UAW Attempts to Sucker American People
Tags: Government Bail Outs.
Click here to get Caucus of Corruption: The Truth About The New Democratic Majority by Matt Margolis and Mark Noonan.
From Hot Air:
New UAW ad: You people aren’t going to put us out of work, are you?
A poignant message from the folks who helped steer American automotives into a ditch. Too bad they mentioned cars in the voiceover; otherwise this could be recycled as is, replete with the “not a banker” class resentment element, by any industry demanding a future bailout. I’m going to file it away for redubbing just in case blog advertising dries up. That would never happen, would it?
Geraghty wonders who’ll be buying cars next year or the year after with the economy in the toilet, but I think he’s only saying that because he loves bankers. Meanwhile, NRO claims that Congress has stalled on a comprehensive bailout but that a bridge loan to punt the issue to Obama is possible. A final deal reportedly could involve a “big role” for government in restructuring the companies with even a “car czar” appointed for oversight — which has worked out super for TARP thus far. What could go wrong?
Of course none of us want the auto workers to lose their jobs – we’re just wary of using taxes on our $20 an hour or so salaries to be used to subsidize $50 an hour auto workers who’s union dues go to support the very same Democratic politicians who got us into this mess in the first place. Call us cruel, if you like, but most Americans figure that if the Big Three go bankrupt then they’ll be able to restructure under new management with new labor contracts paying auto workers for the actual worth of the effort they put out.
It does appear that the grandiose plan for an auto bail out are dead, at least for now – but I hope that President Bush refuses to even provide a bridge loan. Let them go into bankruptcy – don’t put a GOP stamp on this scheme to protect the Union bosses from their own greed and idiocy; nor put a GOP stamp on giving a new lease on life to the corporate bosses who were so intent on their golden parachutes that they failed to notice that their industry was sliding into collapse.
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16 Responses to “UAW Attempts to Sucker American People”
Caucus of Corruption
UAW made their bed. Now they have to lay in it.
BUT……
The liberals will never allow the unions to suffer. So much payback for the cash and votes the unions guarantee each election year.
Liberals love to talk about greedy big oil and the “problems” they cause, but NEVER do they accuse unions, especially the UAW, of being “big” or “greedy”.
The unions of today have succeeded in political power and in out pricing American labor to the point that the companies’ survivability depends on outsourcing. Not to mention that liberal confiscatory tax policies also force companies to outsource.
The truth hurts liberals. You will never accept it. Then you later moan and groan about jobs leaving the country.
Don’t worry Pelosi/Reid, mushmouth Barney Frank and the rest of the gang will not allow the unions to lose their contracts or give up too much in concessions.
what, did we lose all sense and wherewithall about free market economies…since when does government bail out private industry….do the workers flippin burgers at BK and Mac’ and Wendys actually have to provide anything to save GM and its unions when they cant afford to buy new cars anyways? and what purpose is it to save a mismanaged company, instead of letting them go down the drains? inmovation, competition, free markets thrive when that stuff happens…
thats the wonderful thing about it all…the giants can be slain, the removal of dinosaurs opens up new frontiers that need to be filled…they had thier chances…they blew it…unions created jobs for thier members that drove up the prices…removed the profits from huge corporations like Ford and GM…they need to go down the tube with them…the union members voted…they wanted to create jobs that gave them everything….they fed the destruction of thier own jobs…
they all can go down the tubes…sure…in the short run..it might hurt…but once those doors of competition open up again…we will be far better off than we are now.
ok js,
I can see your point. But why was it that the scrutiny applied to the big 3 was not applied to the financial sector?
“…used to subsidize $50 an hour auto workers…”
You really think auto workers are being paid $104,000 a year? I’d like to see some proof of that.
Mark, Bush has already openly supported many of the bailouts. In give him props on it. Will you stand by your beloved president? Or will you actually admit that maybe Bush isn’t your dream politician
“do the workers flippin burgers at BK and Mac’ and Wendys actually have to provide anything to save GM and its unions when they cant afford to buy new cars anyways?”
Hellooooooo!? It was you Republicans who supported tax-breaks for the wealthy! I see. When you do it, it’s fine, but God-forbid a liberal try to care for not just those dirty, unproductive poor people.
Average hourly wages for members of the UAW are $28.71 per hour.¹
if you count the pensions GM is paying, UAW workers average $73 per hour, unskilled labor on assembly lines actually cost a little over $31 with benefits, but that figure does not consider future retirement payments….
js,
About $73/hour is correct if you state that as the cost to the company. It is the same as the way Government contractors bill. The company will charge the Government $80/hour, but the individual may only be receiving $30-$35/hour. The difference is the cost to the company of employing the individual (benefits, retirement, cost of HR, etc.) From my experience, a burden of 2.4 ($73 divided by $30) is a little high, but not egregious. However, saying that an auto worker is making $50/hour, or as some have said, $75/hour, is deliberately misleading.
9. kmg1 | December 6th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
that is still innacurate. Even with the benefits package thr average total cost to GM, Ford or Chrysler is only $48.50 per hour. The bloat in the figures that were offered by the AP and repeated as if they were wages being paid includes the legacy costs or what you would call pensions.
pain,
I know pensions are included in the $73 figure. When I considered the burden, I assumed the figure included all costs, including pensions, current benefits, health care, etc. It is still not an incredibly high amount and will drop each year. The pensions current retirees are receiving are much more generous than ones current workers will receive.
Why we need to keep at least part of Americas manufacturing industry:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVXYzcb3r-w
pain and kmg,
As I understand it you have to take the total of all monies paid to working and retired employees and divide that by the total hours being worked by active employees to get the inflated $75/hr figure. It is indeed misleading. But what’s a few lies among friends.
Further, if we want to discuss who is overpaid, lets talk about those executives who run the financial services companies at whom we barely blinked when they came a calling for the billions of taxpayer dollars.
when a small segment of society manipulates core industies and forces the industries to increase thier pay through unions, and when the government endorses thier right and creates laws that benefit those few…they cost the rest of society substantially in real dollars and economic impact…
truely, if the same effort were made in the fast food industry, not many of us could afford a big mac or whopper…
government endorsement of these things that benefit such a small segment of society is a violation of the idea that we should all be treated equally, rich, poor, smart, heck, even the mental midgets that fill the membership rolls of liberal organizations that cause these imbalances in the free market economy deserve to be treats exactly the same way the government has treated the unions…
and when its all over….minimum wage will take on a new meaning…and industry will either charge extravagantly for thier product or shut down…because we all should be making $50 an hour…just like most journey unionists…i guarantee it would cure the health insurance crisis and stump our economy more than we have had since the great depression…
Hey, I want one of the $20 per hour jobs!! I earn $11.75, and make ends meet. I even bought a house, and not on the relaxed standards that got so many people into trouble. I say, go the route of bankruptcy, force real concessions from the UAW, and restructure. I am not worried that GM will disappear completely, and my Chevy Aveo will have nowhere to go for factory maintenance. I just believe that the company that comes out of the bankruptcy court will be better able to handle the future.
“I say, go the route of bankruptcy, force real concessions from the UAW, and restructure.”
It is true that the auto industry would not go away if it went bankrup. However, it would be forced to sell it’s assets until it could restore a balanced budget. This would involved closing down countless dealerships and factories, putting hundreds of thousands out of work in only a month or so. Not only that, but then there would be devastating business loss in places where the economy is rooted in the auto industry. I hate to sound like an alarmist, but there would be a massive migration out of the already crippled rust belt. I am serious when I say that we may be close to a depression if our auto industry went bankrupt.