UAW vs. Delphi

[rbattelle]

Yesterday (Tuesday) Delphi threatened the UAW by saying that if they don't agree to massive (and I do mean massive) wage and benefits cuts they will simply ask the bankruptcy judge to terminate the labor contracts. It will be interesting what the union response is. I'm betting they'll hold their hard-line and wind up losing the contracts altogether.



I also learned that the UAW has this thing called the "Jobs Bank". It consists of 4000 union workers who - get this - DON'T WORK, BUT GET PAID ANYWAY! I don't believe these are people who are too injured to work, they're just regular people who get paid to not work. Holy cow, how do I get in on that deal? Elimination of the job bank, by the way, is one of Delphi's conditions.



Then yesterday I happened to be watching the local news (something I normally avoid). There's a Delphi parts operation here that employs around 5400 people. They held a big march and rally "demanding" the local plant remain open. That's fine, I have no issues with that. But what was very disturbing was a threat made by one of the local UAW leaders. He said:



"If this plant closes, what do you think will happen to the crime rate?"



In my book, that's a threat! The nerve. I can only assume, then, that if the local plant closes the newly-unemployed workers will be going on a UAW-sponsored crime-spree.



-Ryan

P. S. - for the record, I'm not anti-union, per se, but I have a marked distaste for the UAW.

 

[nickleinonen]

P. S. - for the record, I'm not anti-union, per se, but I have a marked distaste for the UAW.

diddo... but my distaste goes to the CAW. they are my union, and they don't give a rats arse about my job, only about the autoworkers up here in canada. . and in my shop, the union reps are all crooked, and there is massive conflect of interest with them too. . as 90% of them are union reps AND safety reps. union rep is suppose to help save your arse, and the safety rep is suppose to try and burn you when you do something unsafe. i got burned by one on sunday, and fine, no problem, but now the couplers [connect the consists of loco's together and test the loading of each and the brake system] at my shop, when i am on the repairs job on the service track [who also goes out to repair any problems the couplers find] get called outside to fix something that can be done in less than ±20minutes, they can do it themselves... and they can't say i am starting something new. when i am on nights [this was a dayshift overtime when the insident happened] i am outside coupling 4-5 days a week, and i do 99% of all my own repairs outside [need to do something to keep busy, can't sleep all shift]



on nights, there are 4 couplers [as there are on the other shifts] and 2 work together always, and we usually test between 4-6 trains each on nights [days/afternoons usually get 5-8 each team] and if there are no major faults, you can usually have the power tested in less than 30 min, so even at 8 trains, you are only doing 4 hours of work, so there is lots of time to repair your own problems

 

[BarryG]

There was an article in our local paper about this the other day. They were looking at 60% rate cuts and loss of pension and health benefits. I think it said that the average hourly worker makes 27. 00 an hour. The job bank is paying 4000 people who got laid off.



Ok found a link with more info

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/25/AR2005102501406.html



And another one

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/25/AR2005102501406_2.html

 

[nps]

In BarryG's articles cited, it claims wages and benefits worth $65 per hour. 16 paid holidays plus vacation time. All of this on the clock - not salary - so overtime kicks in. And the job bank to boot?



Sorry, but this wage is higher than the salary many skilled high tech workers get without overtime. And the benefits are better than most government employees get (along with a much-reduced govt salary). Even the IBEW local chapter here in Vegas hires out electricians at a TOTAL cost of $30 per hour including ALL benefits. Something has to give with these factory workers.



Either the union can concede some ground, or the displaced workers can go work at smaller shops after Delphi goes belly up. Bet the smaller shops won't offer nearly as good a package as Delphi can deliver with reasonable negotiation. And get rid of Delphi's responsibility for the job bank - isn't that what the union dues are supposed to fund?

 

[klenger]

And we wonder why so many jobs are going overseas to to illegals.

 

[rbattelle]

I Am Not Afraid Of The Uaw!

Then yesterday I happened to be watching the local news (something I normally avoid). There's a Delphi parts operation here that employs around 5400 people. They held a big march and rally "demanding" the local plant remain open. That's fine, I have no issues with that. But what was very disturbing was a threat made by one of the local UAW leaders. He said:



"If this plant closes, what do you think will happen to the crime rate?"

The UAW made another idle threat recently. In the 27 March issue of Automotive News you'll find this:

[Raymond] Knuckles (a UAW pipe fitter) says he is a peaceful man who believes in God and country. "But I would sacrifice my life for a cause," Knuckles said.

What the hell is that supposed to mean? Is this guy saying he's going to strap a bomb to himself and blow up a Delphi plant if he doesn't like negotiations? As far as I'm concerned people like this should be investigated as domestic terrorists. #@$%!



I know this was one man speaking, but he said it publicy as a UAW member, and in my book that makes it no different than a UAW threat. What do you think that does to my opinion of the UAW when these guys come out and publicly threaten people?



-Ryan

 

[daveshoe]

Getting paid not to work

Let's back up on the history a little bit. When Delphi agreed toi a two-tier wage scale some years back,General Motors agreed to keep a guaranteed number of jobs in the local plant. When GM outsourced too many jobs,they were sued,and thus the pay to not work happened. I try to talk to guys from Dayton who have retired to find the real scoop on why the US worker is at such a disadvantage. To a person,they seem most dis-satisfied in the quality of the machinery and maintenance that make up the parts . From an engineer for Delphi shocks ''when GM and Toyota built the joint venture project,some of the tooling went to their plants. The first thing the Japs did was to tighten up the machines by tooling new bushings and such to really true them up. Some of these machines were decades old and performed just like new when they were refurbished. We should do this to our machines as well'' From a floor worker '' after every two week re-tooling shutdown,we knew that we were gonna break a bunch of stuff on the machines just because it had a lot of hours on it and should have been a part of a PM profile. We suggested that the shutdown would be a great time to fix the stuff right to cut down on breakage and keep up the production that is needed at the start of a new model year. Our suggestion fell on deaf ears. ''

All this makes me wonder if GM is instituting planned failure of the US plants to make it easier to justify re-negotiating past agreements. That being said,I have also noticed quite a few GM people who do not hesitate to employ Mexican workers to do roofs, landscaping,or construction jobs

 

[TSpecht]

Based on some personal experience, it seemed to me that no management in the world can be that incompetent/complacent unless that's what they're trying to pull off.

I don't think the crime spree will be UAW endorsed per-se, but I do believe sometimes people will take extreme measures to avoid changes in their quality of life, and/or to make sure the family is fed. 5400 jobs is a tall order to replace, especially when many of those jobs are what would be considered "unskilled". It's almost 100% certain that even if most of them are able to find another job in the area, it'll probably be nowhere near the same wage.

So I guess my summary is simply regardless what company or presence/absence of a union, anytime 5400 jobs get eliminated in an area there's a good chance crime will go up.

 

[Turbo Tim 1]

Even the IBEW local chapter here in Vegas hires out electricians at a TOTAL cost of $30 per hour including ALL benefits.

That number seems pretty low, back when I worked management I was trying to keep some guys on the payroll when corporate wanted me to lay them off so I started looking into farming the guys out to other companies. As it ended up you would have to get close to $40 and hour for a guy making between $15-20 an hour by the time you add in the health insurance, taxes the company pays, disability, workers comp etc.



I won't get into the Delphi / union stuff but just want to say that I've toured through quite a few General Electric facilities that some were union and some were non-union and definantely saw a big difference in the work ethics between the two.

 

[rbattelle]

As predicted, Delphi asked the bankruptcy court back in late March to cancel all the UAW contracts. I'm actually surprised that hasn't received more press, and that it hasn't resulted in a strike. I suppose the union is waiting for the judge's decision (probably won't happen until mid-June).



Dave - you bring up a very good point about the tooling issues and management not taking steps to improve matters. I suggest there are two possible reasons for this. One, as you suggested, is a desire to cause the collapse and unprofitability of GM plants (on the part of management) in order to break the back of the union and permit the closing of domestic production for a move overseas.



The other possibility is that the political environment in which the management is immersed leaves little room for anything but "extreme" cost cutting measures. Initially, it costs money to repair and maintain machines. If you are living in an environment where cost elimination is being hammered into your brain every day, you're not likely to think clearly after awhile. Your job and your ability to feed your family might depend entirely on your ability to "not spend money". You might even fail to recognize that PM doesn't cost money, it saves money.



I don't know which is the "right" reason. It's probably a blend of the two with some other reasons thrown in too.



-Ryan

 

[nps]

That number seems pretty low, back when I worked management I was trying to keep some guys on the payroll when corporate wanted me to lay them off so I started looking into farming the guys out to other companies. As it ended up you would have to get close to $40 and hour for a guy making between $15-20 an hour by the time you add in the health insurance, taxes the company pays, disability, workers comp etc.

Out of the $30 union cost, $22 goes to the worker and $8 covers everything else - about 30% overhead and about right for statutory overhead costs. Workers Comp cost is a function of how many claims your company has. If it is an unsafe number, then the cost per employee goes up. Payroll taxes due by the co is about 4%, the union gives no vacation, and health ins is the rest of the overhead.



Most of your costs were probably co. dictated overhead. Most large companies burden each employee with the cost of the building, utilities, non-production support staff salaries, etc. The idea is to 'fairly' spread out the cost of running the business. Kind of a shell game though - while your experience suggests that getting rid of a person saves a boatload of money, it really only saved the $20-$25 hour in direct costs, unless your rent went down, the thermostat on the AC got turned up by an equivalent amount, etc.