Time to drastically cut autoworker salaries, benefits

IMO, the trade between the USA and the rest of the world will continually adjust and morph as conditions require. It is China that is loosing the "war" with the USA since they are embracing capitalism and running away from the economic models of communism. Ultimately the political side of the country will follow the economic side and they will become a freer nation. Personally, I'm happy to see them take things slow from a political aspect since having a billion+ people running around uncontrolled would be a very bad thing. China is headed to the same place Russia has gone except they are doing it in a slower more controlled manner. China had better stop worrying about the USA and take notice of what India is doing. IMO, India is in a great position to take a huge bite out of China's ass economically. India and China will be competitors for the worlds manufacturing needs and you know what good competition is for a free market. ;)

Still the fact is that we can't keep a high standard of living by manufacturing many of the items we consume. All one has to do is look at the countries that are heavily promoting protectionist policies and see their economic stagnation and high unemployment to know it is not a correct path to take here. If we make sure the playing field is as level as possible between us and our major trading partners then I have no doubt we will be more than competitive.

You might be right if future warfare were to be fought like the last two world wars were fought. The proliferation of nuclear weapons has made conventional warfare on a world wide scale very unlikely. You want to know the best way to keep the crime rate down? Give everyone a gun. This is what nukes do for countries. Do you think we will invade Korea like we invaded Iraq? No we won't because they have nukes. Why hasn't India and Pakistan had a knock down, drag out war that would have cost millions of lives? It is because both sides have nukes. I doubt we will ever be in a position again where we will need to manufacture massive amounts of arms like we did in WWII. A handful of nukes is all it takes to equalize the playing field militarily. Nukes prevented WWIII between us and the Soviet Union.

In todays world economic strength is as important as military strength. If we force manufacturing jobs to remain here on a large scale then we will weaken economically and become less competitive in the world markets. We will marginalize ourselves and wield far less influence globally. This would cause us to be far less secure than loosing some sectors of manufacturing. IMO, the greatest strength of the USA is ability/freedom we give our industries to react and change to conditions of trade and global economics. If we ever change this then we are going to suffer the consequences.

LOTS of people work more than 40 hours and are only paid for 40. Just because some archaic union dunces don't like it doesn't make it the end of the world for some people. Other business have faced similar problems with profitability versus payouts and people have taken substantial pay cuts. Some airlines for starters. If they want to stubbornly demand that things not change, despite massive changes to competition in the auto world, let them keep that attitude up until they simply do not have jobs anymore.

In a way, that's a bit like comparing apples to anteaters. Ford, GM, etc, while the have associated costs of production, don't use the fuel their products will use, so employees are not dependent on such influences to alter their attitudes. The airlines use fuel, and when the prices climb, they are forced to expend more to generate profit. Ford might produce 100K units, but they don't drive them on the roadways. Even if they did, there are far more roadways to use. The airlines have limited numbers of routes to use, and lots of competition for those routes. Perhaps not the best analogies, but you get the idea. You have to be careful what industries you compare. Ford, GM etc are production industries, while the airlines are actually more service industries.

The biggest difference between an airline and an automaker is that the airline provides a service while the automaker manufactures a product. That being said, they both require substantial material resources to maintain operations. Ford, GM, DC etc. may not use fuel like an airline but the manufacture of a vehicle requires huge amounts of energy from producing finished steel for the chassis/drive train to plastic components to electricity consumption that requires fuel to produce. I would bet the total amount of fuel consumed to build, and deliver to the customer, one vehicle is quite substantial. In fact, I would wager it takes many years of typical driving by the consumer to equal this amount. I do agree with MichaelA in that if management and labor for many industries don't cooperate, streamline operations and become more efficient they will have their lunch eaten by foreign competition. It isn't like the old days. Now the biggest threat to both are from overseas instead of each other.

Those unpaid hours are probably the only hours that you are paid what you're worth.

True. My point was that you do have to be careful about what you compare to what.

As for airline employees, at this point in time they are at a greater disadvantage because there are far more restrictions/limitations to an airline. As I mentioned, the competition for limited routes in already overcrowded skies, by many competitors, foreign and domestic, flying into insufficient airports, has forced airline employees to see the writing on the wall much earlier than a manufacturer who makes a product and puts it in a line with others. Even if GM, Ford, etc, had to sell at a reduction, they would still be making something to help defray costs. And airline can't say that about an empty seat. or a flight that gets cancelled. A big difference between service and production.

Do you put the bolts on the passenger side door, or hand out the tools?

-Rich

If Blu-Ray and HD-DVD require players to be hooked-up to the internet to obtain "permission" for playback (like the DIVX horror of the late 1990s) people shouldn't buy or rent the players OR any of the disks. That incarnation of a high definition format MUST die.

Actually, I purchased the tools, among other things. Someone else handed them out. Most salaried persons realise that if it weren't for the unions, they wouldn't recieve the salaries and benefits that they do.

Dave

Ouch!LOL : 0 )

I think you are wrong about that. I don't think the vast majority of salaried employees even think about the unions and what they have contributed.

It's my opinion that they think about their paycheck and what they are going to do with it... like if it will pay all the bills, etc. and allow for a new set of tires.

I think you'd find that few hourly wage earners give a thought to what the union did to make the salaries possible for salaried employees. The hourly wage earner is doing the same thing the salaried employee is doing. They wondering if their take home will cover the bills and pay for a new water pump.

The only time either one is going to think about what the union has done is when the union reps are stirring up the membership when it's time to renegotiate a new contract.

Workers are workers. They have their own lives to worry about, and let the other workers worry about their own lives.

In my entire working life, I don't recall ever, whether I was an hourly employee or a salaried employee, heard anyone expressing such sentiments. Complain about how that AH idiot it Admin who does nothing but sit around and get a paycheck twice the size of mine... yes. Complain that he gets benefits far better than mine... yes. But give a thought to what entity it was that enabled incompetence to seek it's own level? Not. And I doubt that while I am cleaning the floor, that AH idiot ever thought about thanking some lowly hourly wage earner for making his salary and benefits possible.

Plus an airline sells tickets sometimes months in advance so adjustments to rising fuel costs can't be made until the costs actually rise. Then again, maybe they buy fuel months in advance too. I read recently where the owner of Virgin wants to build refineries and storage facilities to keep fuel costs more under their control. They would cater to the airline industry's needs.

Your analogy seems to assume that all employees, salaried or hourly, are mindless drones that are incapable of original thought. While I can think of a few that fit that description, it certainly isn't the majority. It would be very hard not to notice that when the union makes gains for it's members, the salaried often recieve similar gains, or better. From a continuing employment point of view, it probably wouldn't be smart for a salaried person to go around thanking the union for it's efforts, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't know that his benefits are tied closely to those of the members.

Dave

Enjoy it while you can, while you hasten your own demise.

-Rich

If Blu-Ray and HD-DVD require players to be hooked-up to the internet to obtain "permission" for playback (like the DIVX horror of the late 1990s) people shouldn't buy or rent the players OR any of the disks. That incarnation of a high definition format MUST die.