UAW strikes against Chrysler now

[Muscletang]

Thousands of Chrysler Autoworkers Strike Some Plants After UAW Deadline Passes

DETROIT (AP) -- Thousands of Chrysler LLC autoworkers walked off the job Wednesday after the automaker and the United Auto Workers union failed to reach a tentative contract agreement before a union-imposed deadline.

It is the first UAW strike against Chrysler since 1997, when one plant was shut down for a month, and the first strike against Chrysler during contract talks since 1985. Negotiators stopped talking after the strike began, according to a person briefed on the talks who requested anonymity because the talks are private.

The UAW apparently is not striking at five plants that Chrysler already had idled this week because of sagging sales of some models, according to another person familiar with the walkout who asked not to be identified because the situation is in flux.

Brett Ward, a forklift driver at the Sterling Heights assembly plant in suburban Detroit, said he thinks a strike is justified, but he hopes the union can get a better deal than the one it reached with General Motors Corp.

"Hopefully with a strike we'll get some better gains and get a better contract in front of us," he said.

The UAW, which must reach new four-year agreements with all three Detroit automakers, struck GM for two days before tentatively settling with the automaker on Set. 26. The union hasn't yet agreed with Ford Motor Co.

Chrysler has 24 U.S. manufacturing facilities, including 10 assembly plants. The automaker had already planned to idle five assembly plants and some parts making factories for short stretches during the next two weeks in an effort to adjust its inventory to a slowing U.S. automotive market.

Workers didn't strike the Warren Truck assembly plants in Warren, Mich.; Newark, Del., assembly; Jefferson North assembly in Detroit; Belvidere assembly in Belvidere, Ill., and the Conner Avenue assembly plant in Detroit.

A short strike likely will have little effect on the automaker, which had a 71-day supply of cars and trucks on dealer lots at the end of August, according to Ward's AutoInfoBank. A walkout longer than a month would start to cut into sales, said Paul Taylor, chief economist with the National Automobile Dealers Association.

Talks between the UAW and Chrysler began in July but accelerated last weekend. The union set the 11 a.m. deadline to settle or to strike. The UAW represents about 45,000 workers at Chrysler's U.S. manufacturing facilities, making it the smallest of the Detroit automakers.

Chrysler was a wild card in this year's negotiations because it was bought by the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP shortly after the talks began. DaimlerChrysler AG, which is now called Daimler AG, sold a controlling stake in the 82-year-old Chrysler to Cerberus in August. The firm has since hired Bob Nardelli, formerly head of The Home Depot Inc., to be Chrysler's chairman and chief executive. Chrysler Vice Chairman and President Tom LaSorda, who led Chrysler before Nardelli was hired, is representing the company in the talks.

Many industry analysts believe Cerberus will fix the money-losing Chrysler quickly, return it to profitability and sell it for a huge profit, perhaps to a foreign auto company that wants a stronger U.S. presence. It was unclear how Cerberus' plans for the company would factor in the talks.

The bargaining appeared to hinge on the UAW granting the same health care cost concessions to Chrysler as it did to GM and Ford in 2005, and on how much Chrysler would pay into a company-funded, UAW-run trust that would take on its roughly $18 billion worth of retiree health care costs. GM has already agreed to form such a trust.

Also at issue was the union's desire for job security pledges at U.S. factories and Chrysler's wish to contract out parts transportation now done by higher-wage union members, according to one of the people briefed on the talks, who asked not to be named because the talks are private.

The union normally settles with one U.S. automaker and then uses that deal as a pattern for an agreement with the other two. But several industry analysts have said that Chrysler and Ford have different needs and therefore need different contracts.

Agreements must be ratified by UAW members to go into effect. GM's 74,000 UAW members have been voting on their agreement for the last week and totals were expected Wednesday.

First they got GM, now Chrysler. Why do I have a feeling Ford is in for the same?

So GM loses money and loses spot as the world's largest automaker.
The unions then demand more money?

Chrysler loses money and is said to be hanging on by a thread and is close to filing bankruptcy.
The unions are demanding more money?

Does anybody see a problem here?

[ericn1300]

Originally Posted by Muscletang

So GM loses money and loses spot as the world's largest automaker.
The unions then demand more money?

I didn't see any demands for more money, the issues are job security and health benifits. The union is just fighting to keep what they have.

[BNaylor]

At an average hourly wage of at least $70 per hour..... no wonder the big 3 are going down the drain. Get rid of the unions and the ridiculous wages.

Chrysler pays its workers an average of $75.86 per hour in wages, pension and health care costs, the highest among the Detroit automakers.

http://www.examiner.com/a-977815~UAW...?cid=sec-promo

[ericn1300]

Originally Posted by BNaylor

At an average hourly wage of at least $70 per hour..... no wonder the big 3 are going down the drain. Get rid of the unions and the ridiculous wages.

[/i]

No UAW worker makes $70 per hour, that's the total cost of labor. Take that number and divide it by 4 to find the average total houly wage. The true cost of labor as stated in that $70 per hour includes a lot of overhead that could be cut at the corporate level.

The problems seems moot now that Chrysler has come to an agreement to move those cost to a third party that must be fully funded and show an invesment profit on behalf of the workers. Good work by the the private sector in taking over Chysler and negotiating in good faith. I love free markets.

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by ericn1300

No UAW worker makes $70 per hour, that's the total cost of labor. Take that number and divide it by 4 to find the average total houly wage. The true cost of labor as stated in that $70 per hour includes a lot of overhead that could be cut at the corporate level.

Quite obvious the $75 figure is for the total compensation which includes medical and pension, etc. as shown in my quote and link. Note that it is an average based on the workers that work hourly such as at the assembly plants. Last time I checked Chrysler and GM honor union scale wages so your math sounds incorrect if you divide solely by 4 to establish the actual hourly wage less all of the other benefits. In contrast Toyota's hourly wages and other benefits is in a range of $40-$50.

I know for a fact in Arlington, Texas at the plant where GM pickup trucks and SUVs are now assembled GM pays union-scale wages of $26.50 to $30.50 an hour to its 2,800 hourly workers there.

What is criminal is what higher management is getting in compensation mainly the CEOs of the U.S. big three.

[00accord44]

My old roommate (from Detroit) had a summer job with Chrysler doing menial office work and he was raking in $22 an hour plus any random overtime they allowed. If you multiply that out over a 50 week working year thats $44k just for being a basic paper pusher. He said half the time he just sat on his ass in the warehouse. How and why he was allowed overtime is beyond me but he certainly got plenty of it. $33 an hour to do nothing... fine use of Chrysler's funds. It was great for him though

[ericn1300]

Originally Posted by BNaylor

Toyota's hourly wages and other benefits is in a range of $40-$50.

Again, that's the cost of labor which is why Toyota moved production here and stopped making cars for export to the US in Japan, cheaper labor in the hill billy states. All their kids are eligible for coverage by SCHIPs due to the low wages, a goverment subsidy for Toyota along with the property tax breaks the states gave them.

Originally Posted by BNaylor

I know for a fact in Arlington, Texas at the plant where GM pickup trucks and SUVs are now assembled GM pays union-scale wages of $26.50 to $30.50 an hour to its 2,800 hourly workers there.

Nice to see a flourishing middle class still exists somewhere in the USA that actually pays it's own way, and thats all $30 an hour is these days.

Originally Posted by BNaylor

What is criminal is what higher management is getting in compensation mainly the CEOs of the U.S. big three.

Amen brother

[03cavPA]

Originally Posted by BNaylor

What is criminal is what higher management is getting in compensation mainly the CEOs of the U.S. big three.

Ah, yes, capitalism at its finest.

How about those "severance packages" given to CEOs if they FAIL at their jobs?