In all the years I have been a part of the auto industry there has not been such a time as this where it has been under such scrutiny. Well aware that everyone is entitled to their opinion and have various sources of information but still there are a lot of misinformed and uneducated views globally on the auto industry.
Firstly it is not a population of uneducated workers. In fact , most have a post secondary education and the minimum requirement to acquire a position is a high school diploma. The fact is these people went where the money was. As is the reason for many other manual labour jobs. It seems that those that complain about the wages would either never do the job that the auto workers , construction workers and such do and/or are just venting because they are not making the same amount or more, feeling of larger worth for whatever reasons justified or not. As humans we are not worth more than one another, we all have something to offer on various levels. A lawyer who makes a lot more than a teacher is not ‘worth’ more as a being nor is one or the other’s work any less or more stressful or tiring…
There is the further misconception that autoworkers do nothing more than ‘push a few buttons’ or screw in a few bolts. This sounds elementary and would in turn justify the ignorant views out there as to wages being too high but it is so much more than that. Firstly it is more than a few buttons if buttons are involved….There is a 47 second time frame in which to pick the right harness from six or seven, scan it, clip in the six to twelve clips and then pick up the gun and the appropriate bolts, reach and screw them in, then punch it in as it is complete-if there are any problems you need to type that in as well…the front of the next car is hitting you in the rear as you complete this….450-482 times steady with two 15 minute breaks and an 20 minute lunch(which is and increase of 8 minutes from the last contract)….There isn’t any time to wipe your nose if you should have a cold and if you need to go to the bathroom you need to find someone in the lack of time that you have to ask if you can go….and that is one of the better jobs, there are tons worse than that, not to mention chemical exposure, in certain areas the great possibility of becoming sterile and numerous other health factors…The number of permanent injuries is endless…not to mention the deterioration of the state of mind There are many reasons for the wages that auto workers get paid . In addition, the tax payers do not pay autoworkers' pensions, they accumulate over years to which auto workers contribute and the auto workers are one of the biggest contributors to the tax fund as well…they are at the top end of the middle class and thus get penalized the most as far as taxes go…there are no breaks-thus if the tax dollars are going to help anyone inclusive of bailouts or pensions it would be primarily their own money anyway …As for the benefits…well, the companies that are hired to provide benefits are partially to blame but auto workers benefits are not as great as one may think…most of what you do need when it comes up is not covered….and if it is ,it is covered at a percentages of years past rates…
There are many that wouldn’t want to do the jobs at hand and many that couldn’t, a lot of those same people inclusive of management are the ones complaining about the ‘autoworker’
As far as the demise of the auto industry it is not the workers…the workers have never really had any say in any of the decisions that are made for the company…There are votes but when the company gets a result they don’t like -they call a re vote until they get the result they want at the time or they don't let it be widely known that there is a vote so as to get only the votes they need/want at the time. The other side is that they open up contracts and change the terms to suit their needs at the time, their needs not the workers‘.
The management team at the top didn't make neccessary changes to product lines despite market demand as they were still able to shave off the worker inorder to have their steaks on their plates, the shirts on their backs thus any down turn wasn’t felt by them and they didn’t care…It is the greed of the Top Jo’s that put this tail spin in motion a very long time ago…You can have a chocolate bar, it’s okay but if you eat thousands, eventually you’ll be extremely unhealthy and face a lot of adversity….thus is the same with the Auto Industry….
The first critical ‘Top Jo’ decision that really sent this frenzy in motion was the Government themselves when they established ‘Free Trade’ which we all know isn’t really fair trade, there are no tariffs on foreign companies who build here and sell here but there is if those that build here try to sell there, not to mention profits are taken back to those associated countries and do nothing for our country…and then there is the Greedy few that started the competitiveness that has taken all the jobs overseas…where labour is cheaper as it is relative to their economy so they could turn a bigger profit to fill their pockets not the workers- A few started this and others had to follow in order to remain competitive in the market…
As for union versus non union….The union isn’t what it once was and has virtually no clout these days…those that are non unionized in similar fields, making similar wages and products, originally got their wages because they, the non-unionized companies, had to remain competitive with their counterparts…If it wasn’t for the unions fighting for and establishing standards the non union workers in similar fields wouldn’t be where they are today…So the union isn’t a bad thing but like the VHS comparatively to the DVD it’s had it’s day….Let it be known that this is fact, that companies like Toyota and Honda hire masses of people and true they hardly let go of anyone hired full time…but how many are really hired full time…Honda will hire a thousand people on contract(thus no benefits), evaluate every three months-everything is fine until the fourteenth month where all of a sudden something is wrong and they let those people go…only to hire a new set of a thousand people a few weeks later….thus they never have to pay benefits and are playing with ones’ livelihood in the meantime….Not saying having a union is perfect, by no stretch of the imagination even in its’ best days but at least people don’t get thrown out like used Kleenex.
Should the government help the big three out?…Yes but with terms and not without them as a government to change a few of their own laws and outlines…beginning with Free trade as we know it and the Auto Pact…The money, if given should be filtrated into changing the structure and platforms here not in other countries to facilitate job security here and product development here according ly with market demand.
It is a huge mess that the economy is in at the moment and if you want to lay blame…begin at the top…they are the ones that make the decisions…but rather than lay blame start doing something about it….It has, for many years, been the ‘M.O’ of the Corporate to ‘pass the buck’ and it seems they are doing it all over again- Instead of finding a long term fix , they look for short term band-aid fixes…and at the moment they aren't even doing that much, they're just passing the buck as is the general population...Mind you they, the general population, know no better than what the media feeds them, the CEOs do and still continue to do the same
Time for change, perhaps a change out of upper management may be a good start...
There is a trickle/ripple affect, millions will be affected if the big three go under but it will take more than a bailout to 'save face' it will take major changes in the way decisions are made and how business is done and all this starts at the top
Unknown "Dreamweaver..." Seductive
- 16 years, 3 days ago
