UAW might not be the problem after all

Kayz said:
I'm the same way...I'll keep a car 8,9,10 years or until it quits on me. I've never been a big fan of leasing because you always have a car payment.

My fiance currently drives a 1999 S-10 pickup truck with 110,000 miles on it and it is falling apart.... it has about had it. It's on its last leg.
Theres that American quality for ya. ;)
 
Bob Smith said:
Theres that American quality for ya. ;)

No shit....110,000 miles on an Accord is the break-in miles.:D

I have a 2000 Pontiac Trans Am WS6 with 54,000 miles on it. This car is meticulously maintained both physically and mechanically. I've had a ton of problems with it:

1) I had to replace the tires at 16,000 miles (each tire is about $300) because I had a tire with a bad belt that would not hold air...and it wore down real bad. GM would not cover it under warranty...said it was my "aggressive driving style" even though the other 3 tires looked brand fucking new.

2) So, I get my tires replaced and I'm driving home from the shop and my alignment is off so bad I can hardly drive it. I take it back to the shop to find out that I had another bad tire from the factory...it too had a bad belt. Luckily they covered this one.

3) My stereo just quit working one day....no sound, nothing. I've yet to get this fixed, so I drive around all day in silence.

4) My windshield wipers do not work worth shit. I'm driving down the road one day in a damn monsoon and my wipers freeze halfway up my windshield!!! I had to pull off the road and wait for it to quit raining. They said I needed a new wiper motor, so I put one in. They worked for about 2 weeks and then bam....quit again. Now they tell me I need to new switch, but they have to disconnect my airbag and shit....will cost over $1K!!! So, I don't drive in the rain.

5) At about 45,000 miles, I needed new brake pads...no biggie it was due. I take it to my good friend who is the head mechanic at a Chrylser mechanic because I don't like fucking with breaks. He calls me and tells me to come down to the shop to see something. MY pistons on my left side were frozen solid!!! We tried like hell to get them to release the rotor, but they would not budge. $650 later I have 4 new calipers that work great.

So when I hear GM workers tell me how great their quality is I have to laugh. Between my car and my fiance's truck...I've had nothing but bad luck and have spent thousands of dollars. And I take damn good care of my cars.
 
Grizzly said:
I had a Blazer with 185k before I killed it and my Cavalier has 60k and zero problems.

My '96 Chevy PU had 140,000 when I sold it and the only thing I put into it was an alternator and a fuel pump. And my old Jeep Cherokee had over 200k on it when I sold that and it still ran pretty good. And I beat the crap out of that and rarely changed the oil.

I've heard plenty of horror stories about American autos, but for the most part, I've had pretty good luck with them.
 
THL said:
I've heard plenty of horror stories about American autos, but for the most part, I've had pretty good luck with them.

They're probably exagerated. Not to mention, there's problems with Jap vehicles, too. All I know is that my entire family has been driving GM for 40 years and we see no reason whatsoever to change.

My mother's(now my sister's) Chevy Lumina is a '94 and the only problem that it has had is the sunroof motor went out, so it had to be replaced. Man, that $300 dollars over the course of 10 years was a real kick in the junk! :rolleyes:

Had an '86 Buick LaSabre that we finally got rid of in 2000. Hundred and some odd thousands of miles. I loved that car. Lost my virginity in it. :eek:
 
Bob Smith said:
They arent the only ones blamed. Playboy is definitely a liberal magazine, so its no surprise that they would be against management. There is enough blame to go around on why the American automakers are a dying breed. The unions and their inflated workers salaries (Id like $60k/yr to screw in 4 bolts), the incredible cost of post-retirement health coverage, car designs that no one wants, mediocre build quality, they all play a role.

Management is liable for agreeing to the contracts, though its unlikely that they had much choice. If the UAW goes on strike, then the companies will fall apart very quickly and everyone loses their job.

The American automakers are dying a slow death at the hands of the Japs and Koreans. Since about 1975, the Americans have gone from a combined market share of 75% down to its current level of about 55%. They simply cant compete with the quality and styling of "foreign" cars (that are usually made in America).


Hi all,

Since I am a union autoworker employed by GM , I feel it very fitting that I reply.

First, I have never, even with overtime, made $60 K a year. Not even gross income. Second, I would like to invite anyone who thinks I screw in onky 4 bolts to come and do my job or any job on the assembly line for a week and then still say that. We build more vehicles every year so our individual workload increases due to our shrinking numbers. Next, unionized auto workers have been giving things back to management for years . Are we to blame that they design cars that only my 85 year-old mom would like? No. Are we to blame that up until recently that the top brass have rewarded their incompetence very handsomely? I think not.

Quality? As in the military, we must, by contract , obey a direct order given by management or face discipline. When management gives us the order to "ship it" knowing full well there is a problem with the vehicle or component, WE MUST OBEY and let it keep going without a fix. Design? It takes something just short of an act of Congress to get GM to redesign anything to go together with less chance for defects. In the eyes of engineers and management, we on the line know absolutely nothing since we only assemble their fiascos on a daily basis. Don't blame labor for Pontiac Aztek or GM's infamous diesel engines of the 1980's.

I can say with confidence that the vast majority of Joe and Jane Lunchbuckets that work in the assembly line are deeply committed to building a GREAT product. We just wish we could get GM management to share our sense of urgency.

'Nuff said and peace to all.

Dave
 
Thank you Dave for a great post.

Seems we are surrounded by union bashers around here. They tend to forget, or just dont know history, that without unions working conditions all over america would be shit...

To bad they dont make "juice" for the brain. :(
 
Dionysus said:
Thank you Dave for a great post.

Seems we are surrounded by union bashers around here. They tend to forget, or just dont know history, that without unions working conditions all over america would be shit...

To bad they dont make "juice" for the brain. :(

Nobody here at Meso has said that unions were worthless from day one. I think we can all agree that the original purpose of unions, which was to create safe working conditions and prevent child labor abuse, were noble and justified. During the Depression, conditions were horrible and needed to be remedied. Unions helped accomplish that...but they have overstepped their bounds in the past 20 years.

We now have very strict federal laws that regulate all of these things. As an employer in a highly regulated industry (probably the most heavily regulated), I know these laws well. There is no way in hell that I could force my workers to work without proper safety equipment just to save a few bucks...I'd be shut down within 24 hours. We do not need some union leader who wants to take $25 from your check each week telling us how to run our business.
 
Kayz said:
Nobody here at Meso has said that unions were worthless from day one. I think we can all agree that the original purpose of unions, which was to create safe working conditions and prevent child labor abuse, were noble and justified. During the Depression, conditions were horrible and needed to be remedied. Unions helped accomplish that...but they have overstepped their bounds in the past 20 years.

We now have very strict federal laws that regulate all of these things. As an employer in a highly regulated industry (probably the most heavily regulated), I know these laws well. There is no way in hell that I could force my workers to work without proper safety equipment just to save a few bucks...I'd be shut down within 24 hours. We do not need some union leader who wants to take $25 from your check each week telling us how to run our business.

Kayz, I'd gladly pay $125 dollars a week to keep evil elitist tyrannical capitalist pig bosses like you off my back and slap you back down to reality:
Your business ain't shit without workers!

(Just kidding, chill out and take a deep breath...lol)


Its true some unions have done damage to unions reputation as a whole. But we cant throw out the whole bushel because of one or two bad apples.
 
Dionysus said:
Kayz, I'd gladly pay $125 dollars a week to keep evil elitist tyrannical capitalist pig bosses like you off my back and slap you back down to reality:
Your business ain't shit without workers!

(Just kidding, chill out and take a deep breath...lol)


Its true some unions have done damage to unions reputation as a whole. But we cant throw out the whole bushel because of one or two bad apples.

LOL...

IMO, I think it's more than just a few bad apples though. Unions in general have such a negative stigma associated with them anymore it's hard for them to be taken seriously. Many Americans make much less than union workers and they get sick and tired of hearing the constant bitching on the news every single night. I live in the heartland of unions (Ford, GM, Delphi....etc) and it is never-ending!!! Someone is always unhappy and is always threatening a strike.

You are right that I am shit without my workers. On the flipside, without employers such as myself there are no jobs to be had. And one other thing...it is much easier for me to find a warm body than it is for most people to find a job.
 
"Detroit Pays Employees Not to Work"

Front page of the Wall Street Journal today (March 1) was an article about the 15,000 union autoworkers that get paid to do nothing. Literally nothing. One guy quoted in the article makes $65,000 with full health and retirement benefits to sit around and f*ck off all day long. This happens at GM, Delphi and the other automakers (GM and Delphi have the most "unworked" workers).

All this lack of productivity costs these companies $2 billion per year. On average, it costs about $100k per employee to have them take "How to do crossword puzzles" classes, and watch videos like Modern Marvels. Some choose to volunteer in the community rather than sitting in the "rubber room," but some choose to sit in a 400-person room and do jack shit for 8 1/2 hours every day.

GM alone paid upwards of $900 million in 2005 for these "workers."
 
Veerrryyyy interesting.....

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,186531,00.html
 
Bob Smith said:
"Detroit Pays Employees Not to Work"

Front page of the Wall Street Journal today (March 1) was an article about the 15,000 union autoworkers that get paid to do nothing. Literally nothing. One guy quoted in the article makes $65,000 with full health and retirement benefits to sit around and f*ck off all day long. This happens at GM, Delphi and the other automakers (GM and Delphi have the most "unworked" workers).

All this lack of productivity costs these companies $2 billion per year. On average, it costs about $100k per employee to have them take "How to do crossword puzzles" classes, and watch videos like Modern Marvels. Some choose to volunteer in the community rather than sitting in the "rubber room," but some choose to sit in a 400-person room and do jack shit for 8 1/2 hours every day.

GM alone paid upwards of $900 million in 2005 for these "workers."

This is very true. GM has a separate fund set up to pay these individuals. If I remember correctly, it's due to the fact that GM does not have enough work for them to do, but the Union contract says GM has to pay them no matter what. However, there are some rules involved Bob...so don't get too worked up:

1) They have to show up everyday.
 
Kayz said:
This is very true. GM has a separate fund set up to pay these individuals. If I remember correctly, it's due to the fact that GM does not have enough work for them to do, but the Union contract says GM has to pay them no matter what. However, there are some rules involved Bob...so don't get too worked up:

1) They have to show up everyday.

Could some one tell me where I can get an application for this job? :D
 
THL said:
Could some one tell me where I can get an application for this job? :D

LMFAO....I thought Grizz would have been the first one to inquire.:D

I think you have to go down to the welfare office and tell them that your 3-legged dog needs a hip replacement.:p
 
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