did ya miss it..UAW nixes bailout plan... (page 3)

SnakesInTheTower

hillbilly:

seems the UAW wont play ball with the congress on this bailout plan and now the whole deal is dead in the water (again)

I heard that too hillbilly. The UAW is going to end up with nothing for its members with that kind of attitude...It is better to have some jobs at a lower wage than NO jobs at NO wage. As long as the corporate execs also get pay decreases and benefit decreases...and as long as the companies quit paying dividends...then the UAW and its members better suck it up some more...I know they gave back already...but they will have to do it again...yes its upper managements poor decision making at fault...at this point it is too late for finger pointing (other than to oust the bad management).... and sacrifice to save some of the jobs.

st ann:

My dad is a GM retiree. I'm worried about his pension and health insurance. He was a skilled trade so IUE, not UAW.

I hate to see anything happen to the retirees. I hope the pension is guaranteed by the PBGC (federal guarantee), though it may have a cap lower than your dad's current pension...and the feds pool of money backing PBGC is starting to show the same strain as social security...thats ok...the government will just keep printing money as its doing....as long as other countries have faith in the US dollar, they can print as much as they want.

as for his health insurance... he will be up a creek sadly. Yes, there is Medicare (medicaid? i get the 2 mixed up)..if he is over 65..but I am sure his retirement plan is better....

a lot of people are going to be hurt by this ..... and I am not certain a bailout (aka loan or whatever they want to call it) is going to help....

Maybe GM, Ford, and Chrysler should file for bankruptcy....negate the UAW contracts and force them into renegotiating.... and keep operating through bankruptcy..the airlines did...

dunno...its a worldwide slump, not just a US slump... just my 2 cents

Snakes ()

Junction-Guy

My grandpa and stepgrandpa are GM retirees, and they are sweating this out. I hope they don't lose their retirement and insurance. I would hate to see those companies fold, maybe they can save the Big 3, with a promise not to send anymore jobs overseas.

Fadeout

It's simply mind-boggling that a company can sell a couple million cars in a year and lose so much money.

How crappy does management have to be for the company to thrive if it sells 3 million, but go bankrupt if it's only 2 million?

dinah

Everybody is blaming the union for making them pay (share profits) better? Take a look at what their management makes? MILLIONS in bonuses for several people. They want to blame the workers?

But yes, the GM model of business ain't working. Wages have been cut steeply in every manufacturing job, except at the top (and except at the Big 3). Gotta compete with China, ya know.

Homerovah the Almighty

Its all very suspicious when everything has been looked at but I cant say for sure here in Canada but the price of domestic autos is still pretty high.

One thing that is certain is there far more Hondas and Toyotas on the road than GM or Fords. Since gas is still pretty expensive here people want

good reliable economical vehicles hence almost nothing but imports here and as I mentioned earlier why didn't the 3 catch on to this is still a puzzle.

When it comes down to it its an accumulation of a bunch of factors that have gotten them into trouble another problem is of course labor costs which are quite high

in North America and incompetent overpaid management.

moshe

Part of the problem is the inequity in our car tax sytem- it has to do with the fact that other countries have a VAT type of tax and we don't. When Ford ships a car overseas they add several thousand dollars of VAT to the price to pay for lost taxes for social programs. Cars from their countries enter the US with no VAT, so we end up short on money to fund our social programs, health care, etc.

I wonder why a class of people, professional white collar, are so keen on lowering the standard of living of the blue collar working class? Meanwhile, these same degreed professionals who are responsible for this financial mess, have been avoiding responsibility and probably jail time. As long as people are focused on the bad UAW and the car manufacturers the big executive pay and bonuses can continue- even at companies that taxpayers have bailed out to the tune of $335 billion and with little to show for it. I guess these Politicians and Wallstreet crooks have just taken a page from Nero's playbook. Let the economy burn and just blame it on the bad UAW. So far most people have been accepting of this scheme.

5go

The way I see the Republican in the senate just kissed any chance of getting a stronger minority in 2010 good bye. More like b**ch slapped the slammed the door in the collective face of the American workforce.

I bet there still think that the Dems will get the blame despite the fact more Americans are paying attention to this stuff and know where the blame lies.

SacrificialLoon

"The way I see the Republican in the senate just kissed any chance of getting a stronger minority in 2010 good bye. More like b**ch slapped the slammed the door in the collective face of the American workforce."

Actually I think they made a very strategic move. They got to vote against the bailout, but Bush looks like he's going to bail them out anyway with TARP money. So they get to vote against "big government" without the consequences of voting against big government.

5go

Actually I think they made a very strategic move. They got to vote against the bailout, but Bush looks like he's going to bail them out anyway with TARP money. So they get to vote against "big government" without the consequences of voting against big government.

More like a strategic blunder that even Bush can see. Which is saying something. You have the king of strategic blunders fixing a huge strategic blunder ( pissing off the most of the auto and rust belt northern states ) his party just made.

Junction-Guy

The way I see it, if they can bail Nascar out, despite it slipping away from its blue collar roots, then they can bail the big 3 out.

did ya miss it..UAW nixes bailout plan...

Share this