CAW Boss Buzz Hargrove: $350m Still Ain't Enough
Buzz Hargrove is on a roll. After saber-rattling with Alan Mulally over the impending Big 2.9 – Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) negotiations, after chastising the federal government for offering a paltry $1b to Canada's ailing manufacturing sector, the Globe and Mail tells us the CAW kingpin is asking the Canadian government for $30m to revive Ford's currently shuttered engine plant in Windsor, Ontario. This sum would be on top of $30m currently promised by Ontario's provincial government. If you think Buzz is pulling this figure out of his ass, he isn't. As he notes, "If there's an opportunity to get a $1-billion investment around the world, the standard is that governments put in 20 per cent of that." What standard? Who knows? The old plant was the manufacturing center for Ford's long-running Windsor V8 engine series, which have seen duty in everything from the Mustang to the AC Cobra. Ford, on the other hand, is keen to develop and build its new upcoming V8 at its Essex plant (also in Windsor).
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Actually this is for the old Essex Engine Plant which built pushrod V6 engines for years, and produced the first 5.4l and 4.6l V8 engines on a new and seperate line for a few years during the launch of the last F-150. There is also 2 other Engine Plants in Windsor building V8's and V10's. What this is really about is that Buzz is unwilling to make concessions so he expects the taxpayer to cover what he is unwilling to ask for from his union members.
And once again Toyota should publicly ask if they invest in additional plants in Canada if they will receive the same 20 percent subsidy as GM or Ford. Why shouldn't they get it also?
"What it is really about" is, Buzz is polishing his image with the rank and file so he can roll over for Ford's plans in the end -- and still be re-elected later on.
What Buzz Hargrove should be doing is trying to prepare the membership for the biggest rectal stretching in the short history of the CAW. He hasn't checked his hand lately but he isn't holding ANY good cards. The CAD/US $ advantage is gone. The manufacturing facilities themselves are old and out of date. (need LOTS of new $$$ spent on them to make them competitive in a world market) With $1.50/litre gas on the horizon the market for pushrod V-8's and V-10's will be limited. On top of this last time I checked the decisions on where to manufacture were being made in the USA.....not Canada. Add to that the fact that the average Canadian taxpayer is being forced to compete for their jobs on a world scale and is SICK and TIRED of listening to Buzz Hargrove TELLING the government how much of handout they should be giving him and his union. Get the vaseline out Buzz...it's not going to be pretty! (and quit squealing like a little bitch Buzz....it's annoying)