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by wood-cutter from farmington

Last Post 192 days, 13 hours Ago

No Bailout for the AUTO Industry!!

Nov 17, 2008 | 4:30 PM
Category: Political

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Write or call your senators and congressman!

No bailout for Auto makers unless the UAW is forced to take pay/benfit cuts!

If they wont come to the table....Fire them all and put the recently unemployed to work!

If we bailout this industry we need not waste the money on union benefits or we will be in the same boat very soon!

American auto makers are the last bastion of American manufacturing we shouldnt let them fail,but without a TOTAL re-negotiation of union benefits it is a worthless proposition!

13 Comments | Add a Comment

Nov 17, 2008 | 11:43 PM

Reminds me of when Reagan fired the air traffic controllers' union... what was that called? Patco? Now those were the days.

Oh if your congressman is Moore, don't bother. He's a rubber stamp for bailouts.

open_eyed_liberal

Nov 17, 2008 | 11:45 PM

I think I may have come up with a compromise for this situation:

Take the profits made, and remove the amount spent on parts, maintenance, upgrades etc. From what is left, create a minimum wage of , and a maximum wage of (no more than 10X the minimum). Based on the number of hours worked coupled with the intensity of the labor (those placing the ash-trays into cars will make slightly less than those lifting something heavier into place; executive pay can be based on the amount of paperwork completed in the set time and will start at the same rate as the workers making minimum), distribute the remaining profit accordingly. Since the executives of the automakers are obviously incapable of handling money anyway, I see no reason for them to determine the salaries of all involved, including their own.

There, now there is profit to upgrade the facilities, purchase parts and give everyone good wages. One more thing - anyone caught taking from the cost section will be terminated immediately. Sound fair?

vision

Nov 18, 2008 | 12:17 AM

open_eyed_liberal, Cost accounting simplified, however, you left out land lease costs, building lease costs, utlities, shipping & freight costs, packaging supplies, taxes, inspection fees, and much more. The idea of the supervisors or managers getting paid on the amount of paperwork or the time to do it. Well, micro economics, works well in lawyers offices, where every client is charged out based on time spent with or on the case, but as far as production management those concepts are little hard to apply.

Get rid of the managers that sit in the office collecting a paycheck and doing nothing except planning the next company retreat, convention, or any other way of wasting money and stop trying to operate a corporate business for profit, like a non-for-profit with all the perks.

open_eyed_liberal

Nov 18, 2008 | 12:35 AM

"Cost accounting simplified, however, you left out land lease costs, building lease costs, utlities, shipping & freight costs..."
Hence, the term "etc." If I included everything, this post could go on for a while.

"The idea of the supervisors or managers getting paid on the amount of paperwork or the time to do it."
This was an example of determining the intensity of their labor. I did not mean this was all they do, or even that they were all necessary (I should have wrote that better to indicate it was an example). However, if I mention removing them, we begin to move into a new argument of "where do they go and why should they be the ones to leave?" For my example, it is just easier to keep them and find something new for them to do. If the idea is actually implemented, then we can move onto the deeper concepts such as "who stays, who goes," but for this stage of the theory, it can wait.

sweethart

Nov 18, 2008 | 12:37 AM

"Write or call your senators and congressman" Thats laughable. It worked so well when we did it the first time.

Searchingtoo

Nov 18, 2008 | 8:02 AM

Sweethart... if we quit trying.. then they will think we are agreeing with what they are doing.

wood-cutter

Nov 18, 2008 | 9:55 AM

CEL: I appreciate that for the first time you have tried to be realistic-not kidding! Kudos!

The only issue I have with what you said is that your statements imply that the managment has grossly mismanaged these companies into this situation and thats not true.The government CAFE standards and union demands have put these companies in an untenable situation.No one could make this work-thats why there is no point in bailing tham out without an overhaul of the UAW. i dont think wages should be re-calculated based on profit margins but on manufacturing wages across the country(the market).I will say that executive compensation needs to be modified as well,until this storm is over.

Overall,you tried to be fair and realistic-I commend you!

wood-cutter

Nov 18, 2008 | 9:56 AM

CEL: these guys make 115% of the average manufacturing wage across the country.

lmatt

Nov 18, 2008 | 10:09 AM

The UNIONS are one reason why the cars are so high priced! Screw the unions! Union workers are OVER PAID and UNDER worked!

DogJ

Nov 18, 2008 | 11:04 AM

What's amazing about all these Auto blogs, is how few people support the idea of a "Bail-out" with the UAW maintaining its status.

Last night on ABC news, Charlie Gibson reported that the "average" UAW member made $71 per hour. The "average" non-union Honda and Toyota worker made $42 per hour. Annualized this is $145,550 verses $86,100.
Bye, bye Union.

wood-cutter

Nov 18, 2008 | 12:42 PM

Dogj: Thats why I keep hammering the point! For the first time in my life I think its actually possible to strike a serious blow to the unions in this country! weve needed this mindset for a long time! Im not for bailouts but the Auto industry has a good record of making good on its promise(Iacoca).we let this this bastion of American manufacturing fail.Also if things get real bad we will need the manufacturing infrastructure like we did in WWII. Its a far better idea than bailing out mortages and wall street and the union aspect is a bonus!

DogJ

Nov 18, 2008 | 1:39 PM

I'm with you wc.
Heck, even oel is suggesting a retrofitting of the unions!
We may be on to something here:-)

vision

Nov 18, 2008 | 7:54 PM

DogJ, and lets not forget to mention the long term benefit of Toyota and Honda, ha ha ha there is none. Bye, bye union is the plan, maybe when it is brought back they will not be so D greedy.
open_eyed_liberal, easy, easy, I was yanking your chain a little, by the way Labor, Burden, Material rates.
wood-cutter, if not voluntarily, then by force, what other way then to induce a economic financial disaster, but if the workers will not work with it, they will probably loose the industry. It looks like the government has a plan for production companies in other areas of their North American Union. Give up those 85% paychecks when the company is in layoff, think of it like construction workers that work seasonal. Yeah, buddy, the look of the future, spreading that wealth.

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