UAW makes history with pivotal win at auto plant in South

[Henry Whalley]

Volkswagen workers vote yes to unionizing, igniting UAW's push to organize the South : NPR

"Workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., have voted overwhelmingly to join the United Auto Workers, setting a new trajectory for labor unions in the American South.

"With 3,613 ballots counted, the final tally was 2,628 votes in favor of joining the UAW, and 985 votes against. Some 73% of workers voted in favor of unionizing."

[Henry Whalley]

How Everything Changed at Volkswagen in Chattanooga - The American Prospect

[Lowell]

Huge news. This has to be earth-shaking news in the automotive world. And good news for Detroit in that it portends that our UAW shops will be increasingly labor-price competitive with those companies that who try to hide in the South. Those companies will either have to raise worker wages or face unionization. Either way their costs will rise and the incentive to try end runs around the UAW will be greatly lessened.

“All we heard for years is that we can't do this in the South. And you can. Workers can do it. It's time for workers to take more control of their lives. The only way they can take control of their work lives is by forming a union.”
Shawn Fain

[Henry Whalley]

Huge news...

Harvard Law’s Labor and Worklife Program releases major report aimed at reforming American labor law - Harvard Law School | Harvard Law School

And Sharon Block of the Labor and Worklife Program is on Biden's short list for SCOTUS.

https://youtu.be/oI5VfVAMyEI?t=14

[Wesley Mouch]

Huge news. This has to be earth-shaking news in the automotive world. And good news for Detroit in that it portends that our UAW shops will be increasingly labor-price competitive with those companies that who try to hide in the South. Those companies will either have to raise worker wages or face unionization. Either way their costs will rise and the incentive to try end runs around the UAW will be greatly lessened.
...snip...”

Whether it's good for Detroit will be determined mostly by how many salaried jobs the 'Big 3' keep in Detroit vs. Germany, Japan, or Seoul. The workers who are working will make a marginal gain. The workers replaced by Mexicans or China will make far less. Our goal should be general economic health for the auto industry, and not simply wages for labor.

For manufacturers, it isn't so much the wages as the legacy costs and working conditions. That will take a generation or two to hurt VW and their newly unionized brethren. If US manufacturing becomes less important internationally, that will be a much larger harm to US workers and citizens. Much larger.

[Henry Whalley]

...workers replaced by Mexicans or China will make far less.

I have lots of comments, but I'll start with one:

We can't talk about industrial policy without talking about trade policy or political economy in general. There's political momentum here in favor of reindustrialization. Both MAGA and Build Back Better mean that people are awake to the fact that neoliberalism was a 40-50 yearlong date rape of our comatose middle class. No drug is perfect, and some victims remained awake during the entire ordeal.

P.S. While MAGA is a hoax, Build Back Better is real. Vehicles from Mexico or China are things of the past

[Richard]

I have lots of comments, but I'll start with one:

We can't talk about industrial policy without talking about trade policy or political economy in general. There's political momentum here in favor of reindustrialization. Both MAGA and Build Back Better mean that people are awake to the fact that neoliberalism was a 40-50 yearlong date rape of our comatose middle class. No drug is perfect, and some victims remained awake during the entire ordeal.

P.S. While MAGA is a hoax, Build Back Better is real. Vehicles from Mexico or China are things of the past

BBB is real all right it’s keeping a lot of people really broke and a lot of business are really shutting their doors.

One can say it’s a socialist dream as it moves the money from the bottom to the top while making everybody else equally broke.

And Democrats are pessimistic about the bill’s hopes. An anonymous survey among senior Capitol Hill aides by PunchBowl News, a political news outlet, found that 84% of senior Democratic aides believed the BBB passed by the House was dead. Most agreed that breaking it up into “chunks” would be the best path forward.

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/perso...ter-plan-dead/

Funny thing about the history behind social experiments,they always leave the lower classes further down in the gutter,but maybe that is the intent,to keep them there so you can save them later when the next election rolls around .

Economists, business leaders, Clinton and most Republicans dismissed Perot’s worries as overblown. Despite the fact that most had never read the agreement, they argued free trade would create jobs, period. Over the objections of Perot, most Democrats in the House and other critics like me – NAFTA was ratified and went into effect on Jan. 1, 1994.

https://theconversation.com/the-gian...escient-120258

[Henry Whalley]

BBB is real all right it’s keeping a lot of people really broke and a lot of business are really shutting their doors.

One can say it’s a socialist dream as it moves the money from the bottom to the top while making everybody else equally broke.

Dow Jones closed above 40,000. What it means for economy, 401[[k)s [[usatoday.com)

[Richard]

It’s more complicated then that because it was part of their incentive packages to locate in those states to remain RTW.

If their true intention is to avoid the unions,then they will just do what everybody else has been doing,going further south across the border into Mexico.

[Henry Whalley]

...going further south across the border into Mexico.

Yeah, it's why people like Henry Ford always preferred fascist dictators.

[401don]

Yeah, it's why people like Henry Ford always preferred fascist dictators.

Stupid comment and not true.

[Henry Whalley]

Stupid comment and not true.

It's true that trade unions are illegal in both right-wing and left-wing dictatorships. Workers have rights only in free polities.

Labor Under the Nazis | Foreign Affairs

Solidarity [[Polish trade union) - Wikipedia

[canuck]

It’s more complicated then that because it was part of their incentive packages to locate in those states to remain RTW.

If their true intention is to avoid the unions,then they will just do what everybody else has been doing,going further south across the border into Mexico.

So, the Southern RTW states are just a stepping stone to Mexican offshoring. Not much to look forward to.

Apart from the lack of unionized labor in Mexico, the cartel situation more than makes up for the lack of organized anything and provides benefits to its adherents.

[Richard]

So, the Southern RTW states are just a stepping stone to Mexican offshoring. Not much to look forward to.

Apart from the lack of unionized labor in Mexico, the cartel situation more than makes up for the lack of organized anything and provides benefits to its adherents.

If you think about it the cartels are no different than the politicians,unions and mob in the U.S. and Canada,just called a different name.

Anyway you look at it you have to pay to play.

I think Cuba may be the next playground,average wage is $13 per month and they are collapsing without the support of Venezuela and Russia,unless China steps in and saves the day they may have to forgo their commie inspirations in order to generate revenue.

I am starting to see parts from places like Honduras,Chech Republic and even Brazil,the quality and fit far surpasses anything else.

I think if anything in the future it will be all assembled in the U.S. and for that yohh up can use robots and go the route of modules like Tesla.

You do not change a fender,you change the whole front end as a module,which is why it’s $30,000 for a fender bender.

The body,drive system and battery are all modules,you do not fix them,you pull them and replace them as a module,like they have been doing with tanks and ships for a long time.

When you look at the technology advancements,the future is not going to be factories as we know them today.

Mercedes and BMW is already implementing humanoid robots in their Hungary factories,due to labor shortages of course.

They are also testing cross platform implementation across all the factories,where they can produce multiple platforms at one factory with the flip of the switch without having to re-tool.

So sooner then we think it’s going to be techies in lab coats and robots.

The unions might just as well be representing buggy whip makers at this point,if I was in my 20s factory floor is not where it will be at in the near future,unless you are bringing some kind of technology skills to the table,the days of non skilled labor finding any job are numbered.

Places like Starbucks and the burger joints already have the fully automated systems tested,so you ain’t going to be flipping burgers for $25 per hour.

[Henry Whalley]

If you think about it...

Please stop thinking, Richard. Take a pill.

[Richard]

Please stop thinking, Richard. Take a pill.

You should stop taking pills and try thinking with a clearer mind.

You are quoting Harvard,an institution where you can buy good grades so you have all day to hate on Jews,instead of getting a legitimate education.

What’s next,how to better your life in 10 easy steps - written by Karl Marx?

[Henry Whalley]

Mercedes-Benz plants in Vance and Woodstock, Alabama, vote on May 13-17 on unionization.

UAW's Fain braces for fight with politicians to win at Mercedes plants [[freep.com)

https://youtu.be/gwUzHyevpsc

[Richard]

They had already done the “right” thing during the strike on the big 3 - they raised the pay rate and benefits packages without being unionized,so what exactly did they accomplish by becoming union other then to drop their pay rate by now having to pay dues ?

The unions won already if it was about the workers during the strike,so what is it,the workers are not allowed to gain unless they give their kickback to the unions?

The union is no different then the evil companies,profiting off the backs of the workers.

Why did they need to spend $40 million hard earned workers dollars to accomplish something they had already accomplished?

How long before Taft-Hartley act kicks in?

The manufacturers in the south actually have RTW imbedded into their incentive package when they located there originally,you are talking about states that put up 100s of millions ,it’s not going to be a walk in the park or cheap for the unions to try and unionize those factories.

The union is a business no different then any other business,expecting a ROI,but they make millions in profit without actually building anything,their product is brokering people.

We’re all fed up with seeing the rich get richer,” Mr. Fain declared recently.

His salary jumped from $160k a year to $347k a year which puts him in the top 5% of earners in Indiana ,that does not include the perks ,so if the rich are not supposed to get richer based on performance,why was he exempt from that formula ?

Should he not make the salary equal to those he represents?

[Richard]

The world dues run in labor,but there is an endless labor supply in many countries where they are a bit more hungry.

2000 to 2008 the auto manufacturers shed 150,000 jobs.

From 1998 to 2018 vehicle manufacturing employment declined 17 % while production increased by 13%.

It does not sound like much but considering Michigan has 380,000 workers in the manufacturing sector take away 17% of those jobs ,you will feel the impact.

[Richard]

The DAILY wage in a Mexican auto factory is $33.25,13% of that is in food coupons.

It does not pay to automate those factories when labor is cheap.

[Richard]

It’s seems like robotic advancement is linked to AI,the better they get with AÍ the more tasks the robots can do,pretty soon they will probably be cheaper then a wife when it comes to household chores.

As far fetched as the Jetsons seemed to be,a lot of that is becoming a reality.

My guess is when it gets to that point the unions will try and organize the robots and force you to pay them,while the unions collect the pay as trustees and hold on to it for the benefit of the robots.

[Henry Whalley]

cheaper then a wife when it comes to household chores..

https://youtu.be/UhgjfMSwMG4?t=1

[Henry Whalley]

United Auto Workers at Daimler Truck approve contract with more than 25% raises [[detroitnews.com)

[Henry Whalley]

Presidential election pivotal in how labor board will referee unions
Grant Schwab The Detroit News
Published 11:00 p.m. ET May 6, 2024

https://www.detroitnews.com/restrict...=CPROADBLOCKDH

"Like many federal agencies, the NLRB is known for shifting the political orientation of its work between Democratic and Republican administrations. But former officials, labor scholars and union organizers say the recent shifts are beyond what they’ve seen in decades. Whoever wins November’s rematch can — and likely will — wield the agency’s power to either tamp down or charge up unionization efforts around the country."

https://www.newscorpse.com/Pix/Campa...eally-rich.jpg

[Henry Whalley]

3 reasons the UAW is having success in organizing Southern workers – with two Mercedes plants in Alabama the next face-off [[theconversation.com)