Comments on: Pelosi Outlines Auto Bailout Package

Speaker Says Automakers Would Have To Agree To New Fuel-Efficiency Standards, Commitment To Innovation

[promaclaura]

Bailing out GM will not solve the problem. Requiring that they retool for more fuel effecient cars is a given, it still does not eliminate the overhead costs. Foreign automakers are already retooled for more fuel efficient cars and at a lower cost. So what if the Big 3 pumps out these cars, they will still cost more than their competitors. People are scrambling for these cars because of fuel efficiency and they are CHEAPER. People are shopping in droves at WalMart because they are cheaper, other chains had to bite the bullet and restructure to compete.

[noboundary]

Everything is wrong with the U.S. auto industry:
1)Excessive wages for workers and CEO''s alike - workers get the equivalent of $156,000 just for putting on lug nuts; and the CEO''s get their $15 million for their incompetent management.
2) Lousy products - not fuel efficient, not innovative and certainly not as durable as foreign made.
Answer: Let them file Bankruptcy, which is what many analysts see as best for everyone.

[rational_1]

Pelosi must move to taske the steps that will save jobs and defend the workers'''' right to collective bargaining.
Posted by nowaymcgoo at 04:53 PM : Nov 16, 2008

Agreed - collective bargaining between the car companies and their employees (and unions), without involving the taxpayers. The unions have been blindly greedy without thought for the future, and the Big 3 have been stupid in turning out cars no one wants, so let them solve the problems that they created. Leave the rest of us out of this.

And if you''re for bailing out the Big 3, why not also bail out Circuit City and any other big company that is faltering? Why stop with car companies?

[promaclaura]

promaclaura

Now You Hold Unions and Worker Skills
Resopnsible - Because YOU - Paid for an Education
Where there is Little Demand for your Education

Family Nepotism in any Company has always been a matter of hiring practice.
Company Dedication and Company Pride has its merits

Just ask the Generations of the Military who has always served this nation
Some have had Family members in the Military since the Revolutionary War
A Sense of Dedication and Pride

You do not say the Common Soldier has not your education - Therefore
Does Not deserve the wage package or benefit package

After all - To You Skills are Skills and to have a Skill is - Therefore a :
LOW LIFE - Standard


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Posted by lastdance133 at 04:37 PM : Nov 16, 2008

I think it''s disgraceful that you compare military families to UAW families. Military families pay the biggest sacrifice of all. UAW families have NEVER sacrificed for the good of the community. After all, you''re taking us all down on your free-loader ship.

[maui-gator]

If the auto makers had provided us with a product that met our needs, they would not be in finacial trouble. They failed as a business and need to be left on the wayside.

[bill517]

NEITHER MY MD NOR MY DENTIST MAKES THIS KIND OF MONEY. IT IS TOTALLY OBSCENE. CONGRESS: YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO TAKE MY MONEY AND GIVE IT TO THESE ''POOR'' PEOPLE. THAT IS STEALING FROM THE POOR AND GIVING TO THE RICH. UAW STAND YOUR GROUND, PLEASE. PLEASE, STAND FIRM SO WE CAN GET THIS EXORCISM OVER WITH.

[bill517]

THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF THE ISSUES ARE REFLECTED IN THEIR LATEST OFFERINGS: A HYBRID ESCALADE! THEY JUST DON''T GET IT.

[bill517]

MS. PELOSI: WHY NOT LET THE UPPER MIDWEST FEEL THE PAIN THAT THE REST OF THE COUNTRY HAS BEEN DEALING WITH FOR DECADES?

THESE GUYS ARE WAY-OBSOLETE. LET THE MARKET DEAL WITH THEM.

YOU ARE IN DENIAL.

[ramos937]

On a different site, there was an excellent article on Hyundai(?). It is offering a luxury car that has everything that a top of the line Caddy has. Same warranty, same bells & whistles, same everything. Except that the Hyundai car is priced almost 1/2 less than the Caddy. Why? One reason is that GM''s weighted labor cost per hour is about $78 whereas HYundai''s weiighed labor cost per hour is about $48.
Both are manufactured in the USA. Both firms offer medical and retirement benefits.

Question(s): If you were in the market for one, which would you buy? Why?

[bjcone8559]

The $74 per hour figure is a number that the auto manufacturers claim is the total cost per employee. I own a small business with all employees working on a commissin only basis. In addition to their commissions each employee cost my company approximately $12 per hour and that is without any retiremnet plan. The right wing and the big three auto makers want very badly to use this crisis to break the unions at a time when our nation needs unions more than ever to protect the workers. Pelosi must move to taske the steps that will save jobs and defend the workers'' right to collective bargaining. I feel that now, with a stronger democratic majority, she will have the opportunity to move legislation without republican obstruction.

[worldpirate]

i say let the uaw have at the japanese automobile plants. its the quickest way to a level playing field. And oh by the way if they want to pick up thier sticks and go home we should tax thier imports as much as they tax ours and then we will sell more american cars . Or allow the uaw to buy Chrysler or GM

[benobana]

Make Jack In The Box pay there workers $74/hr an see how high Jack will Jump!

[notopennshut]

Ms. Pelosi, you do not understand! We should not bail out these companies and "asking" them to adhere to new standards is not the solution to pouring in billions of dollars to these overpaid workers, or taking care of them for life, including paying for health care that is being abused by many of them. Many are asking for unnecessary health care without restrictions, tests and other services like PT. Of course medical institutions will do that because it means more $$$ for them. This must stop! Auto workers are the highest paid jobs for their qualifications and nowadays, most jobs can be done by other means including robots. So why throw good money after the bad??? NO TO BAILOUT for any of them.

[promaclaura]

promaclaura

When Have you ever - DEMANDED - The IRS Tax Statements of Your Employer
When Have you ever - DEMANDED - The Budget Reports of Your Employeer

So you could - NEGOTIATE - Better Wages and Health Care

The Blame is in YOU - NOT The Unions or The SKILLS the workers have Acquired

The Fault is In You and Your behavior - To sit back and Be treated like a SLAVE


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Posted by lastdance133 at 04:14 PM : Nov 16, 2008

Your posts signify that you have been milkfed UAW bullcrap. My husbands wage is pretty comparable to other controllers in manufacturing. Group controllers make around 100,000 and up (a position he just interviewed for). There is competition out there for these positions, so rocking the boat to forcefully makes you tip and the next guy is happy to take your place. The UAW puts a chokehold around their companies and forces undeserved pay hikes without the worker having to lift a finger to improve themselves for better pay. So mediocre workers get that higher pay and don''t have to do squat.

[AlwaysSmiling]

So, lastdance...

You''re saying that it''s right for a UAW worker to get paid $154,000 a year to build cars? When anymore a majority of their work is done by a robotic arm?

I work in a factory where the only computers are in the office. We move 12,000 gallon and 8,000 gallon fiberglass tanks by hand, and do EVERYTHING on them by hand. What do we expect to make in a year? About 45,000 to 60,000.

It''s YOU and the UAW who are living in a delusional state. I can tell you''re either in the UAW or another union. You toe the same line that they all do. And when you go on strike and get your $55.00 strike checks (then have to pay your union dues in from that), you''ll turn around and ask for Unemployment and make the company you worked for pay you anyhow.

Thank god I live in a Right to Work State.

[jydavis1]

is the Amerikan empire collapsing ?

[lrryerc6]

Pelozi should stick to what she knows: training bras

[promaclaura]

promaclaura

You Claim :
Working Middle Class America
Does Not Merit The Wages Paid to Them
Posted by lastdance133

UAW workers should not be paid more than people who have paid the piper and improved their lives with higher education. Example: Cost accountants start at around 55,000, they are required to have an accounting degree and a CPA is usually a must. A girl fresh out of H.S. gets a job in the UAW through her dad and starts at 55,000 in Lansing. This is simply ridiculous. Sorry, your angry arguements are that of a union member fighting to retain something he shouldn''t have had in the first place.

[promaclaura]

lastdance133 - My husband is the financial controller/CPA that makes 84,000 a year. Working in this type of position for the last 18 years for a variety of automotive manufacturers I have seen first had the wages and benefits. Union and non-union suppliers do not make anywhere near what the UAW makes and don''t expect too. One the automotive suppliers he was accounting mgr. for was Japanese and their workers were paid less, but had good benefits which satisfied them.

I''m not jealous of the UAW as a non-union member, I''m angry that they are being paid the same as a CPA/financial controller who has worked ungodly hours on SALARY, while the UAW guy punches out or gets overtime. It''s not fair.

[ontheleft]

The American workers are getting what they deserve: falling wages over the last 8 years. The productivity of American workers increased almost 20% in the last 8 years. None of the benefits of increased productivity went to the workers. Their real wages actually fell while the rich got richer. The American workers deserve all this and what is coming to them in this recession. Why? Because of their apathy. Congratuations, you earned it.