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I wonder what DD has to say about the idiots that decided they would strike in the middle of a recession and a war on two fronts? They lost more ground with the latest offer. The UAW knew that Bell would replace them in a heartbeat with willing workers. So the workers lost 5 weeks pay and $1000 bonus.
Graham said the contract’s main change is the fact that it runs for four years instead of three. The contract includes a 3 percent general wage increase in the second, third and fourth years. The ratification bonus included in the contract has been lowered to $3,500, which is down from the $4,500 bonus proposed in the original offer, Graham said.
Graham told the Dallas Business Journal he believes the contract was ratified because workers wanted to return to their jobs. When asked if the contract was the union's ideal, he said, "Not by a long shot. I had to endorse it because people wanted something to vote on," he added. "It's not the best contract, it's just the best one we had to vote on this time."
He added that the union tested the water for almost six weeks waiting for a better deal, but sometimes the final offer from the company is the one that stands, he explained Wednesday.
Looking at UAW history. They have gone on strike during every major war and conflict since WW2. While guys were dying in battle in need of war materials the thoughtless UAW has gone on strike. At least 3 strikes since we entered the war in Afghanistan. So those that want to wave the flag over UAW workers better look again. They are not the Patriots they would like US to believe. This strike against Bell Helicopters is just the latest example of their lack of Patriotism.
>I have a feeling that the $50K is what he paid for the land
the sale was in 1990 for "land and building" and $50,000. The sellers were a couple; the names are individuals and don't sound like a builder. I agree they might have bought the land and then had the home built.
It's on a well and septic so it's relatively rural.
Search for heizer then choose david.
The article was silent on other incomes in the household. I love notifying the "reporters" when they slant an article by omission. I expect an email back from the reporter. The IUE has been very active in the area at nurturing reporting favoring them. And rightly so. The IUE was not nearly as aggressive as the UAW; IUE had given many, many concessions that were meaningful in terms of cost to keep the truck plant in Moraine operating, e.g.
From: Ed Sills [mailto:ed@texasaflcio.org] Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2009 3:17 PM To: labor@texasaflcio.org Subject: End to Bell Helicopter Strike: 'No Winners' -- TxAFLCIOENews
1—More Details on the Bell Helicopter Settlement
2—No Rest for the Overheated Under Texas Law
3—Laugh Riot: ‘World’s Best Medical System’?
4—Health Care Reform Call-In Day Set for Tuesday; Rally at Texas AFL-CIO Takes Place Saturday
5—Texas Tribune Offers New Hope for Business Model to Cover Texas News
6—E-Mail News Will Take Hiatus Until Monday, Aug. 10
1) The Fort Worth Star-Telegram posted a detailed take on the end of the Bell Helicopter strike, and the article does a good job of pointing up why strikes have been rare in recent decades.
First, Brother Danny Trull of UAW clarifies his remarks in yesterday’s bulletin, noting that workers have some positives in their mixed bag under the new contract:
“I inadvertently indicated that the new agreement with Bell Helicopter was a 3 year agreement when in fact the previously rejected offer was 3 years.
The newly ratified agreement is a 4 year contract with a $3500 signing bonus and 3% wage increases for the last 3 years of the agreement.
The most expensive healthcare option that was previously on the table was removed and the group of janitorial workers who may have lost their jobs under the previous offer will go into a higher classification.
Thanks again to the Texas AFL-CIO and all those affiliates that helped during this crisis.” Here is the article: Thursday, Jul 23, 2009
Posted on Wed, Jul. 22, 2009
Bell's UAW members to return to work after OK'ing new contract
By BOB COX rcox@star-telegram.com
Manufacturing workers at Bell Helicopter will go back to work next week after ratifying a four-year contract Wednesday and ending a 6-week-old strike.
By a ratio of 2-to-1, members of United Auto Workers Local 218 approved a deal that almost all agreed is less attractive than the one they rejected by a nearly identical vote June 14.
"I didn’t like it, but it beats not having a job, especially with the way the economy is now," said Mark Crear, a 15-year Bell employee and UAW member.
"We lost, but the company lost as well," Crear said. "There’s no winners."
Tom Wells, chairman of Local 218, conceded that the strike didn’t result in a better contract.
"It got worse," Wells said.
But Wells and other union leaders, who had recommended the first contract that members voted down, urged workers to accept the company’s latest offer.
"Taking into consideration our 2,500 members and their families, the fact we had been out six weeks, the bargaining committee and myself thought this was best for the membership," Wells said.
In a statement, a Bell official expressed satisfaction with the contract.
"Although the process took longer than we had hoped, we are eager to welcome back our teammates from UAW Local 218 and look forward to working together to continue the evolution of Bell Helicopter," said Martha May, senior vice president of human resources. May was Bell’s chief negotiator and the focus of many union members’ ire over what they perceived as a hard-line stance on key issues.
The company is holding mandatory two-hour "return to work" sessions today at the Fort Worth Convention Center. Wells said union officers will be on hand "to make sure the orientation sessions don’t turn into a browbeating. We’ve been assured that won’t happen, but we’ll make sure it doesn’t."
Union members resume work at Bell facilities Monday morning.
The contract is very similar to the proposal the union had rejected. However, the ratification bonus dropped from $4,500 to $3,500, and the new deal is for four years instead of three.
There will be no general wage increase in the first year. Workers will receive 3 percent pay increases, plus usual experience and seniority increases, in each of the next three years. They will also continue to receive cost-of-living adjustments, which can decrease as well as increase.
The strike was costly to workers in terms of forgone wages.
A midlevel union member making $24.94 an hour would have lost nearly $1,000 a week in wages during the strike. That was only partially replaced by union strike benefits of about $200 a week. They were also without health insurance.
"I think it’s the worst contract we could ever have," said David McKee, a bonding inspector with 10 years at Bell, who said he voted no. "They took away part of our bonus, and they took away part of our insurance."
McKee said he favored continuing to strike so Bell executives "will know we mean business."
Others said the strike was necessary and served a purpose.
"I think we did get the respect of the company," said Carl Siddall, a 15-year machine operator. "They didn’t expect us to stay out this long. I’m so proud of these people."
But James Smiley, a 43-year Bell veteran, said it is time to move on.
"What you lose, you can’t get back," he said.
Smiley, whose wife, Mavis, has cancer, said he penciled out the details of the health insurance changes and doesn’t feel that the higher premiums and co-payments are an unreasonable burden. "We’ll be OK," he said.
The company, in its summary of the new contract, said that over the life of the agreement, wages should increase by 26 percent, assuming a 3 percent annual rate of inflation on which cost-of-living adjustments will be based. On average, Bell said, the average base pay will rise from $57,830 per year to $72,920 per year, including projected cost-of-living adjustments but excluding overtime.
Wage rates for UAW Local 218 members range from $9 to $34.72 per hour, depending on job classification and experience. By the fourth year of the contract, the base wage for the highest labor grade will increase to $37.94 per hour, before cost-of-living adjustments.
On one key issue, health insurance, the company dropped an HMO-type plan that it had offered previously. Many workers had favored that plan but had objected to paying a steep rise in premiums.
On another key issue, the company’s plan to outsource janitorial work now performed by union members, Bell made only a minor concession.
In the past, workers who might otherwise have been laid off could fill a janitorial position until another production job opened. The union wanted to keep that.
Under the new contract, Bell will offer existing janitors other positions in the company. But janitor positions will be eliminated no later than Sept. 30 and the work outsourced.
In the first two years of the contract, in the event of a layoff at certain pay grades, the company has agreed to create a pool of 30 positions that workers can temporarily move into.
2) The Houston Chronicle’s Wooty Sixel published this typically strong column riffing on the finding by the Workers Defense Project that Texas constructions workers who labor in 100-degree weather have no legal right to work breaks:
Column: Look out for employees in hot weather By L.M. SIXEL Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle July 22, 2009, 9:44PMh It's hot out there. But workers shouldn't look to the state of Texas for protection.
Only two states — Texas and Arizona — don't require employers to provide work breaks, according to Cristina Tzintzún, director of the Workers Defense Project in Austin.
That means that workers — who must be provided drinking water under federal safety and health laws — can't necessarily stop work and take a drink, said Tzintzún, whose group primarily represents construction workers with employment problems.
The Workers Defense Project intends to take up the issue of mandated breaks during the next legislative session. But until then, that doesn't mean employers are off the hook.
While the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration does not have specific sun exposure rules, it has a powerful weapon: the general duty clause. That's the over-arching rule that employers must provide a work environment free of recognized hazards that could likely cause death or serious physical harm.
During this sweltering summer that can mean time to rest in the shade and access to drinking water, experts say. And that, hopefully, will prevent another year like 2007, when 32 workers died of heatstroke, according to data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“It can be as big or as small as the secretary of labor wants it to be,” said Stephen J. Roppolo, regional managing partner of the Houston office of Fisher & Phillips, referring to the general duty clause.
Roppolo speculates the new secretary of labor, Hilda Solis, will be more aggressive about using the clause and citing employers who fail to safeguard their employees when it's hot.
OSHA has done it before, he said, pointing to citations the agency issued last year against a harvesting company and a heating and air conditioning firm for not protecting their employees while they were working in temperatures ranging from 82 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
While that may sound positively balmy during this hot spell, OSHA suggested several acceptable ways for the two companies to reduce exposure to high temperatures by permitting workers to drink water at liberty and allowing time to rest.
Education counts The companies could teach employees about the effects of heat stress and how to recognize symptoms and prevent it. They could also offer a screening program to identify health conditions aggravated by high heat; have an acclimation program for new employees or those gone for three days or longer; and give immediate first-aid for employees with symptoms of heat-related illness, according to the citations.
“A smart employer would be wise to make water available in such situations, not just because OSHA might issue a citation, but because the employer would want to minimize the disruption caused by an employee missing work due to heat-related illness or injury,” said Roppolo.
One of his clients in the tank-cleaning business protects its employees by scheduling work before the sun rises and after it sets, monitoring the temperature and giving frequent water and rest breaks.
While federal law requires drinking water at job sites, the Workers Defense Project found many workers aren't getting any.
In a recent survey done jointly with the University of Texas, 27 percent of construction workers in Austin reported they're not provided clean drinking water. The survey interviewed 312 workers randomly chosen after getting off work.
And that leads to the heart of the matter, said Tzintzún.
Even if OSHA requires drinking water, there aren't enough inspectors to investigate all the complaints, she said. And workers can't file a lawsuit on their own to enforce OSHA standards like they can if their boss doesn't pay them the correct minimum wage and overtime or if they're discriminated against at the workplace.
Until employees can sue on their own, said Tzintzún, all they can do is hope OSHA investigates.
lm.sixel@chron.com
3) Sister Elaine Lantz of North Texas Jobs With Justice submitted this letter to the editor responding to an op-ed column on health care reform that is self-explanatory:
Dear Editor:
In Representatives Barton and Burgess’ Op-ed on July 21, 2009, they stated that “We should not tear down the world’s best medical system.” My question is world’s best medical system for whom? Is it the 47 million people with no health coverage? Is it the 8.7 million children with no health coverage? Is it the people who file for bankruptcy because they cannot pay their medical bills? Or is it the people who have health insurance who are denied payment of medical procedures that their physician prescribed because an insurance company determines (not the physician or patient) determines what is “medically necessary”?
How about everyone in the country getting the same health care that Representatives Barton and Burgess enjoy at taxpayers’ expense?
Sincerely,
Elaine Lantz
4) The National Call-In Day for Health Care Reform takes place Tuesday, July 28, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sponsored by Health Care for America Now!, the call-in asks those who support real reform that lowers costs and expands coverage to call their elected representatives in Congress to let them know that they will not stand still while corporate lobbyists and partisan Republicans out to “break” President Obama spend millions to undermine the legislation.
Here is the number that will link you to your representative in Congress: 1-877-264-4226. Please call it next Tuesday to help deliver historic reform.
Also, Texans for Obama will hold a pro-reform rally at Texas AFL-CIO headquarters this Saturday, as detailed in this letter. The organization invited any and all union members to attend, and Texas AFL-CIO President Becky Moeller plans to be there:
Fellow Texans,
We have a real opportunity to fix our broken health care system. Let's get the job done!
President Obama said last night at his press conference that the "stars are aligned" to finally get legislation passed this year. To make that happen, we need to join Obama supporters from across the country and stand up for real reform.
This Saturday afternoon, you're invited to a local health care rally featuring: Congressman Lloyd Doggett, Senator Kirk Watson, Mayor Lee Leffingwell, Council Member Sheryl Cole, Former State Rep. Ann Kitchen, TCDP Chair Andy Brown and others.
Our goal is to make Saturday's rally one of the biggest in the country. Spread the word!
For more perspective on this important issue, read the inspiring Newsweek article by Sen. Ted Kennedy about his life-long fight to make health care more accessible. He's been a true champion for working families, and we wouldn't be this close to finally getting health care reform if it weren't for his tireless efforts.
Health care reform. Yes we can!
Best regards,
Texans for Obama
p.s.
Please note the location change to the AFL-CIO Hall. Thanks!
5) It’s no secret that the world of traditional journalism has contracted mightily and at an accelerated pace. When I was in the Capitol press corps in the 1980s and early 1990s, the group covering state legislative and political news numbered more than 50 full-time reporters from around the state. Now, the number has dropped to something like 20, if that.
Newspapers have died or cut back in the face of diminishing advertising and circulation. TV news rarely does any serious investigative reporting (with the exception of our friends at WFAA-TV in Dallas and one or two other operations). In Austin, only three publications now have more than one reporter covering the Capitol, and the hometown Austin newspaper is for sale.
That doesn’t mean journalism has died. What remains of the daily newspapers still includes exceptionally strong reporters. A few online operations are setting good examples. This newsletter often quotes from Talking Points Memo, which has grown into a serious gadfly covering national news and has won some prestigious awards normally reserved for the big guys. At the state level, Quorum Report and Texas Weekly have filled some of the vacuum caused by newsroom departures. A few outstanding niche publications are available online and some of the aggregators offer good insights into what is happening, though most don’t have the resources to do the consistent, full-time delving that breaks stories open in the first place.
But with shadows over the future of independent, hard-hitting journalism, the news that the newly capitalized Texas Tribune has purchased Texas Weekly and made Texas Weekly editor Ross Ramsey its managing editor is excellent. The new on-line publication, set to begin this fall, has already hired a group of excellent reporters, several of whom have, like Ramsey, covered labor issues with distinction. Ramsey has appeared as an expert at Texas AFL-CIO conventions. He knows where the stories are and where the bodies in state government are buried. The CEO of the new publication is Evan Smith, formerly the editor and, for a while, publisher of Texas Monthly.
Here’s hoping the Texas Tribune establishes a new model for business success in covering Texas news. I have no doubt that it will make waves journalistically.
6) With a legislative session and convention out of the way, I am going to take some vacation time. The Texas AFL-CIO E-Mail News will therefore go on hiatus over the next two weeks and resume on Monday, Aug. 10. If a news emergency requiring action arises, my colleagues will employ the e-Activist system, so if you’re not already on that list, go to www.texasaflcio.org for the link to sign up (and please include a home address, which is used only to link you to your elected representatives). If an even bigger emergency requires an e-mail, someone here will send out the message.
While on personal matters, I want to acknowledge that my son, Alejandro Sills, had a great experience at the constitutional convention serving in one of the sergeants-at-arms posts at the invitation of President Moeller. While the title sounds potentially more battle-ready than it is ever likely to get, plenty of hard work goes into being a sergeant-at-arms and Alejandro’s eyes were opened to the level of extraordinary detail it takes to put on a successful convention. The other sergeants-at-arms, the volunteers, the delegates and, of course, the officers and fellow staff members who have watched him grow up to be ready to start college in August all made it easy for him to fit in.
On a related note, though I’m not ordinarily in the mode of bragging on my family in this forum, President Moeller asked me to publicize the fact that Alejandro won college scholarships from both the Union Plus and the Office and Professional Employees International Union programs. These are extremely competitive national scholarships that will make a nice dent in the tuition bill. Alejandro’s labor credentials were strong – he has walked a picket line, earned the Boy Scout American Labor merit badge, participated in previous conventions and other labor events, voted a pro-labor slate in his first election, etc. – thanks to this movement, for which I am always grateful.
After recharging over the next couple of weeks, I look forward to seeing you all on my return and I really mean that.
This guy writes for Automobile - his Sept. column isn't on automobilemag.com yet.
"[T]he union was there, doing its union thing, while the companies enjoyed more than a half century of blissful blue-chip profitability, give or take a few quarters. So, what happened? Did the union suddenly get greedy, forcing America's largest industrial corporation into bankruptcy?"
He goes on to talk about how the UAW helped fund the first Earth Day back in 1970. But Reuther, a supporter of progressive causes, died in a plane crash and the UAW then lined up with management to oppose safety, emissions and fuel economy. The SUV boom and big bust followed.
To cap it off, the new union rep on GMs board is Steve Girsky, formerly of Morgan Stanley, the same long time anti-union outfit that advised investors in 2002 to look for the union label and run the other way.
You have to wonder if the rank and file is too busy welding soda cans into the door panels to notice such things. Good read if you can find a copy.
I unsubscribed but came back to see if any comments had come about the UAW's role in politics currently. The UAW has some members writing letters and comments in support of Nationalized Healthcare. They are afraid they will eventually lose their healthcare like the IUE and salaries workers have lost. It's interesting that a group so affluent in perks is now supporting an undefined socialized medicine program.
I am wondering if UAW will start supporting the SEIU union thugs (marsha7 probably has the right philosophy about unions) in suppressing American voices in townhall meetings like they did in St. Louis. The UAW was a major part of local community organizing here to solicit votes for Obama; I see them as pushing for the healthcare now that theirs looks more and more tenuous. The SEIU was the purple shirt militia. I'm waiting to read Michelle Malkin's book--she was interviewed today talking about their philosophy of using "the power of persuasion but being ready to use the persuasion of power." That is a scary direction for American politics and unionism to take.
The IUE had a full page ad about how their union members were overlooked in benefits coverage during the automaker's takeover by Obama. I don't think there's any way to link that page in the paper if I can find which date it published.
DAYTON – IUE-CWA, the Industrial Division of the Communications Workers of America, is moving aggressively to protect the interests of more than 41,000 represented retirees and their dependents with a filing to stop General Motors' plan to sell its viable assets.
The objection seeks to prevent GM's proposed Section 363 sale that would strip GM of the resources needed to pay the health care and other benefits promised IUE-CWA retirees. The union estimates its claims against GM will top $5 billion, the vast majority of which are the benefits owed to retirees.
The union states that GM is violating bankruptcy code with disparate treatment of groups of retirees who have the same promised benefits, noting that under Section 1114 the company must show that any proposed reduction is fair and equitable when compared to how similar groups are dealt with.
The filing calls GM "not only unfair, but cruel," for protecting lifetime health and life insurance benefits for retirees similarly situated under the United Auto Workers while leaving IUE-CWA retirees and another 6,500 retirees represented by other unions with unsecured creditor claims against a company that will have no assets if the planned sale goes through.
IUE-CWA reached agreement with GM on a voluntary employee beneficiary association to cover its members in December 2008 but the company refused to implement the VEBA citing requirements imposed by the U.S. Treasury Department in its initial bailout assistance. Since then, GM has made no offers on how to resolve the benefits issue.
"With the Treasury Department's apparent blessing, GM is trying to subvert the bankruptcy process by using the sale to reorganize the company without meeting any of the standards set by the bankruptcy code," said IUE-CWA President Jim Clark. "If GM is successful, our retirees will be left holding an empty bag. The law does not allow favoritism for powerful creditors and we will not allow this grossly unfair attempt to cheat our retirees to proceed unchecked."
verifies my thinking of the last 30 years...UAW was necessary in the 30s and 40s...maybe into the 50s...they have only hurt American industry since that time...they have been obsolete like the dinosaur for almost a half century, except that the dinosaur at least gave us fossil fuels from its death, whereas the UAW will give us nothing except extreme joy and satisfaction, but nothing really worthwhile...
Do dead UAW workers, especially the militant ones, decay into crude oil???...it would be nice, so we could burn them in "purgatory" so to speak, in our Honda and Toyota combustion chambers...I can dream, can't I?????
I'm with you all the way. And guess who will scream the loudest when the UAW members see what they get under socialized medicine? They have had their gold plated Union health care so long they will notice the difference much quicker than those less fortunate. The ones that will get hit hardest with the "less treatment for the old and decrepit" are the UAW retirees. All those strikes to get better retirement benefits will be meaningless. Liver and kidney transplants will be a thing of the past for those over 65 and no longer productive in our collective society. Pain killers will be used instead of knee and hip replacements for US old dudes.
I wonder how Rocky will react when it adversely affects his older UAW family members. His dream of a socialist state will probably swing far to the right, as it did those of US that suffered greatly in the late 1970s.
What is scary, is the many parallels between today and the 1930s when FDR was pushing US toward Marxism. The only roadblock I see to full blown socialism is the current wars and pending wars. That is a sad way to avoid losing our freedoms to the left.
So, they're complaining about supposed disparate treatment? I've got a fix for that. Cancel the retirees' health care benefits for the UAW. Now they're the same :P. I mean, they can always pick up on Medicare.
Not exactly. You see under many of the recent UAW agreements they have pushed the older employees into early retirement. A UAW retiree could still be in his late 40s or more likely his or her early 50s. That means no Medicare for many years. I retired at 63 and was given a COBRA option to maintain my union health care for $950 per month. I opted to buy a catastrophic plan as a bridge to Medicare. Even that was $263 per month. Many retirees will be left with small pensions and no insurance. Of course Obama care is on the horizon. Except it will limit treatment for old people. Oh well nothing is perfect.
"What is scary, is the many parallels between today and the 1930s when FDR was pushing US toward Marxism."
Isn't it amazing just how many people (Presidents and Democrats) have been trying to make this into a Communist nation, regardless of the Constitution???
And with so many Communist/Socialist nations out there for the last century, why can't they just go there and be happy???...let us be a free society and take your Communism elsewhere...if you want a life where everybody is equal in all respects, there are many nations who want you...Cuba comes to mind, along with Venezuela...
Hence the phrase, "America, love it or leave it"...alter it to mean "America, leave it ALONE"...
It's interesting that a group so affluent in perks is now supporting an undefined socialized medicine program.
The proposals floating around are more like socialized insurance, not socialized medicine (premiums are paid with tax revenues, in other words). Maybe the UAW is trying to cut their premiums, knowing that their access to medical care won't change.
..."The United Auto Workers (UAW) is seething that Toyota, like its erstwhile partner General Motors, is bailing out of the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) joint-venture plant in Fremont, California,"...NUMMI Closure Fallout: UAW Blasts Toyota for Bad Timing
Strike time? :shades: :lemon:
What goes unsaid either by the article or the UAW, GM's legacy costs have been Chap 11'd away. This gives GM ENORMOUS economic (cost and operational,etc.) advantages over TMC !!!!
Interesting but again unsaid by either the article or the UAW; UAW (pension) is an OWNER of GM. The US.gov another (majority) owner of GM. Both have seats on the Board of Directors.
Yet... half of the issue: GM bailing out of the NUMMI plant.
Evidently the B o D's decided the Pontiac Vibe (MADE IN the Nummi Plant, Fremont, CA) was NOT a profitable model and ultimately, (Pontiac) product line to ....keep. Hmmmmmmmmmm, regression to the decisions mean is a relentless thing.............
Having run a unionized plant for 7 yrs in the heart of UAW stronghold, Michigan, I can truthfully state that organized labor has chased most of our heavy industry to foreign countries..
Whirlpool is closing down their Evansville, Ind operation and moving to Mexico, 1,100 jobs gone. The California joint venture operation of GM/Toyota is being closed for the [non-permissible content removed] said that the UAW labor cost and efficiency "sucked", 3,300 jobs gone..
Back in 2000 a Goodyear plant that I was selling steel forgings to was told by Ford, if they wanted to receive future business of engine/transmission mounts that Goodyear had to build a new plant in Mexico and that this particular Ohio plant would be given no new business, and would supply existing parts only..
By the way I gave up my VP of Operations in 12/79, and 3 yrs later we closed the UAW plts in Mich and Wisc, consolidating operations to a non-union existing plant in Illinois..The Mich plant was showing 20% profit, great return, however, the logistics was to dump the UAW..The union contributes "nothing" to any operation at any time or any place..Unions rule by sheer numbers only, mob mentality..
Our commie infested White House is a disgrace to all American ideals, and let's pray that the non-vetted persons in Washington are sent "packing"...soon!!!!
I believe GM has no cost advantage over Toyota, just that the playing field is a little more level...
Toy and GM each had a reason for the NUMMI agreement...GM would "learn" about Toyota's manufacturing methods (yeah, right) and Toy would learn how an American auto plant worked (and ran away at top speed)...plus, at a time when anti-Japanese feeling were running high (1980s) this gave Toy an opportunity to "cooperate" with the Americans and diffuse some of the heat...
Personally, I think they used NUMMI as a write-off as they built their own plants to make better cars...I am sure they learned a lot from NUMMI and it can be summed up like this...avoid the UAW and its workers and attitudes like you would avoid botulism in your lunch box!!!
We know how bad the UAW has been for the auto industry, and we see it from the outside...it probably took about 1-2 HOURS for Toyota to run like hell from anything the UAW wanted to have a part in...they are the toxic solution to nothing...
I wonder if Commie Obama will ship the NUMMI folks back to Michigan...
>I wonder if Commie Obama will ship the NUMMI folks back to Michigan...
Please, NO. We have enough unemployed people with the 10s or hundreds of thousands laid off over the decade from Delphi and GM and F and C. Let them claim unemployment from Arnold.
Do you, or anyone know, if the Cash 4 Clunkers (was that for old cars or old ex-wives???) result in sufficient sales (670K, I believe) to cause carmakers to call back UAW autoworkers, or are they sitting tight waiting for REAL demand to pick up???
What I mean is this..I have read various analyses of C4C, and some folks say that all they did was take sales of the next 6 months and condense them into one month...implying that auto sales from Sep-Dec will crash even further...so, do carmakers go into further debt by making cars, or do they sit tight, close plants, and wait and see if demand is really "penting up?" (as in "pent-up demand")...
so, do carmakers go into further debt by making cars, or do they sit tight, close plants, and wait and see if demand is really "penting up?" (as in "pent-up demand")...
They SHOULD plan on an SAAR rate that is around 9.5MM - 10.0MM for 2010. I believe GM thinks it will be 12MM for 2010. No doubt 50% of C4C is draw-forward sales which means September will be quite a valley, indeed.
Based on the unemployment rate that will peak sometime in 2010, I believe they are way too optimistic.
This from Auto Observer for GM Aug. 2009:
GM will sell 213,000 units, down 30.7 percent compared to August 2008 and up 13.2 percent from July for a market share of 18.4 percent, down from 24.7 percent in August 2008 and down from 18.9 percent in July.
You sound like that guy at a town hall meeting. He stands up and says "I don't want the gov't touching my medicare". Get your facts right and quit listening to the fear mongers.
C4C was a sick joke at best. A very large Atlanta dealer stopped doing C4C because he had $80K worth of clunkers on his lot and had not received a dime from the feds.
Fox news reported a couple of days ago that only about 2% of the money had been paid to the dealers. Dealers can't stay in business that way.
I'm believing UAW and all auto manufacturers need to sit tight for a while and see how this thing shakes out. A customer wants a particular car, they can "Special" order it to their specifications. That used to be a way of life for buying cars.
Side note: With the Feds not being able to deal with 640K car deals, how can they expect to handle 300 million folks needing medical attention?
>facts right and quit listening to the fear mongers.
Not to be off topic, but this needs a response. I realize the proponents planned a push in favor before the congress (bless their hearts) go back to DC, but the idea that anything else questioning the things that were in the original or revised bills is fear mongering is ridiculous:
AARP has an interest in selling more insurance if the plan passes just like they sell Medicare Part D insurance profitably now. So AARP got on the bandwago in favor. They are not unbiased. They do not represent seniors' interests. Maybe people haven't noticed but when I joined AARP I got more advertisements from them selling stuff for the kickback they get than I got junkmail from all other sources combined.
Also AARP counted me as a member after 1993 when I joined one year. That's even though I didn't pay. When I went to rejoin in 1998 it would not let me because I was still a member. Ever wonder how they alleged to represent so many people over 50?
AARP sold out the old folks long ago. It is all about the money now. They have crawled in bed with the devil.
People are beginning to see what AARP has become , and are dropping their memberships. They are down about 60K over the past few months according to Fox and CNN news.
You sound like that guy at a town hall meeting. He stands up and says "I don't want the gov't touching my medicare". Get your facts right and quit listening to the fear mongers.
You have obviously not read the Tom Daschle book that Obama Care is based on. I am happy with my Kaiser Medicare plan. Why would I want Obama messing with it. Why would the Feds try fixing something that is not broke. If they would just get a handle on the fraud in Medicare it would save the tax payers $billions.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — It is hardly unusual these days for a government building to forgo a fresh paint job or regular lawn care to cut costs. But last week, the director of the Jefferson County public nursing home was told that the county could no longer afford to bury indigent patients.
Across town at the juvenile detention center, the man in charge was trying to figure out how to feed the 28 children in his custody when the entire cafeteria staff is let go.
In family court, administrators plan to delay child support, custody and child abuse cases, leaving some children in the hands of the state indefinitely.
Jefferson County, which includes Birmingham, could be compared to a person who has lost his job, watched his retirement investments evaporate and is stuck with a house that is worth less than what he owes the bank.
Florida's welfare rolls grew 15.2 percent over the past year, according to the latest data, a trend many economists say will continue even after the recession ebbs.
More than 56,700 families received state welfare aid in July. That's up from 49,257 families during the same month last year, state data shows.
"What we are seeing is what we expect to see," said Don Winstead, deputy secretary of Florida's Department of Children and Families. "Given the economic situation in the state, you would expect to see more working-age adults with children needing help."
Florida has become accustomed to tough economic indicators. Unemployment hit its highest point in 34 years last month. Growth has stalled, and foreclosure continues to shutter thousands of homes each month.
Economists expect the unemployment rate to stay high even after the recession ends, so a respite does not seem likely in the near future, said University of Florida economics professor David Denslow.
"The surprise would be if the recovery in jobs turns out to be more rapid than economists are expecting," Denslow said. If unemployment remains high or rises after the recession ends, he said, the welfare rolls could continue to expand.
Economists vary widely on when the national market will generate more jobs. Optimists predict within the next year. A more grim outlook postulates as late as 2012.
"Our research reveals that Georgia now has historically high levels of unemployment among male workers," Thurmond said. "Men tend to dominate employment in construction and manufacturing, two of the industries that have been hardest hit by layoffs in our state."
The number of men drawing unemployment insurance benefits between December 2007, the official beginning of the current recession, and May 2009 rose 160 percent, up from 34,136 to 88,612. Jobless males now make up 57.6 percent of Georgians receiving unemployment benefits.
Still, the state unemployment report underscored the damage that the longest recession since World War II has inflicted on companies, workers and communities, and the challenges the economy faces getting back on its feet.
A common theme running through states suffering from high unemployment was heavy layoffs tied to the troubled auto industry and the collapse of the housing market. Workers in manufacturing, construction, retail and finance have been the hardest hit.
"A lot of older industries are having to shut down and many of these jobs will never come back," said Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group.
The unemployment rate for U.S. engineering and computer occupations is rising at a faster pace than for other professional occupations, according to data released Friday by the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. An analysis of the data by IEE-USA, an organizational unit of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, found the unemployment rate for all engineers grew from 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 to 3.9 percent in the first quarter of 2009.
The state's unemployment rate rose to 9.4% in March, the Department of Workforce Development reported Thursday.
March unemployment skipped past February's 8.8%, and surpassed the national rate for the first time since June 2007.
The U.S. unemployment rate was 9% in March.
Wisconsin lost a total of 8,700 non-farm jobs last month and has shed more than 112,000 jobs since March 2008.
Recession-watchers have to look back to 1982 to find unemployment rates higher than those released Thursday. Wisconsin's unemployment topped out at 10.9% that year.
The report, which looks at the nation’s 100 largest metro markets, says that while no area has been immune to the economic downturn, the pain has been unevenly distributed.
It shows, for example, that the Greensboro-High Point area has been hit harder than the Raleigh or Charlotte areas.
Nationally, the Guilford County cities rank among the bottom third of metro areas based on the recession’s impact.
American Lawyer is calling it “the fire this time” and warning that big firms may be hurtling toward “a paradigm-shifting, blood-in-the-suites” future. The Law Shucks blog has a “layoff tracker,” and it is grim reading. Top firms are rapidly thinning their ranks, and several — including Heller Ehrman, a venerable 500-plus-lawyer firm founded in 1890 — have closed.
The employment pains of the legal elite may not elicit a lot of sympathy in the broader context of the recession, but a lot of hard-working lawyers have been blindsided, including young associates who are suddenly finding themselves with six-figure student-loan debts and no source of income.
No sympathy here. The legal profession has the least oversight of the estates supposedly supporting society. And too many attorneys and judges have used this lack of transparency to rip off the public, mostly when people can least afford it and are hurting and children are involved, such as in divorce cases.
And that's were the infamous billable hour comes in.
They regard my wife and myself as members, and we have never joined ! :sick:
We are all the time getting their garbage in the mail trying to sell us one type of insurance or another or some other scheme.
Seems that "AS Members" we get some kind of SPECIAL discount. Can't seem to discourage them. I do get a certain satisfaction from returning their envelopes, empty, so they can pay the postage.
The United States is the only industrialized country in the world that does not have universal health care coverage for its citizens.
That fact should be an embarrassment and shame to us all. We spend nearly $2.5 trillion on care and we spend nearly 50 percent more of our gross national product (G.N.P.) on health care than the rest of the industrialized world. Yet we have over 46 million completely uninsured people and at least 10 million more seriously underinsured people.
Many states are going broke paying more than they should for civil servants with union contracts that border on extortion.
The report, which looks at the nation’s 100 largest metro markets, says that while no area has been immune to the economic downturn, the pain has been unevenly distributed.
That is a BIG LIE. Washington DC has a very low unemployment rate. I wonder why. TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT.
If your 65 medicare pays. You just needed a three year or so gap covered.
That is true. I bought a catastrophic health care policy until I reached 65. And your so called uninsured are leeches for the most part. Over half of those uninsured have a family income over $50k per year. No excuse for not having at least catastrophic coverage. And just paying the doctor if you go in for a cold or flu. And send any illegal that tries to use ER back across the border. :P No more prenatal care for illegals. And no more automatic citizenship. It is one of the issues bankrupting CA. The Feds mandate ER for all and do not pay the bill. So it falls on the shoulders of the local tax payers.
And it is the UAW entitlement mentality that perpetrates this kind of ignorance.
Uh, wasn't the very popular Corolla built at this plant? I don't recall Corolla quality nosediving or its popularity fading on account of it being built at NUMMI. NUMMI was also home of the Matrix and Vibe - all built by that wonderful UAW labor.
Cute (depending on your point of view) about that plant in its pre-NUMMI days. They used to build Chevy Camaros there. Around 1980, the CHP wanted to get a few Camaros to test out as police interceptors. Well, when the assembly line workers saw the black Camaros with white doors and roof coming down the line, some of them went out of their way to sabotage them in their assembly, ensuring they'd fall apart prematurely.
That may be the reason the CHP tended to use Mustangs for interceptors. :sick:
Kinda makes me wonder though, if the same thing happens at other plants? I mean, surely, the workers can tell which cars coming down the line are police cars, versus civilian.
As the GM restructuring proceeds, the UAW wishes to set the record straight on the enormous sacrifices that have been made by active and retired workers. These concessions will save the company billions of dollars, and are a critical component of efforts to restore its long-term economic viability.
In the contract that was ratified by UAW members last week, active employees agreed to the following major concessions:
• Performance bonuses worth 4 percent and 3 percent of pay scheduled for 2009 and 2010 were eliminated. • Cost of living adjustments were eliminated for the remainder of the contract. • Holidays were reduced. • Overtime and relief time rules were scaled back substantially. •Wages for new "entry level" employees were frozen and the company was allowed to increase the percentage of its workforce employed at this much lower rate. • The company was also allowed to hire part-time employees with reduced wages and benefits. • Certain job security programs were suspended and supplemental unemployment benefits were scaled back for laid-off workers. • Job classifications were reduced and work rules were made more flexible.
Taken together, these concessions will save GM billions of dollars over the remainder of the contract, and will make compensation for active workers fully competitive with that paid by foreign nameplate operations in the U.S. Furthermore, it is important to note that the biggest sacrifices will be made by the tens of thousands of workers who will lose their jobs as a result of the numerous plant closings that GM is announcing in its restructuring plan. In addition, retired UAW members have made the following sacrifices:
• Reimbursements for the Medicare Part B premium (now $76.20 per month) were eliminated. • Prescription drug co-pays were increased. • Dental and vision benefits were eliminated. • Premiums and deductibles were increased for retirees with pensions less than $8,000, thereby tracking increases that were previously implemented for all other retirees.
These concessions also will save GM hundreds of millions of dollars during the remainder of 2009. In addition, GM will be allowed replace over half of the contributions that it owed to the retiree health care trust fund (VEBA) with stock, and the remainder of the contributions will be replaced with a $2.5 billion note and $6.5 billion in preferred stock. These changes will save GM billions of dollars. They also greatly increase the risks being assumed by retirees. Depending on the value of the company's stock, the trustees of the retiree health-care trust fund may have to make further reductions in benefits in the coming years.
Based on all of the foregoing, the UAW submits it is abundantly clear that active and retired workers have made enormous sacrifices to facilitate the restructuring of GM. These sacrifices are on top of the major concessions that active and retired workers previously made in 2005 and 2007.
Some news stories, editorials and op eds, such as the May 29th editorial in the Wall Street Journal entitled "Political Bankruptcy," have incorrectly charged that the GM restructuring plan treats the UAW more "generously" than bondholders or other stakeholders, and because of political considerations does not require workers and retirees to give up enough. This is simply nonsense. As indicated by the facts set forth above, the workers and retirees have indeed made enormous sacrifices.
The UAW may not be bargaining in good faith. They are proving just as they did with GM. They would rather drive a company into bankruptcy than to negotiate a reasonable contract. They are unwilling to work with the larger union involved. They want it all and could care less who they destroy to get their way. The sooner the UAW is history the better for all Union people. The UAW gives Union people a bad name. All Unions are not like the UAW, thank goodness. They are not satisfied to drive the auto makers into bankruptcy. They want to drive every business they are involved in to destruction. Sad commentary.
You still don't get the point. The UAW needs to go away so the business of making great cars can be achieved. Fighting over compensation is a loos/lose game. History has made it's mark many,many times on this fact.
That whole propaganda piece is last gasp UAW BS. They know they have killed the goose and now want US the tax payers to maintain the opulent lifestyle they had extorted from a bunch of losers that were running GM. The rank & file workers gave up NOTHING in 2005-07. They sold the new hires down the river to maintain their high paying non skilled jobs. They continued to protect their jobs by offering the company retiree sacrifices. I do feel for those out of work. They have had plenty of time to save and retrain for the inevitable outcome of their lopsided contracts. They just cannot accept the fact that they are no longer needed at the price they demand. The job can be done as well or better for a lot less money. Sort of like the tractor and the combine putting a lot of horses and farm workers out of a job. Automation and less greedy workers are playing the UAW swan song.
Today's Dayton Daily News has a letter to the editor whining about GM workers not getting all they were promised. The responses to the letter in the blog are telling.
I don't think the population as a whole is crying for the UAW workers and retirees. Many see them as a big part of the demise of the domestic auto industry. Responses pretty much echo those sentiments. Sadly the UAW has taken down several state economies with their consistent greed over the years. Maybe Obama will hire them for ACORN census takers at minimum wage.
Comments
Graham said the contract’s main change is the fact that it runs for four years instead of three. The contract includes a 3 percent general wage increase in the second, third and fourth years. The ratification bonus included in the contract has been lowered to $3,500, which is down from the $4,500 bonus proposed in the original offer, Graham said.
Graham told the Dallas Business Journal he believes the contract was ratified because workers wanted to return to their jobs. When asked if the contract was the union's ideal, he said, "Not by a long shot. I had to endorse it because people wanted something to vote on," he added. "It's not the best contract, it's just the best one we had to vote on this time."
He added that the union tested the water for almost six weeks waiting for a better deal, but sometimes the final offer from the company is the one that stands, he explained Wednesday.
Looking at UAW history. They have gone on strike during every major war and conflict since WW2. While guys were dying in battle in need of war materials the thoughtless UAW has gone on strike. At least 3 strikes since we entered the war in Afghanistan. So those that want to wave the flag over UAW workers better look again. They are not the Patriots they would like US to believe. This strike against Bell Helicopters is just the latest example of their lack of Patriotism.
the sale was in 1990 for "land and building" and $50,000. The sellers were a couple; the names are individuals and don't sound like a builder. I agree they might have bought the land and then had the home built.
It's on a well and septic so it's relatively rural.
Search for heizer then choose david.
The article was silent on other incomes in the household. I love notifying the "reporters" when they slant an article by omission. I expect an email back from the reporter. The IUE has been very active in the area at nurturing reporting favoring them. And rightly so. The IUE was not nearly as aggressive as the UAW; IUE had given many, many concessions that were meaningful in terms of cost to keep the truck plant in Moraine operating, e.g.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2009 3:17 PM
To: labor@texasaflcio.org
Subject: End to Bell Helicopter Strike: 'No Winners' -- TxAFLCIOENews
1—More Details on the Bell Helicopter Settlement
2—No Rest for the Overheated Under Texas Law
3—Laugh Riot: ‘World’s Best Medical System’?
4—Health Care Reform Call-In Day Set for Tuesday; Rally at Texas AFL-CIO Takes Place Saturday
5—Texas Tribune Offers New Hope for Business Model to Cover Texas News
6—E-Mail News Will Take Hiatus Until Monday, Aug. 10
1) The Fort Worth Star-Telegram posted a detailed take on the end of the Bell Helicopter strike, and the article does a good job of pointing up why strikes have been rare in recent decades.
First, Brother Danny Trull of UAW clarifies his remarks in yesterday’s bulletin, noting that workers have some positives in their mixed bag under the new contract:
“I inadvertently indicated that the new agreement with Bell Helicopter was a 3 year agreement when in fact the previously rejected offer was 3 years.
The newly ratified agreement is a 4 year contract with a $3500 signing bonus and 3% wage increases for the last 3 years of the agreement.
The most expensive healthcare option that was previously on the table was removed and the group of janitorial workers who may have lost their jobs under the previous offer will go into a higher classification.
Thanks again to the Texas AFL-CIO and all those affiliates that helped during this crisis.”
Here is the article:
Thursday, Jul 23, 2009
Posted on Wed, Jul. 22, 2009
Bell's UAW members to return to work after OK'ing new contract
By BOB COX
rcox@star-telegram.com
Manufacturing workers at Bell Helicopter will go back to work next week after ratifying a four-year contract Wednesday and ending a 6-week-old strike.
By a ratio of 2-to-1, members of United Auto Workers Local 218 approved a deal that almost all agreed is less attractive than the one they rejected by a nearly identical vote June 14.
"I didn’t like it, but it beats not having a job, especially with the way the economy is now," said Mark Crear, a 15-year Bell employee and UAW member.
"We lost, but the company lost as well," Crear said. "There’s no winners."
Tom Wells, chairman of Local 218, conceded that the strike didn’t result in a better contract.
"It got worse," Wells said.
But Wells and other union leaders, who had recommended the first contract that members voted down, urged workers to accept the company’s latest offer.
"Taking into consideration our 2,500 members and their families, the fact we had been out six weeks, the bargaining committee and myself thought this was best for the membership," Wells said.
In a statement, a Bell official expressed satisfaction with the contract.
"Although the process took longer than we had hoped, we are eager to welcome back our teammates from UAW Local 218 and look forward to working together to continue the evolution of Bell Helicopter," said Martha May, senior vice president of human resources. May was Bell’s chief negotiator and the focus of many union members’ ire over what they perceived as a hard-line stance on key issues.
The company is holding mandatory two-hour "return to work" sessions today at the Fort Worth Convention Center. Wells said union officers will be on hand "to make sure the orientation sessions don’t turn into a browbeating. We’ve been assured that won’t happen, but we’ll make sure it doesn’t."
Union members resume work at Bell facilities Monday morning.
The contract is very similar to the proposal the union had rejected. However, the ratification bonus dropped from $4,500 to $3,500, and the new deal is for four years instead of three.
There will be no general wage increase in the first year. Workers will receive 3 percent pay increases, plus usual experience and seniority increases, in each of the next three years. They will also continue to receive cost-of-living adjustments, which can decrease as well as increase.
The strike was costly to workers in terms of forgone wages.
A midlevel union member making $24.94 an hour would have lost nearly $1,000 a week in wages during the strike. That was only partially replaced by union strike benefits of about $200 a week. They were also without health insurance.
"I think it’s the worst contract we could ever have," said David McKee, a bonding inspector with 10 years at Bell, who said he voted no. "They took away part of our bonus, and they took away part of our insurance."
McKee said he favored continuing to strike so Bell executives "will know we mean business."
Others said the strike was necessary and served a purpose.
"I think we did get the respect of the company," said Carl Siddall, a 15-year machine operator. "They didn’t expect us to stay out this long. I’m so proud of these people."
But James Smiley, a 43-year Bell veteran, said it is time to move on.
"What you lose, you can’t get back," he said.
Smiley, whose wife, Mavis, has cancer, said he penciled out the details of the health insurance changes and doesn’t feel that the higher premiums and co-payments are an unreasonable burden. "We’ll be OK," he said.
The company, in its summary of the new contract, said that over the life of the agreement, wages should increase by 26 percent, assuming a 3 percent annual rate of inflation on which cost-of-living adjustments will be based. On average, Bell said, the average base pay will rise from $57,830 per year to $72,920 per year, including projected cost-of-living adjustments but excluding overtime.
Wage rates for UAW Local 218 members range from $9 to $34.72 per hour, depending on job classification and experience. By the fourth year of the contract, the base wage for the highest labor grade will increase to $37.94 per hour, before cost-of-living adjustments.
On one key issue, health insurance, the company dropped an HMO-type plan that it had offered previously. Many workers had favored that plan but had objected to paying a steep rise in premiums.
On another key issue, the company’s plan to outsource janitorial work now performed by union members, Bell made only a minor concession.
In the past, workers who might otherwise have been laid off could fill a janitorial position until another production job opened. The union wanted to keep that.
Under the new contract, Bell will offer existing janitors other positions in the company. But janitor positions will be eliminated no later than Sept. 30 and the work outsourced.
In the first two years of the contract, in the event of a layoff at certain pay grades, the company has agreed to create a pool of 30 positions that workers can temporarily move into.
Column: Look out for employees in hot weather
By L.M. SIXEL Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
July 22, 2009, 9:44PMh
It's hot out there. But workers shouldn't look to the state of Texas for protection.
Only two states — Texas and Arizona — don't require employers to provide work breaks, according to Cristina Tzintzún, director of the Workers Defense Project in Austin.
That means that workers — who must be provided drinking water under federal safety and health laws — can't necessarily stop work and take a drink, said Tzintzún, whose group primarily represents construction workers with employment problems.
The Workers Defense Project intends to take up the issue of mandated breaks during the next legislative session. But until then, that doesn't mean employers are off the hook.
While the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration does not have specific sun exposure rules, it has a powerful weapon: the general duty clause. That's the over-arching rule that employers must provide a work environment free of recognized hazards that could likely cause death or serious physical harm.
During this sweltering summer that can mean time to rest in the shade and access to drinking water, experts say. And that, hopefully, will prevent another year like 2007, when 32 workers died of heatstroke, according to data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“It can be as big or as small as the secretary of labor wants it to be,” said Stephen J. Roppolo, regional managing partner of the Houston office of Fisher & Phillips, referring to the general duty clause.
Roppolo speculates the new secretary of labor, Hilda Solis, will be more aggressive about using the clause and citing employers who fail to safeguard their employees when it's hot.
OSHA has done it before, he said, pointing to citations the agency issued last year against a harvesting company and a heating and air conditioning firm for not protecting their employees while they were working in temperatures ranging from 82 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
While that may sound positively balmy during this hot spell, OSHA suggested several acceptable ways for the two companies to reduce exposure to high temperatures by permitting workers to drink water at liberty and allowing time to rest.
Education counts
The companies could teach employees about the effects of heat stress and how to recognize symptoms and prevent it. They could also offer a screening program to identify health conditions aggravated by high heat; have an acclimation program for new employees or those gone for three days or longer; and give immediate first-aid for employees with symptoms of heat-related illness, according to the citations.
“A smart employer would be wise to make water available in such situations, not just because OSHA might issue a citation, but because the employer would want to minimize the disruption caused by an employee missing work due to heat-related illness or injury,” said Roppolo.
One of his clients in the tank-cleaning business protects its employees by scheduling work before the sun rises and after it sets, monitoring the temperature and giving frequent water and rest breaks.
While federal law requires drinking water at job sites, the Workers Defense Project found many workers aren't getting any.
In a recent survey done jointly with the University of Texas, 27 percent of construction workers in Austin reported they're not provided clean drinking water. The survey interviewed 312 workers randomly chosen after getting off work.
And that leads to the heart of the matter, said Tzintzún.
Even if OSHA requires drinking water, there aren't enough inspectors to investigate all the complaints, she said. And workers can't file a lawsuit on their own to enforce OSHA standards like they can if their boss doesn't pay them the correct minimum wage and overtime or if they're discriminated against at the workplace.
Until employees can sue on their own, said Tzintzún, all they can do is hope OSHA investigates.
lm.sixel@chron.com
3) Sister Elaine Lantz of North Texas Jobs With Justice submitted this letter to the editor responding to an op-ed column on health care reform that is self-explanatory:
Dear Editor:
In Representatives Barton and Burgess’ Op-ed on July 21, 2009, they stated that “We should not tear down the world’s best medical system.” My question is world’s best medical system for whom? Is it the 47 million people with no health coverage? Is it the 8.7 million children with no health coverage? Is it the people who file for bankruptcy because they cannot pay their medical bills? Or is it the people who have health insurance who are denied payment of medical procedures that their physician prescribed because an insurance company determines (not the physician or patient) determines what is “medically necessary”?
How about everyone in the country getting the same health care that Representatives Barton and Burgess enjoy at taxpayers’ expense?
Sincerely,
Elaine Lantz
4) The National Call-In Day for Health Care Reform takes place Tuesday, July 28, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sponsored by Health Care for America Now!, the call-in asks those who support real reform that lowers costs and expands coverage to call their elected representatives in Congress to let them know that they will not stand still while corporate lobbyists and partisan Republicans out to “break” President Obama spend millions to undermine the legislation.
Here is the number that will link you to your representative in Congress: 1-877-264-4226. Please call it next Tuesday to help deliver historic reform.
Also, Texans for Obama will hold a pro-reform rally at Texas AFL-CIO headquarters this Saturday, as detailed in this letter. The organization invited any and all union members to attend, and Texas AFL-CIO President Becky Moeller plans to be there:
Fellow Texans,
We have a real opportunity to fix our broken health care system. Let's get the job done!
President Obama said last night at his press conference that the "stars are aligned" to finally get legislation passed this year. To make that happen, we need to join Obama supporters from across the country and stand up for real reform.
This Saturday afternoon, you're invited to a local health care rally featuring: Congressman Lloyd Doggett, Senator Kirk Watson, Mayor Lee Leffingwell, Council Member Sheryl Cole, Former State Rep. Ann Kitchen, TCDP Chair Andy Brown and others.
Our goal is to make Saturday's rally one of the biggest in the country. Spread the word!
Health care reform. Yes we can!
Best regards,
Texans for Obama
p.s.
Please note the location change to the AFL-CIO Hall. Thanks!
5) It’s no secret that the world of traditional journalism has contracted mightily and at an accelerated pace. When I was in the Capitol press corps in the 1980s and early 1990s, the group covering state legislative and political news numbered more than 50 full-time reporters from around the state. Now, the number has dropped to something like 20, if that.
Newspapers have died or cut back in the face of diminishing advertising and circulation. TV news rarely does any serious investigative reporting (with the exception of our friends at WFAA-TV in Dallas and one or two other operations). In Austin, only three publications now have more than one reporter covering the Capitol, and the hometown Austin newspaper is for sale.
That doesn’t mean journalism has died. What remains of the daily newspapers still includes exceptionally strong reporters. A few online operations are setting good examples. This newsletter often quotes from Talking Points Memo, which has grown into a serious gadfly covering national news and has won some prestigious awards normally reserved for the big guys. At the state level, Quorum Report and Texas Weekly have filled some of the vacuum caused by newsroom departures. A few outstanding niche publications are available online and some of the aggregators offer good insights into what is happening, though most don’t have the resources to do the consistent, full-time delving that breaks stories open in the first place.
But with shadows over the future of independent, hard-hitting journalism, the news that the newly capitalized Texas Tribune has purchased Texas Weekly and made Texas Weekly editor Ross Ramsey its managing editor is excellent. The new on-line publication, set to begin this fall, has already hired a group of excellent reporters, several of whom have, like Ramsey, covered labor issues with distinction. Ramsey has appeared as an expert at Texas AFL-CIO conventions. He knows where the stories are and where the bodies in state government are buried. The CEO of the new publication is Evan Smith, formerly the editor and, for a while, publisher of Texas Monthly.
Here’s hoping the Texas Tribune establishes a new model for business success in covering Texas news. I have no doubt that it will make waves journalistically.
6) With a legislative session and convention out of the way, I am going to take some vacation time. The Texas AFL-CIO E-Mail News will therefore go on hiatus over the next two weeks and resume on Monday, Aug. 10. If a news emergency requiring action arises, my colleagues will employ the e-Activist system, so if you’re not already on that list, go to www.texasaflcio.org for the link to sign up (and please include a home address, which is used only to link you to your elected representatives). If an even bigger emergency requires an e-mail, someone here will send out the message.
While on personal matters, I want to acknowledge that my son, Alejandro Sills, had a great experience at the constitutional convention serving in one of the sergeants-at-arms posts at the invitation of President Moeller. While the title sounds potentially more battle-ready than it is ever likely to get, plenty of hard work goes into being a sergeant-at-arms and Alejandro’s eyes were opened to the level of extraordinary detail it takes to put on a successful convention. The other sergeants-at-arms, the volunteers, the delegates and, of course, the officers and fellow staff members who have watched him grow up to be ready to start college in August all made it easy for him to fit in.
On a related note, though I’m not ordinarily in the mode of bragging on my family in this forum, President Moeller asked me to publicize the fact that Alejandro won college scholarships from both the Union Plus and the Office and Professional Employees International Union programs. These are extremely competitive national scholarships that will make a nice dent in the tuition bill. Alejandro’s labor credentials were strong – he has walked a picket line, earned the Boy Scout American Labor merit badge, participated in previous conventions and other labor events, voted a pro-labor slate in his first election, etc. – thanks to this movement, for which I am always grateful.
After recharging over the next couple of weeks, I look forward to seeing you all on my return and I really mean that.
Now, can you persuade rockylee to come back too? We miss the badgering of that Michigan boy.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
Then again, maybe it should be "to heck with rocky"...WHERE'S BETH???...:):):):):)
We want more news on Beth rockford fosgate!
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
"[T]he union was there, doing its union thing, while the companies enjoyed more than a half century of blissful blue-chip profitability, give or take a few quarters. So, what happened? Did the union suddenly get greedy, forcing America's largest industrial corporation into bankruptcy?"
He goes on to talk about how the UAW helped fund the first Earth Day back in 1970. But Reuther, a supporter of progressive causes, died in a plane crash and the UAW then lined up with management to oppose safety, emissions and fuel economy. The SUV boom and big bust followed.
To cap it off, the new union rep on GMs board is Steve Girsky, formerly of Morgan Stanley, the same long time anti-union outfit that advised investors in 2002 to look for the union label and run the other way.
You have to wonder if the rank and file is too busy welding soda cans into the door panels to notice such things. Good read if you can find a copy.
I am wondering if UAW will start supporting the SEIU union thugs (marsha7 probably has the right philosophy about unions) in suppressing American voices in townhall meetings like they did in St. Louis. The UAW was a major part of local community organizing here to solicit votes for Obama; I see them as pushing for the healthcare now that theirs looks more and more tenuous. The SEIU was the purple shirt militia. I'm waiting to read Michelle Malkin's book--she was interviewed today talking about their philosophy of using "the power of persuasion but being ready to use the persuasion of power." That is a scary direction for American politics and unionism to take.
The IUE had a full page ad about how their union members were overlooked in benefits coverage during the automaker's takeover by Obama. I don't think there's any way to link that page in the paper if I can find which date it published.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
It may have been based on this news release:
DAYTON – IUE-CWA, the Industrial Division of the Communications Workers of America, is moving aggressively to protect the interests of more than 41,000 represented retirees and their dependents with a filing to stop General Motors' plan to sell its viable assets.
The objection seeks to prevent GM's proposed Section 363 sale that would strip GM of the resources needed to pay the health care and other benefits promised IUE-CWA retirees. The union estimates its claims against GM will top $5 billion, the vast majority of which are the benefits owed to retirees.
The union states that GM is violating bankruptcy code with disparate treatment of groups of retirees who have the same promised benefits, noting that under Section 1114 the company must show that any proposed reduction is fair and equitable when compared to how similar groups are dealt with.
The filing calls GM "not only unfair, but cruel," for protecting lifetime health and life insurance benefits for retirees similarly situated under the United Auto Workers while leaving IUE-CWA retirees and another 6,500 retirees represented by other unions with unsecured creditor claims against a company that will have no assets if the planned sale goes through.
IUE-CWA reached agreement with GM on a voluntary employee beneficiary association to cover its members in December 2008 but the company refused to implement the VEBA citing requirements imposed by the U.S. Treasury Department in its initial bailout assistance. Since then, GM has made no offers on how to resolve the benefits issue.
"With the Treasury Department's apparent blessing, GM is trying to subvert the bankruptcy process by using the sale to reorganize the company without meeting any of the standards set by the bankruptcy code," said IUE-CWA President Jim Clark. "If GM is successful, our retirees will be left holding an empty bag. The law does not allow favoritism for powerful creditors and we will not allow this grossly unfair attempt to cheat our retirees to proceed unchecked."
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Do dead UAW workers, especially the militant ones, decay into crude oil???...it would be nice, so we could burn them in "purgatory" so to speak, in our Honda and Toyota combustion chambers...I can dream, can't I?????
I wonder how Rocky will react when it adversely affects his older UAW family members. His dream of a socialist state will probably swing far to the right, as it did those of US that suffered greatly in the late 1970s.
What is scary, is the many parallels between today and the 1930s when FDR was pushing US toward Marxism. The only roadblock I see to full blown socialism is the current wars and pending wars. That is a sad way to avoid losing our freedoms to the left.
Not exactly. You see under many of the recent UAW agreements they have pushed the older employees into early retirement. A UAW retiree could still be in his late 40s or more likely his or her early 50s. That means no Medicare for many years. I retired at 63 and was given a COBRA option to maintain my union health care for $950 per month. I opted to buy a catastrophic plan as a bridge to Medicare. Even that was $263 per month. Many retirees will be left with small pensions and no insurance. Of course Obama care is on the horizon. Except it will limit treatment for old people. Oh well nothing is perfect.
Isn't it amazing just how many people (Presidents and Democrats) have been trying to make this into a Communist nation, regardless of the Constitution???
And with so many Communist/Socialist nations out there for the last century, why can't they just go there and be happy???...let us be a free society and take your Communism elsewhere...if you want a life where everybody is equal in all respects, there are many nations who want you...Cuba comes to mind, along with Venezuela...
Hence the phrase, "America, love it or leave it"...alter it to mean "America, leave it ALONE"...
Damn liberals...
The proposals floating around are more like socialized insurance, not socialized medicine (premiums are paid with tax revenues, in other words). Maybe the UAW is trying to cut their premiums, knowing that their access to medical care won't change.
Strike time? :shades: :lemon:
What goes unsaid either by the article or the UAW, GM's legacy costs have been Chap 11'd away. This gives GM ENORMOUS economic (cost and operational,etc.) advantages over TMC !!!!
Interesting but again unsaid by either the article or the UAW; UAW (pension) is an OWNER of GM. The US.gov another (majority) owner of GM. Both have seats on the Board of Directors.
Yet... half of the issue: GM bailing out of the NUMMI plant.
Evidently the B o D's decided the Pontiac Vibe (MADE IN the Nummi Plant, Fremont, CA) was NOT a profitable model and ultimately, (Pontiac) product line to ....keep. Hmmmmmmmmmm, regression to the decisions mean is a relentless thing.............
Having run a unionized plant for 7 yrs in the heart of UAW stronghold, Michigan, I can truthfully state that organized labor has chased most of our heavy industry to foreign countries..
Whirlpool is closing down their Evansville, Ind operation and moving to Mexico, 1,100 jobs gone. The California joint venture operation of GM/Toyota is being closed for the [non-permissible content removed] said that the UAW labor cost and efficiency "sucked", 3,300 jobs gone..
Back in 2000 a Goodyear plant that I was selling steel forgings to was told by Ford, if they wanted to receive future business of engine/transmission mounts that Goodyear had to build a new plant in Mexico and that this particular Ohio plant would be given no new business, and would supply existing parts only..
By the way I gave up my VP of Operations in 12/79, and 3 yrs later we closed the UAW plts in Mich and Wisc, consolidating operations to a non-union existing plant in Illinois..The Mich plant was showing 20% profit, great return, however, the logistics was to dump the UAW..The union contributes "nothing" to any operation at any time or any place..Unions rule by sheer numbers only, mob mentality..
Our commie infested White House is a disgrace to all American ideals, and let's pray that the non-vetted persons in Washington are sent "packing"...soon!!!!
Toy and GM each had a reason for the NUMMI agreement...GM would "learn" about Toyota's manufacturing methods (yeah, right) and Toy would learn how an American auto plant worked (and ran away at top speed)...plus, at a time when anti-Japanese feeling were running high (1980s) this gave Toy an opportunity to "cooperate" with the Americans and diffuse some of the heat...
Personally, I think they used NUMMI as a write-off as they built their own plants to make better cars...I am sure they learned a lot from NUMMI and it can be summed up like this...avoid the UAW and its workers and attitudes like you would avoid botulism in your lunch box!!!
We know how bad the UAW has been for the auto industry, and we see it from the outside...it probably took about 1-2 HOURS for Toyota to run like hell from anything the UAW wanted to have a part in...they are the toxic solution to nothing...
I wonder if Commie Obama will ship the NUMMI folks back to Michigan...
Please, NO. We have enough unemployed people with the 10s or hundreds of thousands laid off over the decade from Delphi and GM and F and C. Let them claim unemployment from Arnold.
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What I mean is this..I have read various analyses of C4C, and some folks say that all they did was take sales of the next 6 months and condense them into one month...implying that auto sales from Sep-Dec will crash even further...so, do carmakers go into further debt by making cars, or do they sit tight, close plants, and wait and see if demand is really "penting up?" (as in "pent-up demand")...
They SHOULD plan on an SAAR rate that is around 9.5MM - 10.0MM for 2010. I believe GM thinks it will be 12MM for 2010. No doubt 50% of C4C is draw-forward sales which means September will be quite a valley, indeed.
Based on the unemployment rate that will peak sometime in 2010, I believe they are way too optimistic.
This from Auto Observer for GM Aug. 2009:
GM will sell 213,000 units, down 30.7 percent compared to August 2008 and up 13.2 percent from July for a market share of 18.4 percent, down from 24.7 percent in August 2008 and down from 18.9 percent in July.
That's INCLUDING C4C.
Regards,
OW
http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourhealth/policy/articles/health_care_reform2.5.html
Fox news reported a couple of days ago that only about 2% of the money had been paid to the dealers. Dealers can't stay in business that way.
I'm believing UAW and all auto manufacturers need to sit tight for a while and see how this thing shakes out. A customer wants a particular car, they can "Special" order it to their specifications. That used to be a way of life for buying cars.
Side note: With the Feds not being able to deal with 640K car deals, how can they expect to handle 300 million folks needing medical attention?
Kip
Not to be off topic, but this needs a response. I realize the proponents planned a push in favor before the congress (bless their hearts) go back to DC, but the idea that anything else questioning the things that were in the original or revised bills is fear mongering is ridiculous:
AARP has an interest in selling more insurance if the plan passes just like they sell Medicare Part D insurance profitably now. So AARP got on the bandwago in favor. They are not unbiased. They do not represent seniors' interests. Maybe people haven't noticed but when I joined AARP I got more advertisements from them selling stuff for the kickback they get than I got junkmail from all other sources combined.
Also AARP counted me as a member after 1993 when I joined one year. That's even though I didn't pay. When I went to rejoin in 1998 it would not let me because I was still a member. Ever wonder how they alleged to represent so many people over 50?
The head guy is from Chicago.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
People are beginning to see what AARP has become , and are dropping their memberships. They are down about 60K over the past few months according to Fox and CNN news.
You have obviously not read the Tom Daschle book that Obama Care is based on. I am happy with my Kaiser Medicare plan. Why would I want Obama messing with it. Why would the Feds try fixing something that is not broke. If they would just get a handle on the fraud in Medicare it would save the tax payers $billions.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — It is hardly unusual these days for a government building to forgo a fresh paint job or regular lawn care to cut costs. But last week, the director of the Jefferson County public nursing home was told that the county could no longer afford to bury indigent patients.
Across town at the juvenile detention center, the man in charge was trying to figure out how to feed the 28 children in his custody when the entire cafeteria staff is let go.
In family court, administrators plan to delay child support, custody and child abuse cases, leaving some children in the hands of the state indefinitely.
Jefferson County, which includes Birmingham, could be compared to a person who has lost his job, watched his retirement investments evaporate and is stuck with a house that is worth less than what he owes the bank.
Florida's welfare rolls grew 15.2 percent over the past year, according to the latest data, a trend many economists say will continue even after the recession ebbs.
More than 56,700 families received state welfare aid in July. That's up from 49,257 families during the same month last year, state data shows.
"What we are seeing is what we expect to see," said Don Winstead, deputy secretary of Florida's Department of Children and Families. "Given the economic situation in the state, you would expect to see more working-age adults with children needing help."
Florida has become accustomed to tough economic indicators. Unemployment hit its highest point in 34 years last month. Growth has stalled, and foreclosure continues to shutter thousands of homes each month.
Economists expect the unemployment rate to stay high even after the recession ends, so a respite does not seem likely in the near future, said University of Florida economics professor David Denslow.
"The surprise would be if the recovery in jobs turns out to be more rapid than economists are expecting," Denslow said. If unemployment remains high or rises after the recession ends, he said, the welfare rolls could continue to expand.
Economists vary widely on when the national market will generate more jobs. Optimists predict within the next year. A more grim outlook postulates as late as 2012.
"Our research reveals that Georgia now has historically high levels of unemployment among male workers," Thurmond said. "Men tend to dominate employment in construction and manufacturing, two of the industries that have been hardest hit by layoffs in our state."
The number of men drawing unemployment insurance benefits between December 2007, the official beginning of the current recession, and May 2009 rose 160 percent, up from 34,136 to 88,612. Jobless males now make up 57.6 percent of Georgians receiving unemployment benefits.
Still, the state unemployment report underscored the damage that the longest recession since World War II has inflicted on companies, workers and communities, and the challenges the economy faces getting back on its feet.
A common theme running through states suffering from high unemployment was heavy layoffs tied to the troubled auto industry and the collapse of the housing market. Workers in manufacturing, construction, retail and finance have been the hardest hit.
"A lot of older industries are having to shut down and many of these jobs will never come back," said Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group.
The unemployment rate for U.S. engineering and computer occupations is rising at a faster pace than for other professional occupations, according to data released Friday by the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. An analysis of the data by IEE-USA, an organizational unit of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, found the unemployment rate for all engineers grew from 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 to 3.9 percent in the first quarter of 2009.
The state's unemployment rate rose to 9.4% in March, the Department of Workforce Development reported Thursday.
March unemployment skipped past February's 8.8%, and surpassed the national rate for the first time since June 2007.
The U.S. unemployment rate was 9% in March.
Wisconsin lost a total of 8,700 non-farm jobs last month and has shed more than 112,000 jobs since March 2008.
Recession-watchers have to look back to 1982 to find unemployment rates higher than those released Thursday. Wisconsin's unemployment topped out at 10.9% that year.
The report, which looks at the nation’s 100 largest metro markets, says that while no area has been immune to the economic downturn, the pain has been unevenly distributed.
It shows, for example, that the Greensboro-High Point area has been hit harder than the Raleigh or Charlotte areas.
Nationally, the Guilford County cities rank among the bottom third of metro areas based on the recession’s impact.
American Lawyer is calling it “the fire this time” and warning that big firms may be hurtling toward “a paradigm-shifting, blood-in-the-suites” future. The Law Shucks blog has a “layoff tracker,” and it is grim reading. Top firms are rapidly thinning their ranks, and several — including Heller Ehrman, a venerable 500-plus-lawyer firm founded in 1890 — have closed.
The employment pains of the legal elite may not elicit a lot of sympathy in the broader context of the recession, but a lot of hard-working lawyers have been blindsided, including young associates who are suddenly finding themselves with six-figure student-loan debts and no source of income.
No sympathy here. The legal profession has the least oversight of the estates supposedly supporting society. And too many attorneys and judges have used this lack of transparency to rip off the public, mostly when people can least afford it and are hurting and children are involved, such as in divorce cases.
And that's were the infamous billable hour comes in.
We are all the time getting their garbage in the mail trying to sell us one type of insurance or another or some other scheme.
Seems that "AS Members" we get some kind of SPECIAL discount. Can't seem to discourage them. I do get a certain satisfaction from returning their envelopes, empty, so they can pay the postage.
Kip
That fact should be an embarrassment and shame to us all. We spend nearly $2.5 trillion on care and we spend nearly 50 percent more of our gross national product (G.N.P.) on health care than the rest of the industrialized world. Yet we have over 46 million completely uninsured people and at least 10 million more seriously underinsured people.
Have you ever known any of GM's business plans to be anything other than way too optimistic?
Another example that the new GM is still just like the OLD GM.
The report, which looks at the nation’s 100 largest metro markets, says that while no area has been immune to the economic downturn, the pain has been unevenly distributed.
That is a BIG LIE. Washington DC has a very low unemployment rate. I wonder why. TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT.
That is true. I bought a catastrophic health care policy until I reached 65. And your so called uninsured are leeches for the most part. Over half of those uninsured have a family income over $50k per year. No excuse for not having at least catastrophic coverage. And just paying the doctor if you go in for a cold or flu. And send any illegal that tries to use ER back across the border. :P No more prenatal care for illegals. And no more automatic citizenship. It is one of the issues bankrupting CA. The Feds mandate ER for all and do not pay the bill. So it falls on the shoulders of the local tax payers.
And it is the UAW entitlement mentality that perpetrates this kind of ignorance.
That may be the reason the CHP tended to use Mustangs for interceptors. :sick:
Kinda makes me wonder though, if the same thing happens at other plants? I mean, surely, the workers can tell which cars coming down the line are police cars, versus civilian.
If they keep feeding the UAW and re-badge across the FOUR divisions, the other would be way too destined to fail...AGAIN.
Here is another example of messiness and Unions.
UAW Casino Workers??
Regards,
OW
Is management in denial?
In the contract that was ratified by UAW members last week, active employees agreed to the following major concessions:
• Performance bonuses worth 4 percent and 3 percent of pay scheduled for 2009 and 2010 were eliminated.
• Cost of living adjustments were eliminated for the remainder of the contract.
• Holidays were reduced.
• Overtime and relief time rules were scaled back substantially.
•Wages for new "entry level" employees were frozen and the company was allowed to increase the percentage of its workforce employed at this much lower rate.
• The company was also allowed to hire part-time employees with reduced wages and benefits.
• Certain job security programs were suspended and supplemental unemployment benefits were scaled back for laid-off workers.
• Job classifications were reduced and work rules were made more flexible.
Taken together, these concessions will save GM billions of dollars over the remainder of the contract, and will make compensation for active workers fully competitive with that paid by foreign nameplate operations in the U.S. Furthermore, it is important to note that the biggest sacrifices will be made by the tens of thousands of workers who will lose their jobs as a result of the numerous plant closings that GM is announcing in its restructuring plan.
In addition, retired UAW members have made the following sacrifices:
• Reimbursements for the Medicare Part B premium (now $76.20 per month) were eliminated.
• Prescription drug co-pays were increased.
• Dental and vision benefits were eliminated.
• Premiums and deductibles were increased for retirees with pensions less than $8,000, thereby tracking increases that were previously implemented for all other retirees.
These concessions also will save GM hundreds of millions of dollars during the remainder of 2009. In addition, GM will be allowed replace over half of the contributions that it owed to the retiree health care trust fund (VEBA) with stock, and the remainder of the contributions will be replaced with a $2.5 billion note and $6.5 billion in preferred stock. These changes will save GM billions of dollars. They also greatly increase the risks being assumed by retirees. Depending on the value of the company's stock, the trustees of the retiree health-care trust fund may have to make further reductions in benefits in the coming years.
Based on all of the foregoing, the UAW submits it is abundantly clear that active and retired workers have made enormous sacrifices to facilitate the restructuring of GM. These sacrifices are on top of the major concessions that active and retired workers previously made in 2005 and 2007.
Some news stories, editorials and op eds, such as the May 29th editorial in the Wall Street Journal entitled "Political Bankruptcy," have incorrectly charged that the GM restructuring plan treats the UAW more "generously" than bondholders or other stakeholders, and because of political considerations does not require workers and retirees to give up enough. This is simply nonsense. As indicated by the facts set forth above, the workers and retirees have indeed made enormous sacrifices.
http://www.uaw.org/auto/06_01_09auto1.cfm
Will they ever really learn?
Regards,
OW
Link to the online version
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