Two more thoughts and then I will be done with the subject.
Ratt, that village you live in isn’t too far from Eau Claire. Twenty years ago Eau Claire went through the same thing that is happening nationally. When Uniroyal closed up shop, everybody freaked. How was Eau Claire going to make it losing the highest paying job in the city? The entire city is going to collapse. Guess what, it didn’t. Once the big union jobs were gone, new companies came into town. Lots of jobs. In fact I think there is something like 1,000 jobs at the old plant. Yes the wages are lower, or should I say more in line with what they should be. Do you think all of the new auto plants that have been built over the years were built in the South and not in Michigan was due to the weather? Why would you open shop where you have to deal with the unions. I think Michigan would be a better place. Aren’t most of the biggest suppliers also in the Midwest? Anyway, it would take awhile but everything would recover.
Finally, just as you guys keep saying that people need to get over the perception that imports are better quality and Rams have bad transmissions, autoworkers need to move past this bad feelings they have for the company. Others have said it but this us versus them between the company and union is killing the company and no loan/handout will save them in today’s global economy (sure, they do fine when the economy is rolling, not so good when it is not). I know they are basically brainwashed by the union that they need the union to keep their job. Fifty years ago, yes. But times have changed. Most companies treat their employees well. You lose your job based on performance (Imagine that!) or because of layoffs. Ratt and G, you both work in the industry and are non-union employees. How the heck can you keep your jobs? Isn’t general practice for companies just to fire people to get their kicks? No, most companies know you need a good working relationship with the employees to be competitive and successful. If you don’t like how you are treated, you find a different job. Granted it is tougher for autoworkers to up and get another auto job if they don’t like theirs since the factories are not near each other (I think there are opportunities in the South, well not right now), but heck my uncle was one of those union guys at Uniroyal. He took a non-union job at Uniroyal in Alabama and worked there until he retired a year or so ago. Guess what, he was non-union and managed to keep his job! Imagine that. All the foreign guys is good for employees. More competition and more opportunities for the worker.
I know the unions are making concessions. They make sure everybody knows they are sacrificing. You don’t ever see the press release from the union that announces how happy they are that they have forklift drivers making $75k more than the national average, and of course they don’t want people to know that because people will be disgusted and turn against “protecting the union”. And when things turn around, they expect to get more than they gave up. I do wonder what those guys think. Do they think they should be earning that for driving a forklift? Do they laugh all the way to the bank that they get paid like that? Do they have any idea what the average salary is, or do they think all forklift drivers are paid that? Are the rest of us suckers for being at-will employees? If the unions started to care more about the company as a whole instead of just seeing how much they can get for their members, maybe they could help fix the problems. If not, it will always be a struggle.
Ok, this was fun.
If it is a loan, which is actually what it is, why isn’t it called such ? I would guess “bailout” sounds better on the news and gets the viewers attention… (it did for the financial industry, which was/is really a bailout) I can tell you, from a somewhat insiders view, there are lots of Changes happening at Chrysler every minute of the day. Emails are being sent out almost on the hour, telling of vendors that will not be renewed at years end, employees that are taking packages and are no longer with Chrysler, costs cut on things like special tools and literature…. it definitely is changing here. I guess loaning/bailing out a company with 10 employees, might not have as big of an impact as doing it with one the size of GM or Chrysler or Ford.
