CAW's Hargrove Not Impressed With UAW Contracts
Even though he says he's not surprised by the outcome, Canadian Auto Workers union (CAW) president Buzz Hargrove is disappointed with the contract agreement signed by his American comrades at GM and Chrysler. The London Free Press reports the union leader feels the agreement "worsens things in the sense that one more time the U.S. government is let off the hook in terms of dealing with the [closed foreign markets] trade issue." In a more piercing glimpse into the obvious, Hargrove says the Chrysler contract's narrow margin of victory "shows there's an enormous amount of dissent among the rank and file members." When the CAW starts their contract talks in July of next year, Hargrove vows the CAW won't follow the same path as the UAW. Considering Canada's national health care program obviates retiree health care discussions, negotiations can't follow the same path. However, it'll be fun to see what Buzz has to say when the automakers try to lower Canadian wages to match the UAW's new two-tiered structure.
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Is the Canadian Dollar strong or is it just the US one is weak ?
Both. The Canadian dollar is up a fair bit against the Euro from 2002, but not nearly as much as it's gained on the USD
Mikey, Don't believe everything you read/hear about US Taxes. I worked 16 years in Canada and 15 years in the US. After 2 years here I did a comparison in Real Dollars and found that I has MORE spending money when I lived in Canada than after I moved to the US and HAD to forkout $1000 before I got any medical benfits paid an obscene amount in Social Security Taxes (which is going bankrupt, so I won't likely get any) and then there is Medicare on top of that. Oh yeah and don't forget the $30,000/year tution/per child. Of course I live in New York and there is a tax issue right there The grass is not always greener.
Extrapolating your New York taxes to the whole country will give you an unrealistic view of the whole country. Taxes in other parts of the US are much lower than in Canada. Think about it, US tax code does not have separate tax tables for different cities or states. If you are unhappy, start with your local city or county government. The dirty secret is that it's local politics that make New York so expensive. In fact, local politics and local assessments/fees/tax codes will almost always affect your life more than anything that happens at the national level. We are each to blame for our own apathy. You can see this the next time you attend your next homeowners' meeting, or the next PTA meeting at your kids' school.