The New York Times lead story is U.A.W. Makes Concessions to Help Automakers. The article is pretty aptly titled because the NYT chose to focus entirely on the evil UAW parasites that are sucking the poor, helpless automakers dry through ludicrous demands such as job security and pension/health care payments.
The Big Three claim their industry is tanking not because of their refusal to change their big, heavy, gas-guzzling car designs, but because evil workers are demanding their contractually promised benefits. The Big Three are failing not because the rest of the world is building fuel-efficient cars, but because the UAW demands that CEOs pay their salaries between the time their jobs get shipped to Mexico, and they find new sources of employment.
You see, all the blame can (and should) be pinned on the workers. At least, that's what the Big Three claim, and the NYT seems to agree, which explains why so many horrifying facts are splayed across the Gray Lady's pages without examination, analysis, or comment from workers themselves.
Ford's chief executive, Alan R. Mulally, said in an interview Wednesday that Detroit needed the union's help to speed its transformation, particularly in replacing current workers with entry-level employees who will be making $14 an hour in wages under the terms of the 2007 labor agreement.
That's a pay cut of almost half for the Big Three. In addition, union members aren't guaranteed their old job security or health benefits. Now that they've made concession after concession, there are still no strings attached to the automakers to stop them from closing their plants and shipping jobs to Mexico after everything has been said and done.
The UAW's president, Ron Gettelfinger, has slowly cut the strings from the UAW's parachute, and now hundreds of thousands of workers will plummet toward the Earth because a handful of corporate executives figured out it's easier to suspend worker pension plans than trim their own fat salaries.
However, the sin of abusing poor autoworkers can be shared with the media that refuses to focus on them.
The NYT did not interview one UAW worker. The NYT did not interview one person who will lose their health care coverage through this new deal, which is tantamount to the automakers putting a giant boot up the ass of the UAW.
Other media made the effort to balance the story and interview actual workers affected by these gross policy decisions. Mlive.com, an on-line Michigan news website, interviewed Michigan workers who stand to lose their health coverage under changing auto industry policies.
With General Motors Corp.'s stock tanking and the automaker possibly running out of cash before the end of the year, 73-year-old Kenneth Rathje and other retirees posed questions about pensions and health benefits.
UAW Local 668 president Matthew Ebenhoeh has spent part of last week in Detroit, learning where General Motors is headed.Industry analysts speculate that GM could file for bankruptcy to seek protection from its creditors. Several hundred retirees wanted Ebenhoeh to tell them the consequences.
"My job is to make sure my membership is safe," Ebenhoeh said. "I don't want to see anybody lose anything."
Rathje retired from Grey Iron in 1995 after a 40-plus-year career that included a stint as a labor liaison, aiding workers on layoff with new jobs or training. Losing his pension would cost him about $12,000 per year; his insurance much more.
Seems fairly painless, right? It's fine to explain the corporate side of a story, but any reputable media source should then step back and offer the counter-argument, where the workers and poor people live.
It's obvious why these types of stories tend to be so one-sided. Poor autoworkers can't buy New York Times advertising space and subscriptions.
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These 3 companies made very very very bad cars for DECADES. And, surprise surprise, their workers and shareholders are screwed. That's how it works. You have to make a decent product to survive. The Big 3 only got serious about quality 10 years ago.
All of these enterprises are failing because of sub-par managment, years of sub-par managment. How much does a unionized NYT employee make per hour? It may be found that the NYT & the Big 3 have similar pay rates for unionized employees just as all 4 enterprises have wretched quality executives.
A contravention in the protocols and policies that have characterized the Big 3 as lazy, apathetic, fat cats who care more about “getting-over” rather than getting ahead was necessary long before the catastrophic events that have occurred over the past twelve months. And let’s not forget the lack of oversight and regulation that the Federal Government has failed to execute. The fact is that appropriate measures of oversight and regulation, when properly instituted, can serve as an agent of progress toward the ends of advancement and growth has been visibly missing. This is exactly what happens in a parasitic environment of “capitalism” where deregulation runs rampant, and the indefatigable, persistent quest for bailouts immediately follow.
BTW.... there might be a whole bunch of supremely screwed and supremely pissed ex-ENRON employees out there who would love to share their thoughts about how well deregulation works in a REAL world.
Instead they promoted gas guzzlers and lobbied to do away with CAFE standards and got tax breaks for people driving tanks that get 10 miles per gallon.
Labor costs are just a small part of the Detroit Three Stooges, they had no foresight and quality control and service took a back seat to profits first.
Sure we have to save this manufacturing base, but they need oversight from someone like Ralph Nader in conjunction with green engineering.
Why didn't the big three move to the south instead of overseas?
Bad management decisions.
I do not consider assembly worker a skilled worker. He is just a labourer. Electrician, carpenter or car mechanic is skilled worker. $29 for filling transmission with oil or installing tire on the hub is bit too much for skill required.
I do not see how giving $34 mil to big three will make people buy cars. Why I should buy chevy or ford for sake of saving other people standard of life. Do UAW workers think about other people when they fill up their shopping carts in Wal-Mart? They just want to stretch their dollars as far as they can.
I know people with Bmw and Mercedes with endless trips to repair shops. It is not quality why people do not buy big 3 made cars. People buy big 3 cars because they need transportation. People buy german cars because they want them.
Chrysler will be sold to China, for pennies on the Dollar, and they will then have the cash backing to out sell the other 2 of the Big 3! GM and Ford will battle each other with Ford winning only to lose market share to Chrysler, who will flood the market with very small fuel efficient autos that are also sold in China!
UNLESS
The UAW gets a number of Board seats and the bailout money to then become the "owner" of Chrysler!
Congress should allow the UAW to buy Chrysler and control the Board, UAW/Chrysler would then lead the American recovery of "our" auto industry...