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UAW strike is slowing production at Moraine Dayton plant.
NAFTA is a touchy point because it affects the Canadians who are good trading partners.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
http://www.michaelbuble.com/
What is going on with that strike. Is it the end of those workers? Is this another factory gone south?
The recordings are better than his in-person voice through the amplification system. But I enjoyed it (I like LES Elgart/Larry Elgart and big band sound -- he has a GREAT band and showcased them during the show as individuals not just "the band." This was first event concert I've been too in a long time. Lots of ice shows and theater but no concerts. I hate the warmup acts. Gimme the real thing even if it's only 1 hour. Buble was much longer.
USA Today strike
This is the most recent I got on Google. It sounds like the workers haven't got it that they're getting squashed like the migrants in Grapes of Wrath. Someone says that if the UAW had stood up to GM this group wouldn't be having to strike now to get what they want. Meanwhile the big landowners and businesses and government goes merrily on their way squashing the worker bees because more are coming in to do the menial tasks for less money.
I'm stunned by the relevance of Grapes of Wrath as I read it again to current economics in the US.
I thought about the strike and Rocky going to Cincinnati while passing a truckload of new Malibus on their way down I75 from the shipping yard next to the Moraine truck plant. Reps of the plant have gone to Detroit with local government leaders to tell GM that the community cares. They have production through 2010 and then the plant hasn't been assigned a new product as the Envoy and others they produce are phased out.
While the workers are overpaid, the alternative of closing the plants just to show them there's world competition out there is ruthless.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Heck, I missed you rocky! The GM bashers have been going wild in here despite the Malibu and the truly awesome CTS.
Her handlers called the Canadians just as Obama's did. She didn't put that in the advertisements we saw in Ohio about Obama talking both sides of his mouth on the issue after the debate. She also told them it was just politics.
She doesn't intend to change a thing unless it means money in the bank for her.
I'm still waiting for the solution the Democrats had that ran for Congress in 2006 for the cost of gasoline. In April Pelosi said the Democrats had a solution for the (then) high prices and the oil companies.
I'm waiting.
So don't wait for a NAFTA change. Canada has too much oil to alienate them.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Imidaz: I read somewhere, recently, (sorry, no cite) that Canada's oil may not be usuable by the USA...something about the oil sands (which has 3X the oil of the Middle east, I believe) that if it gives off too many particles in refining then our environmental rules will prevent us from using the oil...my specific facts are wrong (I wish I had the article) but supposedly there is something that may prevent us from using a source of oil closer, safer, more friendly, and more voluminous, all because the wackos would rather see us all use bicycles...
The wackos kept us from building refineries, windmills, nuclear power stations. Next they'll block an available source of oil.
American Axle: Top Bargainers at Table
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Kip
Deja Vu All Over Again
Subject: Tax Rebate
This morning President Bush said each one of us would get a $1200.00 tax
rebate. It was previously slated to be $1400.00, but they dropped it to
a $1200.00 tax rebate because of various budget problems.
Now, if we spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China,
if we spend it on computers, most of the money will go to Korea or India .
If we spend it on gasoline it will all go to the Arabs.....and none of
these scenarios will help the American ec onomy.
We need to keep that money here in America .....so the only way to keep
that money here at home is to drink beer, gamble, or spend it on
prostitution. Currently it seems that these are the only businesses
still left in the U.S. :sick:
The auto industry will lead the US out of this miserable economy. Watch Michigan and when things start getting better there the US will follow. And we jsut heard that Michigan home sales in the last few months have steadied out from plummeting so maybe things are getting better already. Of course 3.35 gas may stick a knife in that theory.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
Just kidding. I mean...he doesn't owe me any money!
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
So the bottom line is we are not in a recession but are headed torwards a depression !!!!!
I'm waiting for a call back on a interview with a Saturn, store. I'm putting in 60-65 hours a week and not making much money. Lot's of changes are happening at the momment here and it wasn't for the better.
I miss ya guys and I will try to get on a little more often as I didn't cover everything but you guys knew the strike would get me fired up, eh ? :P
Miss ya guys !!!
-Rocky
I thought you were going to say don't stick your pen in company ink as one of my former co-workers told me a month back.
We had a customer talking about the american axel strike and it looks like the striking workers are united as he has some relatives involved.
Rocky
As in United we stand, United we fall. Every time a group strikes in this country I think of the 80,000 plus grocery clerks here in Souther Ca. Their 3 month stand gained them nothing and lost them a bunch. By the time they went back to work they got less than they were offered before the strike. How long do you think it will take GM to round up an offshore manufacturer for the stuff they need? The strike has gone on too long now to be good for the workers.
Rocky
"The old ways of doing business are gone" - Ford to their US hourly workers today on the last day to sign up for the buyout/early retirement packages.
Ford Motor Buyout Offer Coming to an End (Houston Chronicle)
That is an excellent summary!
Kip
Now they haven't had a new contract and don't like the old wage scale and the new one imposed by the newspaper. They put up a large billboard across from the newspaper's printing plant (which the newspaper built OUTSIDE the city of Dayton and the immediate area when they editorialized about companies leaving Dayton). They haven't had any newspaper coverage in the Dayton Daily News.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdLb1npylA4
The newspaper broke the delivery people's union a decade ago when they built the big new printing plant in the next county. Now the worm has turned on the editorial staff and reporters.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Bill better be careful. If the fecal matter strikes the rotating electrical cooling device, society will revert to the pecking order of high school and guys like him will be stuffed in lockers or tossed naked into the girls' shower.
Now they haven't had a new contract and don't like the old wage scale and the new one imposed by the newspaper. They put up a large billboard across from the newspaper's printing plant (which the newspaper built OUTSIDE the city of Dayton and the immediate area when they editorialized about companies leaving Dayton). They haven't had any newspaper coverage in the Dayton Daily News.
You Tube of rally
Other paper reference
The newspaper broke the delivery people's union a decade ago when they built the big new printing plant in the next county. Now the worm has turned on the editorial staff and reporters.
For the first time today I saw a 5 inch article about the conflict way back into the paper. I suspect it's there only because Senator Sherrod Brown showed up in support.
News article
It's not UAW but it is from a historically UAW area, until many of them didn't get paid as much as they used to be.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
When I took the buyout and retired, our company was trying to downsize. The older guys that thought about taking the buyout and retiring are now stuck working. If they decide to retire there will not be a nice cash bonus in their 401K. Shortly after I took the buyout the oil prices went up and along with it the work load went up. Now my old company is trying to find trained people. They have gone from 8 to 14 technicians and need more. It is not for everyone and they have had turnover. One left for a much higher paying job with Conoco Phillips. He got a $55k per year raise going from a Union job to a NON-Union job.
You cannot be stuck in a rut. Chances are that you will die in that same rut.
PS
Bill Gates would have to marry someone at work. He never leaves the office. I'm surprised he has a kid..
I would love to see a media person like Dan Rather "flippin' burgers" to survive.
The UAW had its run, and their greed or inability to alter working conditions "forced" automakers to move their plants elsewhere...but we know we can make good cars because the "imports" have been building here as fast as Big 3 are shutting them down...the difference is that the new workers are more broadly trained and more flexible, and not polluted/spoiled/brainwashed by the union work rules and the union mentality...for anyone to actually expect in this day to only be trained to install lug nuts, and to expect to be paid for sitting still if no lug nut installers are needed, while door installers are running short, is not based in reality...
The union will not die, but union work rules and the crap the union pulled over the last 40 years is gone...it's time the automworkers joined the real working world, where your employer sends you where they need you, not in the one area you want to work for the next 40 years...
The UAW has really two choices, adapt or wither away...now, if they strike too much, the company may not spend time in extended negotiations, they may just shut the plant and move tomorrow, and the workers may show up just in time to see the last milling machine being removed just before imploding the plant, whiel they watch their jobs implode with it...
Failure to adapt...it is that simple...in terms of Darwin, that which will not or cannot adapt will become extinct...immutable law of nature...
Delivery people's union? Yeesh. :confuse:
I don't recall if that was the people who drop the paper at the door; I believe those are contract carriers. The union was those who handled the papers after printing and put them onto delivery vehicles which fan out in the early morning hours to spread the news to the great-unwashed living away from the ivory tower of the newspaper's editors and their opinion and slant on what gets printed and what doesn't get printed.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Gee, you say that like it's a bad thing. :shades:
Bill did so leave the office, Gary. Every time he did he got pied though.
Some interesting tidbits in this Retiring Daimler exec recalls Chrysler's last big turnaround interview with the Detroit News.
Haven't seen much in the way of firm buyout numbers at Ford - "UAW workers have said they expect only several thousand to accept the buyouts, far fewer than took offers in 2006." Reuters
There was a separate union just for that? Wow, that's some featherbedding. :sick:
I guess that is why I'm pro-union because seniority seems like the only feasible way to eliminate favoritism, descrimination, etc, when going for promotions like in the skill trades !!!
Just my $0.02 opinion !!!!
Rocky
I am older than Bill Clinton. It was not less expensive when I graduated from High School. My ex-wife had a big college loan to go to a local college. Unless you worked full time and went to college or your parents paid your way it was EXPENSIVE. If you were a go getter you could get a scholarship. Or if you played sports you could get a scholarship. Nothing is changed. Just inflation has made it look like more. I know my folks could not afford to send me to college. I was helping support them. I think it is easier now with all the freebie guvmint programs. The best way was the GI bill. That made it worth doing time in the military.
http://qbrundage.com/michaelb/pubs/essays/working_at_microsoft.html
Really? Let's see...
My family live in an Atlanta suburb single family house with a 2-car garage. Dad is a realtor (not a "hot shot" realtor) and mom is retired. Dad drives a '05 Toyota 4Runner, mom drives a '99 Camry and my younger sister has my beat-up '97 Accord. Mom and Dad supported me through college with the federal FAFSA student aids and my own HOPE scholarship, I also lived at home in order to relief some of their financial burdens. After college I got accepted into graduate school with full scholarship and research assistantship which covered my full tuition and provided additional $1,500 a month. Just so you know, this kind of financial assistance is pretty common for all engineering major students with an above average GPA. I graduated with a MS in Aerospace Engineering in summer '06 and had jobs lined up for me to choose. Right now I am working for a major defense contractor in LA and able to afford a pretty nice brand new Lexus IS350.
My sister right now is pretty much following my path (FAFSA, HOPE scholarship, you know the drill by now...) but instead of doing engineering she double majors in pre-law and psychology. Her goal is to become a prosecutor or some sort.
As you can see, we are just a normal middle class family like most other people in this country. One doesn't have to be ubber wealthy in order to receive world-class higher education and be successful.
Now I've been out of college many years so I won't use my example but I have my oldest daughter going to the local county college. I feel the pinch of paying it and I'm by no means wealthy but we manage. When she finishes there she'll be onto a four year college but half the degree is pretty reasonable.
I have a niece and nephew who are each putting themselves through college. It can be done.
Oh, Bill and Melinda Gates are over in India or some other third-world toilet helping the poor. Shoot, Bill! There are plenty of poor in Detroit, North Philly, Appalachia, Mississippi, and even the great state of Washington itself who would appreciate your help! Charity starts at home, Bill! If you're such a great philanthropist, help your fellow Americans and to heck with the rest of the world!
I know a lot of people in IT and a lot of them say these guys they bring in on H1B visas from India and China are dumb as rocks, can't communicate, and have a lot of personal and hygiene habits that leave a lot to be desired. Meanwhile, these companies are laying off thousands of highly qualified older individuals who are U.S. citizens. Companies don't want to hire these older guys and these extremely intelligent people end up working menial jobs any high school drop out could do. I knew one older gentleman who was once a software engineer working at the multiplex selling tickets because he couldn't get another IT job due to his age.
The most disgusting thing I heard was that the American IT worker must train his foreign replacement under threat of forfeiture of his severance pay! I'm surprised IT workers just don't hijack the IT infrastructure and bring the whole system crashing down until these despicable practices are stopped!
Now, you mention student aid and scholarships (rocky mentioned being white, I don't know if you are considered a minority or not). I'm sure your above average GPA helped with assistance. But I looked up prices from 50 years ago and this is what I come up with:
House: $30,000
Average income: $4,650
Ford car: $1967-$3929
Milk: $1.01
Gas: $.24
Bread $.19
Postage stamp: $.04
Chef Boy-Ar-Dee spaghetti, 15 1/2 .oz can.: $ .19
Corned Beef: $.59 lb.
Swiss Steak: $.75 lb.
Libby Tomato Juice, 5 (46 .oz) cans: $1.00
Kraft Carmels, 1 lb pkg: $.37
Milk: $.42 half gal.
Uncle Ben’s Rice, 14 oz box - $.19
Sunkist Oranges, 5 lbs.: $.49
Cantaloupe: $.05 lb.
Celery: $.04 lb.
Tuition at Harvard: $1,250 yr.
Nathan's Hot Dog: $.25
Roundtrip airfare London to New York: $453
Now, what you'll notice is that alot (not all) of items are about 1/10th of what they are today. Here in RI $300,000 will get you a modest home, and $46,000 a yr. is about right. You'll notice Harvard's tuition is $1,250 in 1958. Today, it's a whopping $32,557, WITHOUT ROOM AND BOARD!!!! Now, to be fair, the article on the Harvard web site also talks about student aid (in the form of scholarships, jobs, and loans) that will reduce the burden (that, given your stated modest means, I assume you would have qualified for) to $10,500 a yr., which is more in line with price increases over the last 50 yrs. What I can't find is what the average assistance would've been 50 yrs ago. But 2 things that have outpaced inflation in recent years are college tuition and health insurance premiums.
Second, I don't care about how much a college education cost 50 years ago. I went in at 2000 and graduated with a master's in 2006 as stated in the previous post.
Last but not least, if one can't afford Harvard then go to a good public school. Universities like UC Berkeley, UCLA and Georgia Tech are all good school which provides world class education at a much lower cost than those Ivy league schools.
The bottom line is that there are options out there, one just have to look for it.
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/UnitedStates/Grants/default.htm?showYear=2008
PS
Is the UAW still on strike at Axle?
Second of all, Using Harvard was just a reference-that's it. Nothing more-nothing less. The point was that the tuition went up 30X's while wages went up 10X's. Tuition HAS outpaced inflation, just like healthcare premiums have.
Thirdly, I guess you missed the last segment of my comment, where Harvard's tuition assistance could allow people like you and me to attend for just $10,500, more inline w/ inflation over the years.
So how is UAW management any more deserving of a raise than GM management? They both are partners in cutting the cost of labor.
Gagrice, that is just crazy to point that out !!! :confuse:
-Rocky
I don't think it is. If he was able to negotiate a 3% increase for the members then he deserves a 3% increase. If memory serves me there were losses in the last contracts. The UAW is not a for profit organization. He should make more than the members. But getting a raise when the workers are taking cuts does not look good. I guess I was just too involved with our local to accept that. Most years the Business agents made less than the guys in our unit. We were the highest paid so it was kind of a sore subject with the Union bosses. The head guy (secretary/treasurer) only made a slight bit more than we did. They are elected by the members and paid by the members. Sounds like the UAW guys are too lazy to keep tabs on the Union bosses.
As far as management getting big paychecks that is the board and stockholders problem. If they want to waste money on worthless management that is taking the company down, they are the ones that will lose money.