How to end the UAW strike

[DudleySmith]

Seems like that is exactly what Trump is warning would happen.

Except that price won't go up '20%', so there is that. Going from $19 to $26 an hour will only add a couple hundred dollars per car. Compare that to the thousands of dollars in subsidies wealthy buyers get for buying electric hobby cars to park next to their Mercedes and Lexuses. GM's average transaction price is over $52,000 per car.

Please find better liars to get your info from; a $7 dollar raise would add less than 0.4% to the average price of a GM car, not even half a percent.

 

[Hum Dinger]

Seems like that is exactly what Trump is warning would happen.

Trump is warning that Executive compensation will be reduced?

 

[Ralph Norton]

"Reduce Management Compensation"

HELL NO!!!

Fire the entire executive staff and distribute their compensation to the workers!!!!

Executives are totally useless in any company!

 

[Independent thinker]

Except that price won't go up '20%', so there is that. Going from $19 to $26 an hour will only add a couple hundred dollars per car. Compare that to the thousands of dollars in subsidies wealthy buyers get for buying electric hobby cars to park next to their Mercedes and Lexuses. GM's average transaction price is over $52,000 per car.

Please find better liars to get your info from; a $7 dollar raise would add less than 0.4% to the average price of a GM car, not even half a percent.

So, you're saying that even as Americans can't afford to make ends meet and car payment amounts are at record highs, that it's alright to raise car prices even further.

 

[Independent thinker]

Trump is warning that Executive compensation will be reduced?

LOL. Idiots on the left believe that if workers get a raise, executives will earn less money to make up the difference.

 

[Hum Dinger]

LOL. Idiots on the left believe that if workers get a raise, executives will earn less money to make up the difference.

As was said in the interview with GMs CEO, her compensation depends on performance...i.e. profits. If workers get paid more, profits go down, so executive compensation goes down.

Somebody has to take the hit...either price tags go up, stock dividends drop or executives compensation goes down.

 

[Independent thinker]

As was said in the interview with GMs CEO, her compensation depends on performance...i.e. profits. If workers get paid more, profits go down, so executive compensation goes down.

Somebody has to take the hit...either price tags go up, stock dividends drop or executives compensation goes down.

You don't know how businesses are run, do you?

 

[Hum Dinger]

You don't know how businesses are run, do you?

Yes, I've gone to lectures by the head of the accounting department that clearly showed that worker's salaries and wages are the largest expense in a company - and that was in a very large global corporation like GM.

Money doesn't grow on trees, chum. Somebody has to take a hit.

If nobody takes a hit, then why is anybody against increasing workers wages? Just being mean?

 

[Independent thinker]

Yes, I've gone to lectures by the head of the accounting department that clearly showed that worker's salaries and wages are the largest expense in a company - and that was in a very large global corporation like GM.

Money doesn't grow on trees, chum. Somebody has to take a hit.

If nobody takes a hit, then why is anybody against increasing workers wages? Just being mean?

The ones who take the hit are the consumers.

 

[Hum Dinger]

The ones who take the hit are the consumers.

Increased prices cause sales to go down. Especially for a company like GM that's only competitive because of relatively low prices.

The rules of the free market dictate that they should already being charging the most the market will bear.

That's a formula to shut down a company permanently.

 

[DudleySmith]

So, you're saying that even as Americans can't afford to make ends meet and car payment amounts are at record highs, that it's alright to raise car prices even further.

Nah, I clearly said you're full of shit. If you're going to try and shift the topic and post fluffy bullshit, please ask somebody smarter than you to do it for you.

 

[DudleySmith]

You don't know how businesses are run, do you?

You clearly don't.

 

[DudleySmith]

Yes, I've gone to lectures by the head of the accounting department that clearly showed that worker's salaries and wages are the largest expense in a company - and that was in a very large global corporation like GM.

They tack on all the other company overhead onto assembly line workers', which is blatantly dishonest and merely lying. The average number of labor hours per car at GM is around 32.3 hours; the average transaction prices per car are around $52,000. Assembly line labor costs are small. Marketing costs per car are far higher, and was where the Japanese beat their pants off in the 1980's, not via cheaper labor costs. Japs spent an average of $600-$800 per car, while GM was blowing $2,200 to $3,000 per car. The difference in labor costs per car between GM and Toyota was around $600 per car, not enough to sway buyers on a big ticket item. It was about quality, which GM, Chrysler, etc..'s management and stockholders didn't give a shit about, and still don't.

 

[Hum Dinger]

They tack on all the other company overhead onto assembly line workers', which is blatantly dishonest and merely lying.

We didn't have assembly line workers.

I wish I could describe the company finances as shown by that accountant, but t was a long time ago.

All I remember is that not only are the workers a huge expense, but Wall Street hates a high head count.

 

[DudleySmith]

We didn't have assembly line workers.

I wish I could describe the company finances as shown by that accountant, but t was a long time ago.

All I remember is that not only are the workers a huge expense, but Wall Street hates a high head count.

Well, this topic is about the UAW strike. Labor costs are very low on auto manufacturing, as opposed to service industries like call centers and janitorial contracting. Claiming '20% price increases' is absurd bullshit. GM's CEO compensation in 2022 was arounnd $30 million, about $15-$16 per car produced, and that is just one exec alone.

Hey, I'll make GM stockholders a great offer; I'll lose them a few billion dollars for half that, $15 million.

 

[Papageorgio]

I did once. I was a summer worker at this tier 3 supplier. Between my freshman and sophomore year. What a joke. The owner had them unionized so he could do business with the Big 3. Otherwise they wouldn't do business with him. But his union was a joke. Those guys made $5 hr. What a joke!

Not all unions are created equal. Now compare them to my dad. Overtime pay, double time, triple time on holidays, profit sharing, $3 copay, great benefits, pensions for workers as long as you've been there at least 10 years.

I lived in a union house my friend. And I compare my dad, a guy who didn't even finish college, with me, a guy who has a college degree. And I'm single no kids. 52 years old. I should have twice as much as my father. He only worked 20 years at Ford. And my mom worked at a hospital for 20 years. High school grad. Together they both retired before or when they were 62 and my dad is worth $800,000.

Compare that to me. I'm 52 and I have to work another 10-13 years. Probably 13 because I won't be able to afford insurance. My dad didn't need to worry about that. Great benefits working for the Big 3 back then. Anyways, if I have to work till 65, my dad beat me by like 10 years. And when I retire I'll have more than him but with inflation, will I really?

If I would have gone to Ford when I graduated from highschool, like my dad thought I was going to do, I would have had a 30 year pension 5 years ago. This is what made the greatest middle class the world had ever seen.

But hey. Now that my dad is retired and neither I or my nephews are blue collar, I too want to send all those jobs to Alabama where they only pay $28,000 a year. IF it will lower the price of cars. Because I'm selfish too.

Compare that with my son who will retire in 10 years at 52 and will have a $10,000 a month pension, stock options, 401k in a non-union job. Unreal!

 

[hadit]

B.S.

I've worked for a large global corp. that went over a year without a CEO. If anything we worked beeter.

Executives are all pomp and circumstance. No substance. Their administrative assistants do all the real work.

Then your company was able to survive by doing the same things it always did without changing anything. I worked for the largest electronics retailer in the country at the time and it changed drastically when the CEO changed. Obviously, the CEO is crucial to the company's success or failure when innovation and changing market forces hit it.

 

[sealybobo]

Compare that with my son who will retire in 10 years at 52 and will have a $10,000 a month pension, stock options, 401k in a non-union job. Unreal!

Thats awesome. On October 1 my brother can walk away with $1.3 million. But he’s scared to give up such a great paying job. If he takes a year off will he become a dinosaur? He will be fine I’m sure 1000 companies want a guy like him but giving up that kind of money must be hard especially when you have gotten use to that kind of lifestyle. I think Howard stern talked about this once. People are used to making money. It’s hard to stop. Yes if you’re rich enough you can live off the interest, but there’s nothing like a pension.

Dude, what is his pension estimated to be worth? If he lives 40 more years. $120000 x 40

 

[ElmerMudd]

You could take 40% off the top executives and end up giving the tens of thousands of workers a $50 raise. That'll make a huge difference </sarcasm>. Let's face reality, low-skilled labor is not going to increase in value any time soon because of three factors:

1. It can be done by anyone anywhere in the world, and there are places where people gladly work very cheap. It's cheaper to have them do the work and ship the goods than to do it in America.
2. Machines are rapidly getting to the point where they will take over virtually all such jobs, doing them better, faster, cheaper, without any drama and they don't take breaks.
3. The consumers have gotten accustomed to being able to get cheap goods that are manufactured by very cheap labor and would rebel if they had to pay true American labor prices.

Gone forever are the days when a man could drop out of school, work for 40 years in the factory or on the assembly line with his wife at home, send his kids to college, retire at 65 and take it easy for 20 years on a big pension.

We cannot look at a viable middlle class making a good living.
The rich people and big corporation cannot make money unless they have many people to but their products.

It is not just raw dollars, it is the principle.
A good leader does not want to alienate his employees. Getting over paid while their workers are getting under pai does not make a good team.

 

[WinterBorn]