UAW deal paves way for 100 percent low-wage workforce at Michigan GM plant

[Hannah Bell]

The deal announced earlier this month by the United Auto Workers will allow General Motors to get rid of all of its higher-paid “legacy” workers at the Lake Orion assembly plant and transform all 1,300 workers at the suburban Detroit factory into a cheap labor workforce....

At an October 3 local union meeting, UAW Local 5960 Shop Chairman Mike Dunn told angry workers that 60 percent of the workforce at the idled plant would be hired back at full wages, while the remaining 40 percent ― roughly everyone with under 11 years corporate seniority ― would be paid the lower “tier-two” wages. Dunn added, however, that once rehiring of laid-off Lake Orion workers was completed no higher paid workers from other plants would be allowed to transfer into the facility. All new hires would be low-wage workers.

“We have become ‘red circle,’” Dunn said. “No other tier-ones will be able to transfer into Orion. The object of Orion was to become an all tier-two plant, as long as it was small car,” Dunn said in the webcast posted on the UAW Local 5960 web site...Local members will not be allowed to vote on the deal, Dunn announced, because the current UAW-GM agreement allowed the union and the company to implement “innovative staffing” proposals at factories producing small cars.

Hundreds of laid-off Lake Orion workers were given until Monday to decide whether to take a job in Lordstown, Ohio―250 miles away―and keep their current wage, or risk having their wages cut in half once hiring is complete at the plant. Workers who are unable to find a spot at another plant will not qualify for supplemental unemployment benefits and would only receive $382 a week in jobless pay. The Obama administration and the UAW wiped out the “Jobs Bank,” which subsidized laid-off workers while they waited for transfers.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/oct2010/lake-o21.shtml

[WCGreen]

1. Yea but the bankers who were bailed out get even better bonuses...

What the Fuck...

[Hannah Bell]

2. The leadership of UAW International voted themselves a raise as well, &

took control of the (no) strike fund....

Unions, like governments, can't be left to "professionals".

[reggie the dog]

7. sounds like the workers need a new union

or at least new union leadership

[Romulox]

9. It's their own government doing this to them--GM is under U.S. control!

:hi:

[Recursion]

19. OK, how would you make GM profitable? NT

[Romulox]

20. I would give the CEO job to some Telecom buddy of Timmy Geithner, and pay him $9M of taxpayer

while demanding deep cuts in workers' salaries.

GM CEO To Get $9M Pay Package

By Tom Krisher, AP Auto Writer

Manufacturing.Net - September 10, 2010



DETROIT (AP) -- New General Motors Co. CEO Daniel Akerson will get the same $9 million pay package as the man he replaced, Ed Whitacre.

Akerson, a former telecommunications industry and private equity executive, will receive $1.7 million in annual salary, $5.3 million in short-term stock payable over the next three years, and another $2 million in stock that's part of the company's long-term executive compensation plan.

The automaker, which is 60.8 percent owned by the U.S. government, disclosed the pay package in a filing on Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It is identical to what the company disclosed for Whitacre in February.


http://www.manufacturing.net/News/2010/09/Automotive-GM-CEO-To-Get-9M-Pay-Package/?menuid=248

[Recursion]

21. I don't see anybody getting paid $9M of taxpayer money

Are you sure you quoted the right article?

[Romulox]

22. LULz. Others don't see what Obama has to do with anything

You want to quibble about the particulars of the pay package (though you at least seem aware that Akerson was appointed by some combination of Obama/Geithner/Summers.)

I guess I will give the advantage to you, but your arguments would be a lot more effective if you just came out and made them yourself: i.e. that a) you support these paycuts and union-busting practices; and b) that you acknowledge that these policies are implemented by people hand picked by Obama's economic team. As you can see from this thread, those that ignore (or claim ignorance of) point b) have very little room to develop their argument. The same is true for someone who wishes to put forth point a), but only does so in an oblique ("well, do YOU have a better idea?") way.

[Recursion]

23. OK, make him work for free

He's getting 1.7 million in cash this year. How many of these jobs would that 1.7 million save?

[Romulox]

Like I said: You approve of these pay cuts and union-busting practices, own it.

Nobody cares to argue the pay particulars of the admin's current Crony-In-Chief in charge of GM. Nevertheless, it's clear that there's no austerity for the President's hand-picked friends whom he's placed in charge of GM.

[Recursion]

25. It must be nice to be able to pigeonhole people like that

But, no, I don't "approve" of union busting or pay cuts. Try again.

[Romulox]

26. Sorry, I can't put forward your argument for you. If you have a point, make it.

Your questions to me have revealed an obvious perspective on the matter, but have put forward no affirmative points on the matter. I'm not here to coax your views from you.

[Recursion]

27. My question was very simple: what would you do?

How would you make this plant profitable without cutting the workers' pay?

[Romulox]

29. Nonsense. The real question is which union-busting practices WOULDN'T *you* engage in?

If it meant that Akerson could make $9.5 M in taxpayer assets?

:hi:

[Recursion]

32. I wouldn't cut any of their pay, and I wouldn't bust any of the unions

I also would probably drive GM to bankruptcy again pretty quickly. There's a reason I don't run businesses.

[Hannah Bell]

42. i'd get gm to stop playing the casino, which is where their losses came from.

mortgages.

gm's auto manufacturing *is* profitable, & workers' wages & benefits are less than 10% of the price of a car.

gm has made TWO BILLION in profits in the first half of the year alone.

[Romulox]

24. edit: dupe nt

[Trey9007]

33. According to the AFL-CIO.....

averagae CEO compensation for fortune 500 companies was $9M, in 2009. So in 2011, the new GM CEO's will be getting 2009 wages, and Im pretty sure this is much less than the pre-bailout CEO compensation at GM. In reality, the CEO tittle has taken a haircut, as well.

[Hannah Bell]

44. oh bull.

Discussions continue to flare tensions in Washington over what will happen to the US automakers. GM CEO Rick Wagoner received a 33% pay raise for 2008 yet still pleads for government help.

http://www.stocktradingtogo.com/2008/11/18/us-automaker-bailout-debates-heat-up/

DETROIT – New General Motors Co. CEO Daniel Akerson will get the same $9 million pay package as the man he replaced, Ed Whitacre.

Akerson, a former telecommunications industry and private equity executive, will receive $1.7 million in annual salary, $5.3 million in short-term stock payable over the next three years, and another $2 million in stock that's part of the company's long-term executive compensation plan.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100910/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gm_ceo_pay_4

[Trey9007]

55. Wagoner was pre-bailout GM ...

and was getting $14M. Whitacare and the new guy are post bail out and got $9M. The post bailout CEOs are earning less than the pre bail out CEO. Like I said, the CEO tittle took haircut.

http://www.mlive.com/business/index.ssf/2009/03/gm_ceos_2008_compensation_valu.html (Wagoners' compensation)



http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch/ (afl/cio CEO pay watch)

[Hannah Bell]

56. and that was a 33% raise, what didn't you get? ceo pay is currently more than it was in 2007.

workers' pay has already been cut & is now being cut again -- in half.

[Trey9007]

57. Somebody must be lying....

This source says Wagoner's compensation was $15M in 2007...


http://www.mlive.com/business/index.ssf/2008/04/gm_ceo_rick_wagners_2007_compe.html

[Hannah Bell]

58. i can't read your article, but this one says wagoner's SALARY

was $1.6 million in 2007.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2534738420080425.

in a year where they booked a $39 billion loss.

"Wagoner had accepted a reduced base salary in 2006 and 2007 and only about 16 percent of his compensation is guaranteed."

SALARY is guaranteed. The value of & benefit of taking stock options, etc. isn't. That's why they're called "options".

Let's see, in 2007 gm booked -$39 billion & started preparing for bankruptcy.

This year gm has booked $2 BILLION in profit in the first 6 months alone.

which year's options do you think are going to be worth more IN FACT?

CEO's SALARY today: $1.7 million. some haircut.

[Recursion]

62. Oh come on

His salary has gone up because there's a widespread belief that more of CEOs' pay needs to be in salary as opposed to options and stocks, and the restructuring of GM is carrying that out. And you know that. But you seem to be pretending you don't.

His compensation (of which salary is a part) went down.

[Hannah Bell]

64. no, what i know is the guaranteed portion of his compensation went up.

[Recursion]

65. Yes, to discourage short-term stock run-ups at the expense of solvency

So less of the compensation is short-term-sellable stock, and more is salary and no-sale stock. And the total is less. This seems like a step in the right direction.

[Hannah Bell]

68. you can invent all the apologetics you like: the guaranteed portion of his compensation went up.

[Trey9007]

30. I think some here aren't being fair to UAW leadership...

when you consider what GM would more than likely have done if the workers were not represented by the union. Also, one major factor is getting overlooked. This agreement is not 'forever', meaning it can be re-visited once GM gets a few years of financial stability under its belt. UAW leadership realizes this, and I'm sure most or all of the members realize this as well. Union contracts are usually 3-5 years, then they are renegotiated. The "innovative staffing" clause goes a step further and allows the UAW to revisit this issue, at anytime (even before contract expires and is up for renegotiations) they feel GM is in the position to offer a better deal.


If there ever was a time compromise it is now. That plant in question is currently producing small cars only. There is not much profit in small cars. This agreement makes ALOT of sense,IMO.. The UAW has put their members in the position where they still have a job, and are in the position to regain some of their concessions in the future. As opposed to going for unjustified big gains, which probably would have led to GM closing the plant in the near future.

[DainBramaged]

31. It's a race to the bottom, and quality will suffer as will Gm and the UAW leadership

GM and UAW leadership want to fuck with the members, in the end, they lose. It will be 1974 all over again. Nothing but Vega quality from GM until they become dust.

[Trey9007]

34. I dont agree...

with you assesment here. I acknowledge the country as a whole is winning the race to the bottom. But in this case, the UAW was able to temporarily keep top-tier wages, at a plant that makes a slim profit product. Race to the bottom occurs when companies increase profits by cutting wages, and try to pass it off as capitalism. GM has been knocked down a notch or two. So its natural that the workers may have to take haircut. But they did right. The haircut is being taken most by the less senior workers.

I can go on & on about why it can be good thing that less senior workers go through something like this.

[DainBramaged]

35. Having been a UAW member since 1984 I disagree with your assessment

let's get more 20 something clueless no experience workers in there at $14 an hour building cars and watch what happens to quality. GM and the UAW don't want to invest in the workforce, fuck 'em.


By the time you corporate hacks reach bottom and we become a third world country, I'll be dead and buried. Great legacy you're leaving my kid.

[Trey9007]

49. Heres what you forget......

In 1984, you and/or your co-workers were probably 'clueless' as well. UAW legacy members negotiated good wages through out time. UAW members have worked hard over the years to make the company as great as it is, and it is those legacy workers who should continue to enjoy all the things they have earned.

The problem is new members who wern't around for all the tough times, become soft members. They walk into a shop with excellent working condition and did not have to fight.qdgjsd.[] IMO, it's better when each generation learns to fight. The newbies of today are the ones who will negotiate the retirement packages of tommorow.

IMO, I think there are times that unions must 'reset' themselves. That time comes when the past efforts of legacy employees must be replaced by a new younger workforce. You know that time has come, when companies with great pasts hit rock bottome. The younger workforce must learn/expeirence what it takes to make GM great. As GM recovers, the younger workers should work hard to regain the concessions made. IMO, it keeps a union strong. When you allow the younger workforce to live off the success of the legacy workers, they become 'soft'. Then, when the legacy workers are all retired, the REAL union busting begins. You risk leaving GM to batlle with workers who have never had to fight. If you havent had to fight for something, you're more likely to let someone take it from you..

[DainBramaged]

59. Bullshit, you're pro-management, you don't do a good job of hiding it either

Every wage depreciated, every benefit lost is never recovered.


Go preach to the Republicans, you shouldn't be preaching to me.

[JVS]

40. "So its natural that the workers may have to take haircut"

No it isn't. Haircuts are for investors, not workers.

[Hannah Bell]

48. +100. TWO BILLION in profits so far this year. *That's* the class that the "bailout" helped.

They never get their hair cut.

[Trey9007]

51. It may not be natural...

but it is sometimes necessary. When you're in a position where the company is BK'd, I'd say thats the time it's necessary.

[Hannah Bell]

45. gm workers have been making "compromises" for 40 years. which is why their new pay rate

now starts at $14/hr.

[Touchdown]

3. If the unions in this country were stronger, and the laws not stacked against us...

This would never have happened. With a high unemployment rate, Unions only 8% of the workforce, underrepresented by DLC type reps who have problems with Card Check because that's what they've been told by big business, there is very little bargaining power left.

[maryf]

4. Such a shame...

when the unions stop protecting the workers... K&R

[Starry Messenger]

5. k & r

[PassingFair]

6. Kiss the American Dream goodbye.

:cry:


Idiots I know have thought, and continue to think,
that unions are a bad idea, that working people don't
deserve a living wage....and I'm in MICHIGAN!

:cry:

[Romulox]

8. Wish WSWS would address the Obama admin's part in all of this. The Obama admin. is in control of GM

It's Obama and Geithner demanding these pay cuts. :hi:

[Egnever]

10. Yay for bullshit posts!

you have any basis for this bullshit claim or you just spewing out your ass.

[Romulox]

11. Earth to obscure poster: the Obama admin hires and fires GM's CEO

Edward E. Whitacre Jr., the former chief executive at AT&T who was appointed by the government as GM board chairman earlier this year, will serve as interim chief executive as a search begins for a permanent replacement.

"While momentum has been building over the past several months, all involved agree that changes needed to be made," Whitacre said in a brief statement read to reporters at the company's Detroit headquarters. "We now need to accelerate our progress."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/01/AR2009120104661.html

I'm sure our "socialists" have some reason for not engaging with the above information. :shrug:

[Hannah Bell]

50. funny how the conditions for the bailout mandate things GM already wanted to do.

if you think gm was helpless before big bad obama, you're a bit gullible.

the government appointed whitaker while gm was in receivership.

it's not in receivership now.

[Romulox]

OK. The Obama admin is nonetheless calling the shots at GM.

"f you think gm was helpless before big bad obama, you're a bit gullible."

What?

"the government appointed whitaker while gm was in receivership.

it's not in receivership now."

And yet the Obama admin nevertheless appointed the current CEO. :hi:

[Hannah Bell]

69. obama admin runs gm -- like they run the banks they bailed out.

you know no more about the "inside story" than i do, rom, so no use pretending you know.

historically, capital runs the government in its own interest, not the reverse.

[Romulox]

71. Engage with reality, Hannah. The Obama admin has actively hired, fired, and replaced GM's CEOs

Which bank did it do that at? :hi:

"historically, capital runs the government in its own interest, not the reverse."

That is an entirely academic distinction. I don't care if the banksters got chocolate in Obama's peanutbutter, or vice versa. The point being, your monomaniacal attacks on workers entirely ignore the Obama administration's role in this thing.

[Romulox]

61. OK. The Obama admin is nonetheless calling the shots at GM.

"f you think gm was helpless before big bad obama, you're a bit gullible."

What?

"the government appointed whitaker while gm was in receivership.

it's not in receivership now."

And yet the Obama admin nevertheless appointed the current CEO. :hi:

[Karmadillo]

12. Can't the basis be found in the terms of the bailout?

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/feb2009/auto-f06.shtml

<edit>

The terms of the federal loan require workers to accept wage and benefit concessions that would reduce them to the level of nonunion workers at US plants operated by Toyota and Honda by the end of 2009. In addition, the UAW must accept billions owed to a union-controlled retiree health care fund in the form of virtually worthless stocks, rather than cash. This would mean drastic cuts in health care benefits for hundreds of thousands of former workers and their dependents.

A clause in the bailout deal—co-drafted by the Bush’s Treasury Department, the congressional Democratic leadership and the incoming Obama administration—also bans auto workers from striking under the threat that the government will revoke the loans and throw the companies into bankruptcy.

While accepting the wage cuts in principle the UAW has been lobbying the Obama administration for an extension of the deadline so it can have more time to pressure older workers to leave. As part of its efforts to pressure reluctant workers to accept a buyout, the UAW has agreed to the elimination of the jobs bank program—which subsidized the lost wages of laid-off workers—just as layoffs are mounting.

GM, which has announced plans to slash 31,500 hourly and salaried jobs by 2012, ended the jobs bank program on Monday and Chrysler did so last week. The 1,600 UAW workers in GM’s jobs bank will be placed on layoff and must apply for unemployment benefits. As part of the loan deal the Treasury Department called for the “elimination of the payment of any compensation or benefits to U.S. employees of the company or any subsidiary who have been fired, laid-off, furloughed, or idled, other than customary severance pay.”

more...

[Recursion]

14. Yeah, the government shouldn't have gotten involved

It would be much better for GM to have been liquidated and all these guys be out on the streets with no benefits at all. Great idea.

[Karmadillo]

16. Good point. Workers need to understand they aren't banksters.

nt

[Recursion]

18. GM's management was sacked. Their shareholders and bondholders took huge hits.

This was not a golden parachute for anybody.

[fishbulb703]

43. That is a foolish and corporatist position. nt

[Ikonoklast]

66. Are you completely daft?

The bondholders got next to NOTHING.

Shareholders took a haircut at about the ankle level.


THAT IS REALITY.


Name-calling cannot change what actually happened.


Dog some people here are completely bonkers.

[Hannah Bell]

53. wouldn't have happened. gm is very profitable, contrary to the msm's reportage.

[Romulox]

15. And for the more prosaic reason that GM's leadership answers directly to Obama and Geithner!

Akerson was appointed as the Treasury's representative to the GM board last July, after the company emerged from bankruptcy.

Wilson said President Obama's auto task force was looking for GM board members with "experience in leading change at major organizations" as well as private equity managers with a lot of experience of corporate boards. Akerson combined those qualities, said Wilson, who described him as a "hard charger and a change agent."

http://detnews.com/article/20100901/AUTO01/9010390/Akerson-faces-tough-road-at-the-helm-of-General-Motors

[Hannah Bell]

52. no. US Toyota workers (& other import workers) make a good deal more than $14/hr.

Assembly workers for Detroit automakers last year remained a bit ahead of Honda's U.S. hourly workers, who made an average $24.25 an hour, or $26.20 with the $4,485 bonus they received. In November, Honda paid bonuses for the 21st consecutive year, the longest streak in U.S. auto history, said Ed Miller, Honda spokesman.

Nissan workers are paid $24 an hour in Mississippi and $26 an hour in Tennessee, but company officials would not disclose employee bonuses. (Most of the asian imports use the bonus system which is usually equal to one month or more of wages)


http://www.aftermarketnews.com/Item/28594/uaw_losing_pay_edge_foreign_automakers_bonuses_boost_wages_in_us_plants_as_detroit_car_companies_struggle.aspx


But we can expect those workers will be taking cuts soon to keep up with GM.


GM now has more TEMPS working than UAW members. they have UAW members on layoff, but they're calling in temps.

what a sad day.

[DainBramaged]

36. And people call me rude

asshole

[Nordmadr]

13. Union busting. If you are in a union, expect to get busted

and scapegoated. Its the new black.

[JNelson6563]

17. Ah but the UAW leadership is fat and happy.

No, it can't be that the leadership is not representing the best interests of its membership, heavens no!

Julie

[county worker]

28. I would like to see union workers everywhere boycott GM products.

I'm not going to buy a car from a low wage plant if I can help it.

[Recursion]

37. So then they all lose their job?

Odd notion of solidarity you've got there

[PassingFair]

38. WHAT are you?

Unions are ALL ABOUT banding together for
better pay and working conditions.

You sound like a conductor on the Low-Wage Express.

One way to the lowest common denominator.

[Recursion]

39. I'm someone who's confused by a call for union members to boycott union-produced cars

because they are upset with that union's contract.

A couple of years ago it looked like all of these people were about to be unemployed. GM is restructuring, and that's going to hurt.

[county worker]

46. In a race to the bottom there has to be some leverage to stop the slide.

If we do nothing then there is no leverage.

[PassingFair]

63. At $14/hr, they can kiss their middle class lives goodbye.

The union is powerless.

You must realize how FUCKED we are when
the Obama Administration APPOINTS a
MANAGING DIRECTOR OF THE CARLYLE GROUP
to the Board of Directors of General Motors,
who then assumes the CEO Position:

>snip "It's not typical for a chief executive to announce his resignation on the eve of an IPO, but that's what the 68-year-old Edward E. Whitacre Jr. did, saying he will be succeeded on Sept. 1 by Daniel F. Akerson, a GM director and a managing director of the Carlyle Group, a Washington private-equity firm. The Obama administration appointed Akerson, 61, to GM's board a year ago after forcing G. Richard Wagoner Jr. to step down as chief executive.

"My goal in coming to General Motors was to help restore profitability, build a strong market position and position this iconic company for success. We are clearly on that path," said Whitacre, the former AT&T chief who took over GM's top job in December after the board fired Wagoner's successor, Fritz Henderson. Henderson faltered in getting rid of unwanted company assets, such as Saturn and Saab, and was criticized for being a GM lifer, unable to make fundamental change."<unsnip

You REALLY MUST read the article, it's a horror show.....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/12/AR2010081203081.html

[Touchdown]

41. That goes too far. Lobby and push congress to pass

the original EFCA proposed.. without the dubious "secret ballot" which has never been secret, and impossible to keep secret with management owning the building voting takes place in.

[Greyhound]

47. You got both, "it can't be helped" and the ever popular, "we'll fix it later".

:eyes:
:kick: & R

[Ginto]

54. Is the former CEO still collecting a salary as a consultant?

?

[Octafish]

60. Too bad! No middle class for you!

The Masters of the Universe can't lord it over us with one. Pity is, the auto industry is where the mighty middle class was born.

[Winston Wolf]

67. Kicked...

...and recommended.

[cbdo2007]

70. so much for unions being good for workers....

[mstinamotorcity]

72. When the auto companies

needed TARP it was under Dubya. Then the President (Obama) came in and helped GM. Everyone took a hit on that one. But the end result was too unimaginable to think about. Most people forget and think if they are in some other field that the auto industry doesn't effect them in some way. But the auto industry is tied to other businesses. So for those who think that the industry should not have been saved watch what you think because the same attack you launch on the auto industry could have the same affect in any other industry of business. From production lines in pharmaceuticals to advertising. No job is secure in this day and age. Become an entrepreneur.