and Russia and India in to the soup bucket for available gasoline will make sure that not only $2.00/gal 87 no-lead never again be available, but ever rising prices for petrol will make $4.00/gal seem light and breezy.
And Chrysler is in on that Asian marketplace now, because of their guarded relationship with Chery of China. If the Hornet subcompact makes it in China and in Russia and in Brazil and maybe even India, Chrysler can blow off domestic market buyers with a fast and furious gale-force that would put Martina McBride to shame.
It's not the domestic marketplace that will make Chrysler's mark, it's what's happening elsewhere. To just include big pick-em-up trucks and gaudy SUV's in Chrylsler's future sales, you are no only hamstringing them in to a very limited future, you are all but creating their death-knell as a carmaking entity.
Nope, the fat lady has not sung for Chrysler....yet. I am thinking they have a future selling necessary small cars in countries all around the world that are only remote to us and our "Texas-sized" automotive minds, lads. :shades:
Well for the last 5 years it seemed that Mercedes, more/less threw in the towel on the Chrysler, side of the buiz. They made no effort and lagged severly behind GM/Ford on interior quality and it still shows today !!! :sick:
It looks like the American Axel, strike shows no signs of an agreement. I've read that American Axel, refuses to give the workers the same package they gave GM/Delphi's senior UAW vets and wants to knock their pay down to $10-11 an hour with no buy-outs in site. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
Iluvmysephia: Chrysler is done. No way their oversea market saves this company. They just don't sell enough outside the US to support the losses here. I think people are starting to understand why Daimler sold Chrysler for so little. Look at their recent launches. Other then their minivan, which is having first year re-design issues, none are a hit. i wouldn't call the Grand Caravan a hit. Reports of Cerebus having trouble raising capital; no legitimate fuel economy car in the near future; sales are way down. The Chery cars are not ready for the US market. REcent crash tests showed they are a couple of years away. (Google "Chery crash tests") I think the "For Sale" sign for Chrylser will show up sometime around October. This is jsut a guess. Signs are pointing that this will be a very bad year in US sales for them. Chrysler like GM and Ford still rely on those big SUVs and pickups to make money. their business model still relies on it until they can make a small car that actually makes money. Most people don't understand this. GM has taken some baby steps in this direction with the Malibu and CTS but the Silverado is still the big money maker for the US market.
I wish I shared your enthusiasm for a Chrysler turnaround but I think soon we will all be saying "and then there was 2".
Look to Delphi to see what will happen to AA. Delphi cannot get funding capital to go on. They are basically closing almost every US plant. Manufacturing in this country with highly compensated workers just does not work here. Down south a whole new bunch of manufacturing plants with foreign owners have opened up. They pay their workers very little with little benny's. The pay and beny's, however, are more than competitive with the pay in that geopraphical region so there are plenty of workers waiting for jobs.
American Axle will now be shipping jobs out of this country. If they could open new plants down south at the same pay as these new companies they would. However the unions would never let this happen. So old companies with old labor will go under to be replaced by new companies w/o union labor. We may not like it but those old companies cannot compete.
Now we see GM and Ford with new agreements that greatly reduced their labor cost. Even so Toyota announced that to stay over competitive they will be reducing thier labor cost even furthur. They want to reduce labor cost by 1/3 by 2011 and pay well below what the domestics pay their workers.
I am not saying the above is good or bad news. Just that it is happening. This country cannot continue to support high manufacturing cost vs. what other countries pay. We are actually very fortunate that most of the imports opened up plants here. This allowed the old line players and workers to remain here while if the imports had continued only importing they would have been out of business.
Cerberus owns Chrysler. I don't know if what they have been doing since acquiring it are just for show or whether events have conspired against them but I'm in the Chrysler is toast camp.
Cerberus picked them up for very little. I expect it won't be long before they start selling off the parts that have a value - the Jeep name, maybe the minivan design to be picked up by GM who never had a clue as to how to build a competitive van.
I hope I'm wrong but I don't think Chrysler can survive an extended recession.
2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
I don't know if there's much of a future for the minivan anyway. Seems cross-overs are all the rage nowadays. GM already has enough brands, so I can't see them picking up Jeep. Ford? I don't think they're in any shape to pick up any pieces of Chrysler. Tata? Maybe.
Tata is a good bet. They have a lot of money and money making enterprises. From banking to the largest steel company in Britain. Jeep and Dodge trucks would give them a USA dealer network to sell their $2500 Nano. It could give the Yaris and Fit some competition for people that just want a cheap car.
Well 62' I'm happy your not taking sides on the issue but when a CEO, gets a raise when his workers are asked to slash their pay by 75% it is a huge slap in the face !!! We can argue who's right or wrong all day but the simple fact remains and that is who's going to buy the crap when 80% of the U.S. population is jobless and broke. I do not believe for a second in the pseudo-capitalist theory that the service sector of our economy is going to absorb the 26% "manufactoring" sector and even if it were able to it would dramatically lower wages in those service sectors. It's a lose, lose situation !!! I as you already know have personal feelings on this issue and I'm sick and tired of Washington, Corporate America, ripping apart my country sector by sector. Once very proud city's with nice manufactoring plants that paid good wages and made great products like furniture, tools, etc, that would last instead of the shoddy crap lemko, talks about at walmart that one could break with their bare hands !!! :mad:
I know things change but I never thought we would tie the noose and hang our self like we've done !!! I pray the next president will work with congress and tariff all imports !!! 100% of em' !!!!!!! If company's go belly up over it, OH WELL !!!!! :mad: If the right party is able to win the next election, I guarantee you will see dramatic change to unfree trade !!!
-Rocky
P.S.
American Axel UAW workers: Do not take less than what GM/Delphi UAW workers got !!!
American Axel UAW workers: Do not take less than what GM/Delphi UAW workers got !!!
That is the issue. The UAW is asking for lots more than what Delphi is paying. Their reason? AA is profitable!!! How the heck long are they going to be profitable if they are paying more than their competition even here in the states. Nope AA is going to be shutting down plants and there go the jobs.
American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. was "disappointed" in an offer from the United Auto Workers union that would have paid workers double the market rate, the company said Thursday.
Formal negotiations will continue, but the two sides remain far apart on wages and benefits, American Axle said in a statement.
American Axle characterized the proposal as "a slight improvement from the UAW's previous bargaining positions," but didn't elaborate.
Union officials did not return calls seeking comment.
The union is asking for wages and benefits of between $40 and $60 an hour, according to American Axle spokeswoman Renee Rogers. The company is proposing a wage and benefit package of between $20 and $30 an hour.
I think thats a whole bunch more than Wagoner is making. Of course AA was making a profit. But what the heck, lets strike them until all the plants are closed!
Shoot, I'd take the American Axle CEO's job for ONE QUARTER of his original pay! I'm sure a lot of other much more qualified people also would. Maybe we should keep the workers and outsource the management.
That is the issue. The UAW is asking for lots more than what Delphi is paying. Their reason? AA is profitable!!!
IIRC, AA's offer isn't even close to Delphi's. (Rocky, this is where I need you:). Doesn't the current employees keep their old salaries (BIG buyout for them to retire???), and the new hires to replace them get the lower wage and bennies. GM is picking up some slack in the pensions.
If AA wants ALL employees to take a 2/3 cut in total compensation, imagine how many people would, all of a sudden, not be able to afford their mortgage, even though they work full time??? If Verizon wanted to pay me a salary that all of a sudden wouldn't allow me to afford my mortgage (which is modest up here-trust me) I'd fight it too. They ultimately may end up out of a job due to the strike, but with that kind of a reduction in standard of living (working for $10/hr) it's worth the gamble.
(what AA currently pays) $28 an hour and first-rate health-care benefits, plus paid layoff guarantees of 85% of worker's pay. At the same time, other parts makers are reorganizing with lower cost structures. Rival Dana Corp. (DAN), for instance, recently emerged from bankruptcy paying its workers between $14.50 and $16 an hour; their health-care benefits will be managed by a union-led trust fund.
UAW is asking for figures between $40 and $60 per hour including wages and benefits for the workers it represents, while Axle is prepared to pay about half that, at between $20 and $30. Axle previously paid $73.48 per hour, on average, to each employee, as per the The Detroit News.
My point is that at $28/hr (lets set the bennies aside for a second), one grosses $1220 per week. Uncle Sam looks for $350??? So now that gives you $870 net. Lets call it $3500/mo. A 30 yr. mortgage ($150k) is around $875/mo., or about 25% or your net pay. Add $2-300 for taxes and insurance, and thats roughly $1125/mo.
Now, at $12/hr, we see gross drops to $480/wk. or about $360 net, or roughly $1600 a month. $875 is about 55% of net pay. Add taxes and insurance, and you starve.
Now, a new hire trying to pull this off should have their head slapped off. HOWEVER, if you've been working there making $28/ hr and someone wants to foist this on you, you're in deep doo doo if it comes to fruition.
Even at $17/hr, you are at about $2350/mo. While that is manageable, it's still tight.
I hope I'm wrong but I don't think Chrysler can survive an extended recession.
Well, I hope you're wrong, too. I hope Chrysler survives and I hope it's not an extended recession.
I've invested over 24 years of my life with Chrysler. Being in skilled trades, my options wouldn't be as limited as the workers on the line if they closed the doors. However, 14 years of training and experience with robotics, manufacturing programming and related technology doesn't do much good when no one else is hiring.
And that is the issue. There all kinds of people out of work, at least here in Michigan, at all income levels. I am afraid that AA has about 3 more weeks and they will throw in the towel and shut the plants. And then they will all be unemployed with nowhere to find a job.
I could see GM picking up the minivan and it's plant. Probably just sell one and call it a Chevrolet Caravan.
But would GM sell only one model? Seems that it is always too tempting to create variants to fill the showrooms for all the brands. Still the brand problem.
Anybody else think the new Chrysler vans are much uglier than the previous model? To me they look like the difference between the old and new Jeep Grand Cherokee - I thought the previous model looked a *lot* better.
I'm also in the "Chrysler is toast" camp, unfortunately. But if they dwindle away it will make things a bit easier for GM and Ford.
If AA wants ALL employees to take a 2/3 cut in total compensation, imagine how many people would, all of a sudden, not be able to afford their mortgage, even though they work full time???
That happens all the time in business. During the mid 1990s the oilfield jobs were all but gone. Most of the Union companies went under and non-union companies did the work at half the price. The Culinary workers took a huge hit in about 1995. The cooks were making $23 per hour and the housekeepers $18. They got cut to $15 and $11. Many were laid off as much of the oil field in Prudhoe Bay was like a ghost town. We were lucky on that one as we were in the middle of a 4 year contract.
If the AA CEO decided to share $9 million of his $10 million paycheck it would be less than $1.25 per hour for the 3650 line workers. If he relocates the plant to Mexico and gets workers for half what he is offering the UAW he will get a bigger paycheck.
I remember when Reebok closed up shop in the USA and went overseas. The CEO made $25 million that year. I believe it was the biggest paycheck for any CEO up to that time. He was ripped in the newspapers and TV. He just smiled all the way to the bank we people continued to buy Reeboks. I would never buy them again. Now I am wearing old worn out Van's Tennis shoes that were made here in CA. I hope they last till I die. I take real good care of my Dexter dress shoes that I found at Ross Dress for Less. They were one of the last pairs made in the USA. All made in China now.
If I was a betting man I would say the AA brass are scouting locations in Mexico right now. If they have not already closed the deal down there.
If I was a betting man I would say the AA brass are scouting locations in Mexico right now. If they have not already closed the deal down there.
The driveline parts maker has a gear and axle plant along with a forging operation in Guanajuato. The operations have been expanded six times since Axle first began work there in 2000.
They only have two plants in Mexico but they have a whole bunch more in asia/india.
We the people can blame the greedy CEO's but they are just doing their jobs. Staying in business and making as much money for the company as they can. Most everything is made elsewhere now and we just keeping buying the stuff. Unless we stop buying the stuff it will keep happening. The auto industry is the last big bastion here in the US. And the only reason it is still here is because 20 years ago the imports were "forced" to build plants here. Now that the domestics have started to buy parts from the same companies as those imports you will see more foreign out sourcing.
In the US I hear all the time about how well they do things in Japan, e.g., in regard to their schools. People love to dig out "figures" and talk about how poorly it's working here. I love it when "experts" dig out figures about science and math on the part of US students in some comparison against Korean or Japanese students and show how poorly the schools here do.
But to the topic at hand. Executive pay here in US is like the politians and their pay and their entitlement attitudes, in my opinion.
Think: $10,200,000 divided by $28/hr X 40 hr/week X 52 weeks/year = $10,200,000 divided by $58,240 = 175. The executive is paid 175 times as much as the workers actually producing the product.
Using the managements' tenet that the worker is too highly paid..., if we use $15 /hour I then have $10,200,000 divided by $31,200 and I get
326 times the pay they'd like to have workers getting. Hoist on their own pitard in their logic.
Imagine 326 times as much as productive workers actually producing a quality product is what the exec is receiving.
Now the AA and others always want to include perks and benefits for the workers to make the salaries seem even higher (and the total compensation is indeed higher), but some of that extra cost is a write off taxwise for the company. Let's include all the value of all the hours of flights and all the benefits of people to do things for him that lowly people do themselves...
However, what are the perks afforded the CEO of AA? His own plane? Health insurance? Extra apartments/condos in various places for "business" use?
Outrageous.
Anyone have data for other executive's pay levels and perks' values for AA?
But to the topic at hand. Executive pay here in US is like the politians and their pay and their entitlement attitudes, in my opinion.
The politicians love to bash the CEO salaries when they are out stumping the working classes. How can Hillary & Bill bad mouth the CEO of AA with a straight face? He just went from $800k to $10million this last year. The Clinton's have averaged $15.5 million for the last 7 years. Same goes for the movie stars and sports stars. I don't remember Seinfeld series losing viewers the year he made $225,000,000. The media made like that was a great deal. Oprah makes something like $100 million a year. I have not heard Obama bad mouthing her paychecks. It is our culture.
At 326 times the workers pay at AA the CEO is below average for US corporate CEOs. The average is over 500 times. I do agree that is just crazy. Until we protest with our wallets it will continue. Buying a vehicle made entirely in Japan or Korea would not contribute to any CEO making those kind of wages. Most countries in the world do not pay their executives those huge salaries.
We should also quit going to concerts, movies or watching sporting events where the stars are paid more than middle class workers get.
I have to conclude the average citizen only thinks about how much the guy on top is making when the media bashes them. The only way those big salaries will turnaround is if we do not support the company or team or TV show or movie that pays out the money.
However, what are the perks afforded the CEO of AA? His own plane? Health insurance? Extra apartments/condos in various places for "business" use?
I am sure he gets health insurance like his salaried employees. However if it is like GM he will be paying $3000+ premiums/year with high deductables.
I am sure he does not have company paid apartments/condos in various places.
If like GM, AA would lease a jet for him to travel on business. I would never expect a top level exec like him to take commercial. That would be a waste of company money. His time is too valuable for him to be sitting in an airport and honestly I doubt if he has time for it. CEO's like him have their entire life booked out at least 6 months in advance and he often probably needs to be at different ends of the country in the same day. Well maybe I am placing him too high since AA is so much smaller than GM but he does make more than the CEO of GM.
I wonder if that pisses off Lutz and Wagoner??
Do I feel he makes too much money? Yes and no. Yes he makes too much relative to most people but then again he does not set his salary, the public board that owns the company does. And this is America, we can all make all we want to. It is up to ourselves.
And this is America, we can all make all we want to. It is up to ourselves.
I agree. I just wish the media would stomp on all highly paid positions with the same amount of enthusiasm. If the CEO of AA is over paid for a company that is making money. I would think that Katie Couric is on the moon with her 5 year $15 million per year contract. In the light of the fact CBS ratings have continued to fall with her arrival. They are at the bottom of the heap wasting that kind on money on a talking head.
Do I feel he makes too much money? Yes and no. Yes he makes too much relative to most people but then again he does not set his salary, the public board that owns the company does. And this is America, we can all make all we want to. It is up to ourselves.
First of all, I do agree about the business jet. No different than a car in the sense that when he needs to leave, it's now, and not when the taxi makes it through traffic. However, he should fly commercial when on vacation. Any attempt to skirt that rule by "popping in on a meeting" to make it "business related" is disingenuous.
As far as the public board setting his salary, remember; he too "sits' on that board, which is made up of officers of other companies, companies that he may sit on their board. So, if they "control" his salary, then he "controls" their salary. If this went on this publically in Congress, it would be a scandal that dwarfs Watergate or Monicagate or any other "gate".
And, as far as this being America and being able to make as much as we can, isn't that just what the striking workers are doing???? They may lose, but at this juncture, for all intents and purpose, they have nothing to lose. We always tell our Little Leaguers to "go down swinging" so if they do, then there is no shame.
However, he should fly commercial when on vacation
Of course, otherwise he would be fired. A Ford exec used to use the company jet to go home on weekends it Florida. He got in lots of trouble for this even though that was part of his agreement when he hired in.
And, as far as this being America and being able to make as much as we can, isn't that just what the striking workers are doing???? They may lose, but at this juncture, for all intents and purpose, they have nothing to lose.
They have lots to lose. Their job, even though it will pay less most of these workers will never find another job paying close to what they are being offered.
That is the issue. The UAW is asking for lots more than what Delphi is paying. Their reason? AA is profitable!!!
Well my UAW connections tell me that AA, does not want to buy out the UAW veterans near retirement or elgible to retire like GM & Delphi, did !!! In fact they want them to work for $11 an/hr. with no buy-outs is what my sources are telling me. So the $40-60 an hour is B.S. given by some company spokes mouth and many people who believe everything that is said in the newspaper as accurate and the truth are lead to believe the B.S. !!! When I was on strike the information the company releases to distort the truth is absolutely crazy !!! :sick:
IIRC, AA's offer isn't even close to Delphi's. (Rocky, this is where I need you:). Doesn't the current employees keep their old salaries (BIG buyout for them to retire???), and the new hires to replace them get the lower wage and bennies. GM is picking up some slack in the pensions.
That offer has not yet to date as far as I know been offered buddy !!! 62, is getting information I'm not aware of from GM, management but from the troops on the ground I hear something different as I explained above !!!
If AA wants ALL employees to take a 2/3 cut in total compensation, imagine how many people would, all of a sudden, not be able to afford their mortgage, even though they work full time???
Do you really think they give a rats [non-permissible content removed] ??? When Coopersville, shut down my fathers Delphi, plant the town is a ghost town and housing prices well the bottom fell out of them !!! :sick: The plant made $140 million a year profit !!!! :sick:
If Verizon wanted to pay me a salary that all of a sudden wouldn't allow me to afford my mortgage (which is modest up here-trust me) I'd fight it too. They ultimately may end up out of a job due to the strike, but with that kind of a reduction in standard of living (working for $10/hr) it's worth the gamble.
I'm happy cooterbfd, you are intellegent enough to see my side of the fence. If they have to settle for $11 an hr. and lose everything then it's worth sending the company to bankruptcy. As imidazol97, clearly pointed out watching the CEO, get a raise while the bottom of the totem pole has to do all the sacrificing well isn't fair and as far as the board of directors setting the CEO salary well they can learn to live with paying afair wage for the UAW workers on the bottom when paying one guy $10.2 million more than what Wagoner makes !!! It makes me sick that one guy makes that much money in asmall company like AA when the presidentof GM, whom is control of the largest or 2nd largest automobile company in the world makes millions less !!! I guess we can use ARM as a example because he makes more than double !!! :surprise: How much is Mr. Press, making at Chrysler ???
I think I rest my case and support the UAW, to strike them into submission with their corporate greed!!! :mad: If they lose their jobs well Wally World, doesn'tpay much less !!!
If they have to settle for $11 an hr. and lose everything then it's worth sending the company to bankruptcy
I don't think AA is near bankruptcy. That $10 million CEO payday may be compensation for seducing the UAW to strike. That gives the company an out to move to Mexico or some other country. I really don't think that GM cares if the parts come from Taiwan, Tibet or Timbuktu. If the UAW went on strike to protect the wages of the future employees, I think it was a big mistake. If the current line employees were going to take a 50% or more cut in their package, I guess they had no good alternative. I believe the days of striking a company into submission is long gone. Can the workers collect Unemployment if the company closes the US factories?
Shoot, if my full-time job cut my pay by 66%, I'd be making there what I'm making at my little part-time gig! Heck, I'd have to work both jobs full-time to make 2/3s of my former pay. Forget homeownership! Heck, forget even having an apartment! I'd just put all my stuff in storage and sleep in my car, because I'd be too dang tired to even go home anyway! Well, it wouldn't last long. Between sleep deprivation and a poor diet of fast food, convenient market snacks, and vending machines, I'd be dead in a few years anyway. Someday historians will look back on these days as the era of the 21st Century robber barons.
Comments
His phone rings
CEO: Yes, Dana?
Dana: A Mr. Heung is here to see you, Mr. CEO.
CEO: Who? Well, send him in.
Mr. Heung: Hello, Jack.
CEO: Um, who are you?
Heung: I'm the new owner of this company of yours. We picked it up rather cheaply this afternoon -- our government had to spend some of those worthless dollars they have after all. The Boomers needed the cash for their pensions, and you're 401K owned. It's great.
CEO: What?!? But we're an American company!
Heung: Oh, please Jack. An American company? Let's review things, shall we?
Heung: In 1999, you closed your factories in Ohio, Michigan and North Carolina and subcontracted out production to a company owned by the Red Army in China.
CEO: It saved money and boosted profits in the short term!
Heung: Yes, and it also resulted in the layoff of most of your staff.
CEO: That's the free market!
Heung: Indeed. Then, you began to lay off all the Boomers working for your company in the IT, finance and marketing departments. They were getting too old and expensive, right?
CEO: Sure, and lazy and entitled!
Heung: Then, you stopped hiring young Americans to replace them.
CEO: They were demanding 10 hour days and weekends off! And they didn't have the skills we were looking for -- PhD level educations willing to work 60 hour weeks for $40K a year.
Heung: Yes, so you outsourced everything but management to labor from Tata and a Red Army owned IT consultancy.
Heung: In fact, 98% of the people who do any useful work for this company are Chinese, Jack. I'm just here to finish the job. You see, I'm going to be charitable and say you're doing SOME useful work, but you won't be needed anymore.
CEO: WHAT?!?
Heung: You've been outsourced, Jack. You're too expensive. Look at your benefits -- your expensive health care. Your golf club membership. The country club membership too. And all those dinners and Gulfstream jets and corporate apartments.
CEO: BUT I AM VALUABLE! I CREATE VALUE!
Heung: Nowhere near enough value, Jack. Besides, you're obsolete -- as entitled and out-of-touch as all those workers you laid off. And Jack, just look at yourself. You're fat and lazy and entitled. You think you have an entitlement to your own house and your own car! CEOs in China still live in apartments and drive around on mopeds, Jack. They don't have country club memberships -- heck, a lot of times they don't even have hot water. And they're willing to work for under $100K a year. You're just too expensive, lazy and high cost.
CEO: YOU CANNOT DO THIS TO ME! I HAVE WORKED HERE FOR 10 YEARS!
Heung: Ah, yes, ten years. I remember when the union at the plant in Charlotte said the same thing. But the fact is, Jack, you're too expensive. And it's a Chinese world out there. The times have changed, and you haven't kept your skills up to date.
Heung: But don't feel bad. A few years in community college and I'm sure you'll be able to find a new job in the service economy! See you later.
CEO: (looking defeated) Fine. Fine. I'll show myself out.
Heung: Oh no, what are you doing? You cannot leave with your shirt on. That's company property.
CEO: What?
Heung: You put that suit on the company American Express. Take it off.
CEO: WHAT?!?! You want me to leave naked?
Heung: Well, you said you weren't the sort to give your employees the shirt off your back. So you will give it to me instead. Besides, you're awfully entitled, thinking you have a right to a free shirt. BTW, I called a cab, since we've already taken back the company car. Hopefully the cab takes VISA, since I know most of your cash goes towards those mortgage payments on that house out in the hills.
CEO: But I'm the backbone of America!
Heung: So you were, Jack, so you were.
*fade to black*
My thought is the smart UAW guys took the packages or used the job banks to get some education. When Toyota builds that new Oldsmobile plant near Detroit they will be Non-Union.
I wonder if "Heung" could be pronounced like "hang"...a fate deserved by much of the upper corporate ranks. When what goes around comes around, the British won't be the only ones wincing.
Rocky
Ford pays CEO $22 million, UAW cries foul (Yahoo)
To be competitive at any price line: If labor,salaries, wages, and bennefits are excessive, there is less $$ to put into quality parts. Without quality parts, longevity suffers and people don't want the product.
It appears the Buick Lacrosse and 2 Lincoln Sedans are the only UAW cars to make the "Buy" list.
http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=435706>1=22017
Kip
The low worker pay in other countries will be cited as justification for lowering worker pay in US, but the lower ratio of executive pay compared to worker pay in those same countries is never pointed out. That would justify drastically lower management compensation here.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
In fact from what I have heard Corus and Teatley tea have had business go on pretty much as usual since they were acquired.
I know of one auto exec that quit and went to Pepsi. Makes 3-4 times what she was making automotive.
I will agree that is probably OK since Pepsi is hugely profitable while the US auto industry is not. BUT they have to pay them a somewhat competitive wage or they will leave. To bring these non-auto execs in from outside the auto industry they have to pay them at least what they were making to get them to come over.
But on another note, since many here want to say that US auto execs are worthless we now have a chance to see if it is really the CEO that makes the company. Jim Press was the top person at Toyota and worked there his whole career. Those who say domestic management stinks normaly in the same breath also say Toyota is the most wonderfully run auto company in the world with the best management.
Now that Press is at Chrysler and with a non public holding company he has the chance to take Chrysler and turn them into a Toyota profitable concern. If he can do this then we have a real data point on how domestic management sucks. If he cannot maybe the issues are a bit more broad than management.
He does have his work cut out for him. He is used to running a company with mostly Non-Union Labor. That will be an obstacle for him. If I was running Chrysler I think I would pare down to Jeep and Dodge trucks. Sell off the rest for someone else to try and salvage.
However, one difference is that Toyota was basically not screwed up at the time Press joined. Chrysler OTOH is pretty much a basket case. Even talent may not be able to turn around a company that's already in big trouble with (arguably) the poorest American Auto products on the market (certainly in cars, perhaps less in trucks).
Small is the automotive future, the addition of China in the worldwide marketplace will hammer that truth in to null and void pickup and SUV buyers in the U.S. Because the addition of China and Brazil and Russia and India in to the soup bucket for available gasoline will make sure that not only $2.00/gal 87 no-lead never again be available, but ever rising prices for petrol will make $4.00/gal seem light and breezy.
And Chrysler is in on that Asian marketplace now, because of their guarded relationship with Chery of China. If the Hornet subcompact makes it in China and in Russia and in Brazil and maybe even India, Chrysler can blow off domestic market buyers with a fast and furious gale-force that would put Martina McBride to shame.
It's not the domestic marketplace that will make Chrysler's mark, it's what's happening elsewhere. To just include big pick-em-up trucks and gaudy SUV's in Chrylsler's future sales, you are no only hamstringing them in to a very limited future, you are all but creating their death-knell as a carmaking entity.
Nope, the fat lady has not sung for Chrysler....yet. I am thinking they have a future selling necessary small cars in countries all around the world that are only remote to us and our "Texas-sized" automotive minds, lads. :shades:
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
It looks like the American Axel, strike shows no signs of an agreement. I've read that American Axel, refuses to give the workers the same package they gave GM/Delphi's senior UAW vets and wants to knock their pay down to $10-11 an hour with no buy-outs in site. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
-Rocky
I wish I shared your enthusiasm for a Chrysler turnaround but I think soon we will all be saying "and then there was 2".
American Axle will now be shipping jobs out of this country. If they could open new plants down south at the same pay as these new companies they would. However the unions would never let this happen. So old companies with old labor will go under to be replaced by new companies w/o union labor. We may not like it but those old companies cannot compete.
Now we see GM and Ford with new agreements that greatly reduced their labor cost. Even so Toyota announced that to stay over competitive they will be reducing thier labor cost even furthur. They want to reduce labor cost by 1/3 by 2011 and pay well below what the domestics pay their workers.
I am not saying the above is good or bad news. Just that it is happening. This country cannot continue to support high manufacturing cost vs. what other countries pay. We are actually very fortunate that most of the imports opened up plants here. This allowed the old line players and workers to remain here while if the imports had continued only importing they would have been out of business.
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/02/09/toyota-worried-about-labor-costs-in-u-s/
Kip
Cerberus picked them up for very little. I expect it won't be long before they start selling off the parts that have a value - the Jeep name, maybe the minivan design to be picked up by GM who never had a clue as to how to build a competitive van.
I hope I'm wrong but I don't think Chrysler can survive an extended recession.
Tata is a good bet. They have a lot of money and money making enterprises. From banking to the largest steel company in Britain. Jeep and Dodge trucks would give them a USA dealer network to sell their $2500 Nano. It could give the Yaris and Fit some competition for people that just want a cheap car.
I as you already know have personal feelings on this issue and I'm sick and tired of Washington, Corporate America, ripping apart my country sector by sector. Once very proud city's with nice manufactoring plants that paid good wages and made great products like furniture, tools, etc, that would last instead of the shoddy crap lemko, talks about at walmart that one could break with their bare hands !!! :mad:
I know things change but I never thought we would tie the noose and hang our self like we've done !!! I pray the next president will work with congress and tariff all imports !!! 100% of em' !!!!!!! If company's go belly up over it, OH WELL !!!!! :mad:
If the right party is able to win the next election, I guarantee you will see dramatic change to unfree trade !!!
-Rocky
P.S.
American Axel UAW workers: Do not take less than what GM/Delphi UAW workers got !!!
That is the issue. The UAW is asking for lots more than what Delphi is paying. Their reason? AA is profitable!!! How the heck long are they going to be profitable if they are paying more than their competition even here in the states. Nope AA is going to be shutting down plants and there go the jobs.
American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. was "disappointed" in an offer from the United Auto Workers union that would have paid workers double the market rate, the company said Thursday.
Formal negotiations will continue, but the two sides remain far apart on wages and benefits, American Axle said in a statement.
American Axle characterized the proposal as "a slight improvement from the UAW's previous bargaining positions," but didn't elaborate.
Union officials did not return calls seeking comment.
The union is asking for wages and benefits of between $40 and $60 an hour, according to American Axle spokeswoman Renee Rogers. The company is proposing a wage and benefit package of between $20 and $30 an hour.
American Axle's Executive's pay rises $856,000 to $10.2 x 10^6
That's $10,200,000.
Hmmmm. We're worried about a worker, who is apparently producing a product, making $40/hour?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
IIRC, AA's offer isn't even close to Delphi's. (Rocky, this is where I need you:). Doesn't the current employees keep their old salaries (BIG buyout for them to retire???), and the new hires to replace them get the lower wage and bennies. GM is picking up some slack in the pensions.
If AA wants ALL employees to take a 2/3 cut in total compensation, imagine how many people would, all of a sudden, not be able to afford their mortgage, even though they work full time??? If Verizon wanted to pay me a salary that all of a sudden wouldn't allow me to afford my mortgage (which is modest up here-trust me) I'd fight it too. They ultimately may end up out of a job due to the strike, but with that kind of a reduction in standard of living (working for $10/hr) it's worth the gamble.
UAW is asking for figures between $40 and $60 per hour including wages and benefits for the workers it represents, while Axle is prepared to pay about half that, at between $20 and $30. Axle previously paid $73.48 per hour, on average, to each employee, as per the The Detroit News.
My point is that at $28/hr (lets set the bennies aside for a second), one grosses $1220 per week. Uncle Sam looks for $350??? So now that gives you $870 net. Lets call it $3500/mo. A 30 yr. mortgage ($150k) is around $875/mo., or about 25% or your net pay. Add $2-300 for taxes and insurance, and thats roughly $1125/mo.
Now, at $12/hr, we see gross drops to $480/wk. or about $360 net, or roughly $1600 a month. $875 is about 55% of net pay. Add taxes and insurance, and you starve.
Now, a new hire trying to pull this off should have their head slapped off. HOWEVER, if you've been working there making $28/ hr and someone wants to foist this on you, you're in deep doo doo if it comes to fruition.
Even at $17/hr, you are at about $2350/mo. While that is manageable, it's still tight.
Now, lets talk about bennies.......... :surprise:
Well, I hope you're wrong, too. I hope Chrysler survives and I hope it's not an extended recession.
I've invested over 24 years of my life with Chrysler. Being in skilled trades, my options wouldn't be as limited as the workers on the line if they closed the doors. However, 14 years of training and experience with robotics, manufacturing programming and related technology doesn't do much good when no one else is hiring.
But would GM sell only one model? Seems that it is always too tempting to create variants to fill the showrooms for all the brands. Still the brand problem.
Chevy Caravan
Pontiac Firevan
Saturn Vanstra
GMC Provan
Cadillac VTS
:P
Anybody else think the new Chrysler vans are much uglier than the previous model? To me they look like the difference between the old and new Jeep Grand Cherokee - I thought the previous model looked a *lot* better.
I'm also in the "Chrysler is toast" camp, unfortunately. But if they dwindle away it will make things a bit easier for GM and Ford.
That happens all the time in business. During the mid 1990s the oilfield jobs were all but gone. Most of the Union companies went under and non-union companies did the work at half the price. The Culinary workers took a huge hit in about 1995. The cooks were making $23 per hour and the housekeepers $18. They got cut to $15 and $11. Many were laid off as much of the oil field in Prudhoe Bay was like a ghost town. We were lucky on that one as we were in the middle of a 4 year contract.
If the AA CEO decided to share $9 million of his $10 million paycheck it would be less than $1.25 per hour for the 3650 line workers. If he relocates the plant to Mexico and gets workers for half what he is offering the UAW he will get a bigger paycheck.
I remember when Reebok closed up shop in the USA and went overseas. The CEO made $25 million that year. I believe it was the biggest paycheck for any CEO up to that time. He was ripped in the newspapers and TV. He just smiled all the way to the bank we people continued to buy Reeboks. I would never buy them again. Now I am wearing old worn out Van's Tennis shoes that were made here in CA. I hope they last till I die. I take real good care of my Dexter dress shoes that I found at Ross Dress for Less. They were one of the last pairs made in the USA. All made in China now.
If I was a betting man I would say the AA brass are scouting locations in Mexico right now. If they have not already closed the deal down there.
The driveline parts maker has a gear and axle plant along with a forging operation in Guanajuato. The operations have been expanded six times since Axle first began work there in 2000.
They only have two plants in Mexico but they have a whole bunch more in asia/india.
http://www.aam.com/index.php?s=127
We the people can blame the greedy CEO's but they are just doing their jobs. Staying in business and making as much money for the company as they can. Most everything is made elsewhere now and we just keeping buying the stuff. Unless we stop buying the stuff it will keep happening. The auto industry is the last big bastion here in the US. And the only reason it is still here is because 20 years ago the imports were "forced" to build plants here. Now that the domestics have started to buy parts from the same companies as those imports you will see more foreign out sourcing.
But to the topic at hand. Executive pay here in US is like the politians and their pay and their entitlement attitudes, in my opinion.
exeuctive pay in US is outrageously high
Think: $10,200,000 divided by $28/hr X 40 hr/week X 52 weeks/year =
$10,200,000 divided by $58,240 = 175. The executive is paid 175 times as much as the workers actually producing the product.
Using the managements' tenet that the worker is too highly paid..., if we use $15 /hour I then have $10,200,000 divided by $31,200 and I get
326 times the pay they'd like to have workers getting. Hoist on their own pitard in their logic.
Imagine 326 times as much as productive workers actually producing a quality product is what the exec is receiving.
Now the AA and others always want to include perks and benefits for the workers to make the salaries seem even higher (and the total compensation is indeed higher), but some of that extra cost is a write off taxwise for the company. Let's include all the value of all the hours of flights and all the benefits of people to do things for him that lowly people do themselves...
However, what are the perks afforded the CEO of AA? His own plane? Health insurance? Extra apartments/condos in various places for "business" use?
Outrageous.
Anyone have data for other executive's pay levels and perks' values for AA?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
The politicians love to bash the CEO salaries when they are out stumping the working classes. How can Hillary & Bill bad mouth the CEO of AA with a straight face? He just went from $800k to $10million this last year. The Clinton's have averaged $15.5 million for the last 7 years. Same goes for the movie stars and sports stars. I don't remember Seinfeld series losing viewers the year he made $225,000,000. The media made like that was a great deal. Oprah makes something like $100 million a year. I have not heard Obama bad mouthing her paychecks. It is our culture.
At 326 times the workers pay at AA the CEO is below average for US corporate CEOs. The average is over 500 times. I do agree that is just crazy. Until we protest with our wallets it will continue. Buying a vehicle made entirely in Japan or Korea would not contribute to any CEO making those kind of wages. Most countries in the world do not pay their executives those huge salaries.
We should also quit going to concerts, movies or watching sporting events where the stars are paid more than middle class workers get.
I have to conclude the average citizen only thinks about how much the guy on top is making when the media bashes them. The only way those big salaries will turnaround is if we do not support the company or team or TV show or movie that pays out the money.
I am sure he gets health insurance like his salaried employees. However if it is like GM he will be paying $3000+ premiums/year with high deductables.
I am sure he does not have company paid apartments/condos in various places.
If like GM, AA would lease a jet for him to travel on business. I would never expect a top level exec like him to take commercial. That would be a waste of company money. His time is too valuable for him to be sitting in an airport and honestly I doubt if he has time for it. CEO's like him have their entire life booked out at least 6 months in advance and he often probably needs to be at different ends of the country in the same day. Well maybe I am placing him too high since AA is so much smaller than GM but he does make more than the CEO of GM.
I wonder if that pisses off Lutz and Wagoner??
Do I feel he makes too much money? Yes and no. Yes he makes too much relative to most people but then again he does not set his salary, the public board that owns the company does. And this is America, we can all make all we want to. It is up to ourselves.
I agree. I just wish the media would stomp on all highly paid positions with the same amount of enthusiasm. If the CEO of AA is over paid for a company that is making money. I would think that Katie Couric is on the moon with her 5 year $15 million per year contract. In the light of the fact CBS ratings have continued to fall with her arrival. They are at the bottom of the heap wasting that kind on money on a talking head.
First of all, I do agree about the business jet. No different than a car in the sense that when he needs to leave, it's now, and not when the taxi makes it through traffic. However, he should fly commercial when on vacation. Any attempt to skirt that rule by "popping in on a meeting" to make it "business related" is disingenuous.
As far as the public board setting his salary, remember; he too "sits' on that board, which is made up of officers of other companies, companies that he may sit on their board. So, if they "control" his salary, then he "controls" their salary. If this went on this publically in Congress, it would be a scandal that dwarfs Watergate or Monicagate or any other "gate".
And, as far as this being America and being able to make as much as we can, isn't that just what the striking workers are doing???? They may lose, but at this juncture, for all intents and purpose, they have nothing to lose. We always tell our Little Leaguers to "go down swinging" so if they do, then there is no shame.
Of course, otherwise he would be fired. A Ford exec used to use the company jet to go home on weekends it Florida. He got in lots of trouble for this even though that was part of his agreement when he hired in.
And, as far as this being America and being able to make as much as we can, isn't that just what the striking workers are doing???? They may lose, but at this juncture, for all intents and purpose, they have nothing to lose.
They have lots to lose. Their job, even though it will pay less most of these workers will never find another job paying close to what they are being offered.
Well my UAW connections tell me that AA, does not want to buy out the UAW veterans near retirement or elgible to retire like GM & Delphi, did !!! In fact they want them to work for $11 an/hr. with no buy-outs is what my sources are telling me. So the $40-60 an hour is B.S. given by some company spokes mouth and many people who believe everything that is said in the newspaper as accurate and the truth are lead to believe the B.S. !!! When I was on strike the information the company releases to distort the truth is absolutely crazy !!! :sick:
IIRC, AA's offer isn't even close to Delphi's. (Rocky, this is where I need you:). Doesn't the current employees keep their old salaries (BIG buyout for them to retire???), and the new hires to replace them get the lower wage and bennies. GM is picking up some slack in the pensions.
That offer has not yet to date as far as I know been offered buddy !!! 62, is getting information I'm not aware of from GM, management but from the troops on the ground I hear something different as I explained above !!!
If AA wants ALL employees to take a 2/3 cut in total compensation, imagine how many people would, all of a sudden, not be able to afford their mortgage, even though they work full time???
Do you really think they give a rats [non-permissible content removed] ??? When Coopersville, shut down my fathers Delphi, plant the town is a ghost town and housing prices well the bottom fell out of them !!! :sick: The plant made $140 million a year profit !!!! :sick:
If Verizon wanted to pay me a salary that all of a sudden wouldn't allow me to afford my mortgage (which is modest up here-trust me) I'd fight it too. They ultimately may end up out of a job due to the strike, but with that kind of a reduction in standard of living (working for $10/hr) it's worth the gamble.
I'm happy cooterbfd, you are intellegent enough to see my side of the fence. If they have to settle for $11 an hr. and lose everything then it's worth sending the company to bankruptcy. As imidazol97, clearly pointed out watching the CEO, get a raise while the bottom of the totem pole has to do all the sacrificing well isn't fair and as far as the board of directors setting the CEO salary well they can learn to live with paying afair wage for the UAW workers on the bottom when paying one guy $10.2 million more than what Wagoner makes !!! It makes me sick that one guy makes that much money in asmall company like AA when the presidentof GM, whom is control of the largest or 2nd largest automobile company in the world makes millions less !!! I guess we can use ARM as a example because he makes more than double !!! :surprise: How much is Mr. Press, making at Chrysler ???
I think I rest my case and support the UAW, to strike them into submission with their corporate greed!!! :mad: If they lose their jobs well Wally World, doesn'tpay much less !!!
-Rocky
I don't think AA is near bankruptcy. That $10 million CEO payday may be compensation for seducing the UAW to strike. That gives the company an out to move to Mexico or some other country. I really don't think that GM cares if the parts come from Taiwan, Tibet or Timbuktu. If the UAW went on strike to protect the wages of the future employees, I think it was a big mistake. If the current line employees were going to take a 50% or more cut in their package, I guess they had no good alternative. I believe the days of striking a company into submission is long gone. Can the workers collect Unemployment if the company closes the US factories?