CAW says yes to GM pay cuts.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/CAW-members-vote-87-per-cent-in-favour-cost-cutting-deal-with-GM.html


the real story?

"Ford Canada will also renegotiate its contract with the CAW,"

oh really CAW? so now that the shoe is on the other foot so to speak... you are actually going to negotiate with the other companies instead of demanding the exact same thing from all 3 companies like you usually do?

Deank wrote:http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/CAW-members-vote-87-per-cent-in-favour-cost-cutting-deal-with-GM.html


the real story?

"Ford Canada will also renegotiate its contract with the CAW,"

oh really CAW? so now that the shoe is on the other foot so to speak... you are actually going to negotiate with the other companies instead of demanding the exact same thing from all 3 companies like you usually do?

Commie Auto Workers! Ha ha!!

"The GM-CAW agreement will not deliver sufficient labour cost savings compared to auto manufacturing operations in the United States," Joe Hinrichs, Ford's vice-president of global manufacturing and labour affairs, said in a statement.

Ford officials reiterated that stand in what CAW president Ken Lewenza called "a very frank discussion" yesterday. "The facts of the matter are we have a pattern agreement in place and the CAW will not break the pattern," he said.

The arrogance of this union leader boggles the mind. Perhaps he is grandstanding in an effort to maintain the status quo but he is putting his members jobs in jeopardy.

This pattern agreement negotiating may be of benefit to both employer and employee but there are times when maybe the greater good has to be considered.

Maintaining the status quo in this situation simply might not be the most intelligent maneuver.

Union' s were never about common sense , only the good of the union . Solidarity forever as we collect our ui .

So much disdain for the CAW, but none being shown to Chrysler after they issued an ultimatum to both the CAW and the Federal Government. Why no outrage being shown here to the Chrysler CEO who is basically using the threat of job losses to blackmail our ellected officials?

Please, so because the CAW is refusing immediate 25% wage cuts but willing to give the same concessions they gave to GM (who is is MUCH worse financial health) they are the bad guys in all of this?

Sorry but corporate CEO blackmailing politicians and workers is good, but unions bad? I don't follow the logic. But I'm a commie bastard.

Haven't heard a peep about Chrysler, got a link?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090314.RAUTOS14/TPStory/National

It was on the news the day before yesterday. I forgot to mention they also want Ottawa to drop the $1 Billion in back taxes they are alleged to owe.

Gotta love the fact that they also feel our lower Canadian dollar shouldn't count as a cost savings when compared to US workers. This is total BS.

Personally I feel if they want to issue ultimatums that the fed's need to issue one right back at them, close the doors and you can forget about selling in Canada. Now can we please get back to negotiating and not extorting.

"Our labour costs constitute seven per cent of the cost of producing a vehicle. The critics who demand deeper wage cuts know full well that they are economically irrelevant - they just see this as an opportunity to attack unions, no matter what we do," he said.

I'd also like to point out that even the full 25% wage reduction Chryslerr is seeking amounts to a savings of 1.75% of the total production cost of the vehicle. It's basically irelevant as a cost cutting measure and only serves to weaken our already weakened economy by removing disposable income from the workers.

So let's see if I can sum this up correctly. CAW and GM have an agreement to cut wages. Ford and Chrysler say that deal is not good enough for them.

So either they cut costs, or they can't afford to continue to operate in Canada. Is that an ultimatum, or just a statement of fact? We haven't heard anything about executive pay cuts though....

How about we let Ford and Chrysler shut down, and help Toyota open more lines of production in Canada with those workers?

Well Iam sure there is room to cut and slash at the top, your enemy is Free Trade as it is the route of the problem . it is good if equal and that is why it is the problem .

We in North America can not or probably should not lower our standard of living to Mexico's . As someone told me once Defhrs pays roughly say $16 an hour here and 16 a day approx there , This is free trade funny the couch you buy has not come down to reflect that . If it did stead of $1000 try $450 as was pointed out by several economists when free trade came in .
Free Trade is only good when it is equal trade and Our loute of a Prime Minister did not sober up enough at the time to see it . And the American president was on side with the bussines that stood to gain the most. To bad it is now coming back to bite them too .

This has nothing to do with free trade. Neither do wages in Mexico.

It would seem two of the big three have been run poorly for a very long time. Actually both GM and Chrysler issued ultimatums. Ford not yet. There are other threads in the sandbox where some have commented on those threats. I don't agree with them and personally would have no problem if Chrysler were to shut her down in Canada. I'd buy a Toyota or Honda. Or, shudder, a Ford.

I don't think the issue is a 25% wage cut. I believe it is a 25% cut to the cost of an employee. There is a difference. There is a thread in the sandbox on this issue also.

Chrysler wants to NEGOTIATE with revenue Canada about the $800,000,000 in disputed taxes. Right now Chrysler wants a guarantee the lien and hold-back is enough to satisfy Revenue Canada thus allowing Chrysler and Fiat to conclude their deal.

Absence of comments critical to one side or another does not imply one side is more evil than another. Why take that leap?

Lastly, when looking at cost cutting measures every 1-2% adds up. The cost of employees in the auto sector is too friggen high. We need reality and common sense to prevail sometime. Now seems like a great opportunity.

But this thread is about the CAW. You want to start a thread to discuss management go ahead.

Aw but it doe's most of the plant closures in North America have been put up somewhere else and it is where the wages and the cost of doing business is the least.

Which is fine but then why has not my cost to buy reflected that . And if you worked in electronics you must have seen the total plant closures there , all made somewhere else now and is that right . If people think we will go to high tech well I don;t think so it has gone over seas for much of it now .

It is not only wages but the whole business environment rules , unions , and pollution laws . Liability and a host of other things if all of this were equal then I am all for it , but it is no where near it . Yes we can come down somewhat but they have a lot to do first.
A lawyer at the lake told me once Bhopal India would not have happened in America because of those pollution laws that are enforced . And the safety standards enacted .
Hence why it cheaper to go there, this is not free trade just cheap trade.
And yes there is much mismanagement too but I have a hard time believing this when bonuses get paid out still . At least at AIG has so you wonder how much of this is good old selling the story . The car manifacturers agreed to these stupid contracts and have stayed in them or been forced to . So yes they have them selves to blame too
All I say is free trade around the world is part of the problem , least we are all equal in it .

The biggest trip up is still greed on a banking industry that was strapped financing a war for a trillion dollars a month.

That is not free trade. It is seeking the lowest cost manufacturer. It seems that is now China. No free trade agreement there to blame.

Your cost to buy is absolutely reflected in today's prices. If manufacturing was not moved offshore how much more would things cost today?

There is a shift underway. Been underway for quite a while now. Western countries are moving to service and knowledge economies. Seems those western countries have done quite nicely under that shift IMO.

In any event this is a thread about the CAW and GM. Not sure how this discussion has morphed into a global trade discussion.

North American cars cannot be sold in South Korea. It sure is a trade issue to a great extent imo.

But to me, the scariest thing is that within a few years, there will be 7 retirees compared to every 1 worker at GM. That is not sustainable.

The issue was FREE trade J2F. NAFTA. Not trade in general.

Aren't we baby boomers also facing new disproportionate worker bee/retiree ratios?

Oops..my mistake.

...and yes, we are facing a labour shortage, or will be because of fewqer workers coming online to replace old ones.

However, that may have just changed for a lot of folks. Afterall, we had been talking about retiring at 55, like most GM workers btw. Companies cannot sustain those kinds of pension plans...let's get serious eh.

Now we are talking about freedom 75. Especially since many of us have had the sh1t kicked out of our portfolios...

Sniff

Well, on the bright side, (to me anyway) the days of gluttonous consumerism may have come to an end.

Nice to see they've now "accepted" they were getting $20 too much an hour to begin with. I guess this also means they're giving up their retarded demand from last year of each employee getting paid full wages and benefits for 4 years after the plant closed - if it ever did. Although most of these employees look like martian's - they came close to proving it. Thankfully the reality of the economy brought them back to earth before they started demanding to be paid to breath while being forced to work in one of the slave-camps/auto-plants. I'm still hoping two of the big three go bankrupt - then those victim labourers can try and find work in the real world.

Yes they can sell cars in Korea but limited amounts of them they protect there own Korea. And yes well we have adapted to other industries they have not created enough jobs to replace the factories we have lost. The CAW is for the most part out of touch .

General Motors Canada and the Canadian Auto Workers union have reached a new deal on labour concessions.

The two sides reached the deal after days of slow negotiating, CAW president Ken Lewenza confirmed during a news conference in Toronto Friday morning.

Lewenza said the union and the automaker reached the tentative deal around 11 p.m. ET Thursday.

Voting on the agreement by union members is slated for Sunday and Monday.

"We have preserved our wages. We have preserved and secured our pension benefits," said Lewenza. "We have protected most of our core benefits."

He said the deal meets the competitive benchmarks laid out by governments, and guarantees that company plants in the Ontario communities of Oshawa, St. Catharines and Woodstock will remain open.

Speaking to reporters in Calgary, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he was glad General Motors Canada and the CAW had reached an agreement.

"I’m hopeful when we look at the deal that all involved have made the difficult decisions necessary to create a viable company," Harper said.

Pension issues were one of the major items, with Lewenza saying Friday that the union has agreed to a pension benefit freeze extending through 2015.
CBC News

This release seems short on details. According to Lewenza the wages have not been affected in this latest negotiation.

I read that it's pretty much status quo, with a small pension freeze. Seems weird.