Stellantis and Jeep facing UAW strike.

[biodiesel]

I can never understand why employers think they can screw the people that make their products.

It's not a smart business tactic, and there are consequences for not treating employees well. Good businesses promote good work environments.

The workers are often living paycheck to paycheck and just trying to earn a fair wage from a multi-billion dollar company.

Autoworkers make good money considering they are mostly unskilled or semi-skilled workers. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average autoworker makes $28.00 per hour. It's probably the most money that some will ever make.

The free market is a bitch when it can go both ways, ain't it?

There's not a free market in the auto industry. There are so many government subsidies and other types of legislative overreach, that it's a form of crony capitalism at best.

Either way, it's a choice. Striking only hurts those who want to work. There are plenty of folks in America and Mexico that would love those jobs. Thankfully, there are non-unionized automakers that don't have to deal with these issues.

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[Jrgunn5150]

Indeed, those non-unionized automakers pass their savings right on to you too!

 

[AmosMoses]

Ohio has plenty of asylum seekers eager to work

 

[Sweetums]

It's not a smart business tactic, and there are consequences for not treating employees well. Good businesses promote good work environments.

Autoworkers make good money considering they are mostly unskilled or semi-skilled workers. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average autoworker makes $28.00 per hour. It's probably the most money that some will ever make.

Finish the sentence. "...because of unions." Do you think they make on average $28/hour because the car companies are incredibly generous? No, they banded together in collective bargaining to work out a fair deal for compensation - considering I could flip burgers for $18/hour, maybe that pay isn't quite as generous as it once was.

There's not a free market in the auto industry. There are so many government subsidies and other types of legislative overreach, that it's a form of crony capitalism at best.

Either way, it's a choice. Striking only hurts those who want to work. There are plenty of folks in America and Mexico that would love those jobs. Thankfully, there are non-unionized automakers that don't have to deal with these issues.

The Union wants to work, they just want fair compensation for that work. Any time I hear "no one wants to work anymore" I mentally complete that sentence with "...for what I'm offering in pay." People absolutely do want to work, they just have learned that their work is worth more than many businesses are offering; those who offer more don't seem to have any problems finding reliable workers.

Stellantis broke their contract with their labor force. If I agree to deliver goods to your factory and you stop paying what we agreed, I have no obligation to continue to deliver goods.

If I sell my labor to your factory for agreed upon compensation and you stop paying me what we agreed, I have no obligation to continue to sell you my labor.

Getting bitch-slapped by The Invisible Hand sucks, but it's also avoidable. Stellantis needs to pay what was agreed upon, if they are unable or unwilling to do so, that's a failed company and someone needs to step in to right the ship.

 

[gonemad]

I worked by myself nearly my whole career. Large corporations paid my fees in a hyper competitive business if I delivered what I was supposed to. By myself.

There was no one but me to send the bill, and collect when it wasn’t paid. And I did. Twenty five years.

If you are unskilled, or semi skilled, or even skilled, capitalism (which is the only reason there are companies to pay you to begin with) determines what you are worth. I had some really good years, and I had some really bad years, but it was worth the ride.

It ain’t always fair, and it ain't always pretty, but it beats the shit out of the alternative.

 

[Blade1668]

I understand that. I'm carrying a heavier workload at my workplace due to a lack of employees, which isn't in my contract. I have two viable options. I can either do the extra work while voicing my concerns, or I can find another job.

Going on strike is like holding your employer hostage. If your employer is that bad, then why would you want to work for them to begin with? I appreciate those union workers who don't strike. They know and understand the risks (consequences) for striking.

I get it. Everyone resolves conflict differently. I just think striking is a sign of weakness.

I had some relatives who were members of UAW that participated in the supportive strike against GM decades ago. They worked for a majorly different manufacturer, and then against that one too. I got to see them laughing about not having to work going fishing ect ect. I asked them how they were paying their bills, I was told the union was giving them this pittance amount vs what they were not earning. End result they had vehicle, boat repossessed and house foreclosure on. Before that I flat said my ass would be across that picket line and at work. Especially considering that I was in Army and didn't make #### under way worse working conditions compared with what they did. Let alone holidays off not required to work anytime ect. They really got the kick in nuts afterwards that company lost its major hold of manufacturing heavy equipment.... "big yellow"
Now, unions have been good or great in many ways. . . But with some aspects not worth #### in others. In my post Army career my employment has a union. It only protects the employer in most cases, but definitely protects some that had misconduct.

 

[Minty JL]

Corporate greed at its finest.......I have no problem with capitalism. But they're driving that shit straight into the ground.

The employees and customers are getting bent over with no reach around.........wonder why sales have tanked nearly 50% this year

 

[Blade1668]

Corporate greed at its finest.......I have no problem with capitalism. But they're driving that shit straight into the ground.

The employees and customers are getting bent over with no reach around.........wonder why sales have tanked nearly 50% this year

Definitely excessive cost increases in vehicles prices. It's due to employee cost, government regulations, materials, and many top members gross salaries / investors. That isn't including the payoffs to many different groups, overtly and covertly. AKA donations to whatever groups, political parties on and on. This isn't just in automotive industry but most large companies.
Looking back at the increases of vehicle costs, my Comanche cost about 14k in 1991, my Wrangler Unlimited (soft top, M/T) was around 27k in 05 and my JT was 43k. So vehicle prices are almost doubled every 15 years. Note I don't buy the top end models, more likely a base model. I'm damn sure that my Wrangler didn't have much R&D, tooling ect to justify the jump in cost. A lot of the increases are that "we" have excepted price increases.

"Rant mode on"
On the "living wage" b.s. If you are going to pay someone doing a "starter" job $15-20 a hour that happy meal is going to be a unhappy cost and prices on everything else will go up. I can now go to a "set down" restaurant and eat for the same price as many fast food places.
Now what I actually "live on" would make most on here s### a brick.
Now, the U.S. economy is........ This might be a bad ride for auto manufacturers and the employees. Over the years there has been some employees who have made buying a new vehicle a craps shoot due to shoddy work or deliberately doing things to a vehicle. "Mechanics finding loose nut or bolt welded inside a fender on a wire, to empty bottle or cans." The old story of made on Monday or Friday avoid it joke isn't always a joke. There was a video I saw on someone tracking automotive industry workers going to "lunch break" getting high / drunk or both then heading back to work. That wasn't that long ago.
Do you pay some ass clown $27.°° an hour to see how much they can screw up and a CEO "X" millions of dollars to be a figurehead looking his/ her next job to run in the ground. Or the ones who are trying to make planned unrepairable stuff. (I'm kinda old-fashioned on wanting to buy stuff that lasts, a reason why I have Jeeps.) Now I don't believe my newest Jeep "JT" is or will last as long as my previous ones are and capable of. To many parts made to fail in new models . . . V-6 engine for one, electrical systems, let alone if you get a turbo charged engine.

 

[Sweetums]

If your business model depends on slave-wages then it's not a viable business and it deserves to fail.

 

[Minty JL]

This the reason GM chose bankruptcy back in 2008/9.

Solely to get UAWs off their ass. I have worked as a tech in performance shops from Hawaii to Maryland. Sorry, not sorry........some working on the assembly line does not need to make $60 an hour. Skill vs wage is way offset.

 

[biodiesel]

@gonemad, @Blade1668 and @Minty JL are on point. You guys see the big picture. Salaries and hourly rates based on fairness is not a constitutional right, although, we all have a right to strike. However, free speech has consequences.

 

[Dickster]

If your business model depends on slave-wages then it's not a viable business and it deserves to fail.

Lmao slave wages? 90% of the jobs are considered non skilled labor and they are all well over the national median income.

 

[Sweetums]

That says more about problems with the national median income. And I was replying to your example of not paying food workers $15/hr.

The minimum wage hasn't been updated since 2010, if the wage was adjusted for inflation and to stay proportional to productivity, it would be $21.45 as of 2020.

Workers are producing more than ever and being paid less for it.

 

[Unbreakable]

Having been a union member working for union employers almost 40 years now I can say one thing for certain, no one wins in a strike. I've been a steward most of my years as a member, negotiating committee and even a trustee on a local executive board for 9 years so I have seen how the sausage is made. I see unions as being flawed but necessary but what I think members loose sight of is a company needs to be profitable to pay good wages. You will hear members going on about how the CEO makes big money, 40 mil in the case of Stellantis and they are not wrong but even if you took all of his salary and distributed it to the 80k employees they would all get $500. I don't want to get to political as I know it is frowned upon but it is unfair to expect US employees to compete with workers in foreign countries that go home to shanties with dirt floors. That's were tariffs help American workers, the US, Mexico, Canada agreement negotiated by the previous administration was a start down the right path, requiring Mexico to raise the pay of it's employees. I have always believed that US workers can compete and win given a level playing field that's why I support fair trade not free trade. Use tariffs on goods to discourage companies from making products in areas with slave wages and no environmental safeguards.

 

[biodiesel]

Lmao slave wages? 90% of the jobs are considered non skilled labor and they are all well over the national median income.

Mexico would love those jobs.

As a side story, I friend of mine used to work in the FCA business office in Phoenix. He had made several trips to Saltillo, Mexico to visit the Saltillo Truck Assembly Plant where the Ram Heavy Duty is built. I remember him telling me that the morale was always better at the Saltillo plant compared to the American plants.

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