If they strike it will give GM more time to build robotics.

 

Stellantis is apparently a tough nut. Their first proposal, which Fain ceremoniously threw in a trash can, reportedly called for a cut in pay/benefits! Also Stellantis (aka Fiat) has said if they are struck, they will move their Jeep plant to Mexico.

I think Fain would like to strike all three. But, this will run out their strike benefits quickly if the whole membership goes on strike. The plus side for the unions, is that an industry wide strike will have major national economic repercussions in an election year. Fain may be expecting the Democrats to come in and force the auto makers to submit to demands. The UAW has said they will not back the Biden Administration if the administration does not show they are on their side. Interesting, the present Democrat Party is composed of elitist globalists. For support by the masses, they look for the victim classes of the US, blue collar middle class workers are not their favored classes. IMO

The GM workers bore the economic brunt of the 2019 strike. So maybe Fain will deign to allow them to continue working. The downside of this decision is that GM is in the best financial condition to meet up to their pay/benefit demands. Ford, not so well off, will be more resistive to their demands.

Maybe there's hope BG will keep on bowling and producing Corvettes.

We shall see said the blind man.

 

The UAW has over 800 million in a strike fund account that pays them $500 a week and as ignorant as the Federal and State governments are today they can probably file for unemployment and get another check while they are waiting on their demands of a 46% pay raise and changing the work week to a 4 day 32 hour week but still get paid for 40. Kind of like the **** they pulled in the 70’s and 80’s that made it so expensive to produce a vehicle here and stay competitive they had to offshore or send most of their car building business to Mexico. The Big Three’s problematic situation is labor is the highest part of their overhead so if they get this insane contract you can expect all their vehicles to increase in price by at least 20%. I’m very familiar with the UAW members mindset as I had many Uncle’ cousins and friends that worked at the now torn down and demolished the local Atlanta GM and Ford plants, crybabies to the end, always wore a UAW printed T’shirt or sweater or ball cap like that’s who they worked for and not GM.

 

Do some simple math. Average new car cost in 2007 : $25k. Average new car cost in 2023: $48k. Hourly labor costs have risen $4 an hour in that time period. Hint: it's not labor costs.

 

The more robots used in the manufacturing and assembly process the more reliable and consistent the process. Go ahead and strike, I can wait for my delivery as the extortion attempts commence.

 

And the union fights every efficiency move the companies attempt. Thus having more workers aka dues paying members than really necessary to do a job. I don’t think the total labor cost per car rolling off the assembly line is insignificant at all.
if there’s a major work stoppage and concessions to the union, it’s just another step toward less autos made by uncompetitive UAW plants.

 

My father was an ATC at that time, and did not join the strike. A lot of his buddies were summarily fired by Ron Reagan - who had that authority because the controllers were Government employees and the President has control over the executive branch of the Government. He did not invoke the national security card as far as I can recall, he just fired those that participated in what was an illegal strike. Air Traffic Controllers were not allowed to strike at that time and may not be now (I do not know). But yes, to stop a strike at a private company its what you said.

I see several have commented (complained?) that the the bottom line is that cars will cost more. Maybe so, be do we really think the auto workers are currently overpaid? I mean, I don't know, but I don't necessarily want to keep the price of my car low at the expense of low paid factory work (if it is). I do recall that during the ATC strike, my father said many sympathized with the controllers, until they found out how much they already made. It was not an enormous salary, but at the time I think it was a good bit more than a lot of other hourly workers.

 

So paying a Mexican worker $45 a week, charging the exact same amount for the car/truck as a US built one, and pocketing the difference is an efficiency move? Don't think so. They move to other countries to maximize profits and not deal with the EPA and other regulations. Labor costs are ~5%. I don't subscribe to the "As long as it's not me, it's fine" attitude.

 

Hmm, for my small, part time internet business the main raw material I buy, custom extruded for us, went up 50%! The brass fittings that are part of the product went up 50 and 85%. All made in the US from American suppliers. No choice had to raise prices.

GM stock price is down to ~$35 from ~$55 a year ago. They pay about 1% annual dividend! Some folks look at profits and because they are in billions get all excited that it's excessive. If your revenue is~$150 billion a year should the profits be in thousands?? They need profits to invest in electric cars being forced upon them (and us!)

Heck a lot better stocks to buy than GM! Government bonds are paying over 4%.
Just waiting as inflation may get CDs where they were in the early 1980's 12 to 14%. AND you got a free toaster as you switched banks every 6 months!

Some have never experienced what us "old times" went thru. Was transferred to CT when home interest was 17%. My wife was so happy when we found one for sale with an assumable mortgage of ONLY 14%!

 

I don't think the UAW employees are overpaid at all, they do deserve more. I don't blame them for trying to get a share of record profits, especially when the execs are compensated the way they are. But 40% + across the board - I just don't think it's going to happen , especially when the companies are pumping billions into the electric conversion. And those without pensions likely won't get them back, it's just reality these days. But there is a lot of middle ground in between . And it doesn't matter that labor costs are only 5%, the costs of any pay increases /benefit increases from this strike will be reflected in car prices, you can hang your hat on that. Why - because GM wants to maintain their profit margins and their abillity to keep their shareholders happy. And the execs as well who always want more. So it will be passed along to consumers, no matter what the labor costs are. Not blaming anyone, just wish some common sense could prevail across the board. Pay people a wage and benefits that they and their families can survive on and share in the prosperity with your employees , but also respect the company and don't put them in an economic situation that gets them back into the bankruptcy space( and I'm not solely blaming labor for that, was only a part of the problem at these companies, lot of bad choices and overpaid execs among other things). Putting companies out of business doesn't help anyone. I hope both sides can be fair and come to a reasonable agreement. And to be a bit selfish , avoid a strike so I can get my car which is currently siting at 3000 status in the fist set of allocations for 2024!!

 

I had a friend with a factory in Mexico. There are a lot of costs involved in addition to the actual wages paid.

In the US it’s not just wages that compel companies to move operations the foreign countries.

So long as the UAW and other greedy unions keep playing games more companies will be moving.

 

Yes, and that proves what I said. Under the Railway Labor Act, President Reagan had the authority to end the strike because of the total disruption of the air transportation system. Secondly, air traffic controllers were and still are federal employees, who were not then, and still are not allowed to strike under US federal law.

Thus, that POTUS was double-covered with powers to end the strike and fire all striking controllers. Before firing the controllers, the White House warned that they would be fired if they did not return to work because they were not allowed to strike as federal employees. Those who did not heed that warning were fired. Many came back to work and kept their jobs. ATC managers, who were not union members, filled in the gaps.

 

Count to what the UAW claims that auto workers are poorly paid GM has said this week its “AVERAGE hourly worker earns around $90,000 in wages, overtime and profit sharing”. The UAW replied by saying, “The only workers who can reach that level are skilled trades, about 15% of the workforce. However, a GM spokesman quickly countered that skilled trades workers earn up to $123,000 annually, including profit sharing and overtime not counting benefits. In addition, GM also pointed out, “All permanent UAW workers have extremely low health care costs, paying about 3% of their care versus 28% for the average U.S. worker.”.

 

BINGO. I currently have an SUV that was made in a highly automated plant in South Carolina and they have 10,000+ happy non striking staff. Quality is pretty good. I don’t care that it’s a foreign owned brand that employs many thousands of American workers, I care that it is a reliable machine made by a forward thinking company. The UAW has sent many jobs overseas because of refusing to move with the times.

 

Even if Ford or Stellantis is the strike target rather than GM, isn’t it common that once a contract is reached with the target, the other two will settle for about the same range of salary/benefits/work hours? Just asking, not looking for criticism.

 

and they want a 40% increase on top of that? That seems a bit ridiculous

 

Really a super nice build for the money. Especially those wheels (as I call it 70th Anniversary style). Red seats.

 

Additionally the UAW is demanding a 32 hour work week but workers are to be paid for a 40 hour work week. Which amounts to an additional 52 days of vacation per year. Add that to their current vacation and holiday pay they would receive just shy of 90 days (3 months!) of vacation per year while demanding a 40% pay increase. That’s outrageous!

And you know the automakers will simply increase the sale price of every car so in the end we take it in the end.

 

Yep, wife is on her 3rd BMW X5 SUV. As you say it's made in Greenville SC as are the Continental tires in Sumter SC!

Wife likes them more than the Porsche Cayenne the 1st replaced. Thank goodness as service is in town and far more reasonable. We have had zero issues! In fact daughter in OH has the 2018 and drives ~50 miles to work every day. Her's runs great!

 

Why is asking for a 40% pay increase ridiculous when every CEO got a 40% increase? They all make over 20 million. A worker that didn't get a raise for 10 years and watched their buying power greatly diminish is the one that's ridiculous? Not sure about cars, but they've got $30k in a truck they're charging $50k for. That's ridiculous!