It’s been roughly a month since General Motors announced it would be shuttering Oshawa Assembly, leaving the facility’s nearly 3,000 employees and Canada’s auto union more than a little annoyed. Unifor leadership has said it intends to meet with GM executives on December 20th and discuss the automaker’s plans for the Oshawa facility in Detroit. However, the rhetoric coming from union head Jerry Dias makes the upcoming meeting sound more like a mafia hit than a labor negotiation.
“GM is leaving Canada, and we’re not going to let them,” Dias told reporters. “We are going to waste General Motors over the next year. Waste them.”
Unifor has launched the “Save Oshawa GM” campaign in an effort to use social pressure to keep the plant operating through next year’s intended shuttering. If it fails, Dias says he’s prepared for a prolonged and direct battle with the automaker through 2019 with Unifor’s Local 222 leading the charge.
The union claims that GM has a legal obligation to keep the Oshawa plant open until September 21st, 2020 as part of their existing agreement. It’s currently seeking help from federal and Ontario governments to convince the automaker to adhere to the “no closure” policy until then. However, GM is officially “idling” the plant, not closing it — though the affected workers probably aren’t all that concerned with semantics.
Oshawa Assembly is currently responsible for the Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac XTS, two models which General Motors plans to remove from its lineup soon. It also does final assembly on the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra bodies shipped in from Indiana. But that program is scheduled to end late next year.
Meanwhile, UAW bosses have said they’re similarly outraged with the automaker’s restructuring strategy and would likewise oppose GM’s plan to idle numerous U.S. facilities.
“This callous decision by GM to reduce or cease operations in American plants, while opening or increasing production in Mexico and China plants for sales to American consumers, is, in its implementation, profoundly damaging to our American workforce,” said Terry Dittes, UAW Vice President, Director GM Department. “GM’s production decisions, in light of employee concessions during the economic downturn and a taxpayer bailout from bankruptcy, puts profits before the working families of this country whose personal sacrifices stood with GM during those dark days. These decisions are a slap in the face to the memory and recall of that historical American made bailout.”
[Image: General Motors] [Source: Automotive News]
Thanks, Canadian and American taxpayers.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/why-the-us-government-should-keep-general-motors-competitive-solvent
Had you seen this already?
There’s a movement afoot initiated by Rep Tim Ryan (D-OH) and he has bi-partisan support behind this idea to keep GM afloat and operating at any and all costs.
The only thing, aside from direct handouts which would eventually bite the politicians in the rear, that the government could do would be to give GM defense a massive contract for something. The HMMWV replacement would be the logical choice, but that went to Oshkosh. There isn’t anything else major on the horizon. The stuff GM Defense has been dabbling in is small potatoes.
Well, the Democrats are getting so many people to jump into all kinds of crazy conspiracy theory, racist, lunatic, fear-mongering bandwagons that there must be massive demand for them. Maybe producing massive amounts of (crappy) bandwagons (on taxpayer dime) is what the GM plants would be suitable for.
And if this happens I hope Ford goes to the mattresses with respect to advertising.
“The all new F150…Built by Americans, For Americans…not subsidized by them.”
We should have let this stinking garbage heap of a company go bankrupt for good when we had the chance.
No chance with the union-friendly ‘crats letting that happen.
The Democrats have traded the union rank and file folks for voter fraud. They look down their noses at working Americans, many of whom don’t subscribe to the Democrat’s current agenda stage of dismantling the Bill of Rights in numerical order. Why not replace the population with people who have no idea why freedom of speech or the right to bear arms are essential to not having a country people wind up fleeing?
Todd, nowhere is voter fraud more rampant and out of control than in my Deep Blue State.
I have lost count of how many times someone was declared a winner only to have it overturned because mysteriously thousands of “uncounted” votes showed up somewhere.
This last election was no different. Lotsa shenanigans going on behind the scenes and out of eyesight. And every election cycle someone gets away with it, court challenges notwithstanding.
@ Todd: Funny, but it is generally nations that have no restrictions on firearm ownership that refugees are fleeing from.
And nations that do have restrictions on firearm ownership that are receiving increasing per capita immigration applications.
HDC, there is a difference between leading when some or most of the votes have been counted, and leading after all of the votes have been counted. Only the latter matters.
And funnily enough, the only significant campaign of voter fraud in the 2018 elections was committed by Republicans.
TARP was signed by President George W. Bush.
December 19 1918.. I was preparing for my last shift at GM Oshawa. To say “I was a little concerned ” would be an understatement.
I clicked on CNN at noon . There’s George Bush announcing the first GM bail out Cheque . 10 years later, I’m still a little concerned
“December 19 1918.. I was preparing for my last shift at GM Oshawa. To say “I was a little concerned ” would be an understatement.”
I’ll write the next part of the story for you:
“The Great War, the ‘War to end all wars,” had just finished but a global flu pandemic was upon us, all because of the (insert undesirable ethnic group here).”
Hehhehehe, well you DID type 1918 :)
(edit- stupid iOS predictive spelling is like Android on cheap drugs)
My bad : (
The bailout (which I was against) is old news.
It was not a contract, promise, agreement, or understanding that GM would become a jobs program for all eternity.
Keeping Oshawa open through 2019 is a gift. GM would probably like to close it today.
Probably yesterday. It’s like a boat anchor being dragged behind a Chevy Spark on the highway.
No matter what MS Barra does, she’s damned if she does, and damned if she doesn’t.
This should never be forgotten.
The administration could have kept both GM and Chrysler operating without losing any taxpayer dollars had it not given preferential treatment to the United Auto Workers. Instead the UAW fared fare better than unions typically do in bankruptcy cases. This preferential treatment explains the entirety of the taxpayer losses.
https://www.heritage.org/testimony/auto-bailout-or-uaw-bailout-taxpayer-losses-came-subsidizing-union-compensation
In the mid ’80s the UAW’s pension fund was 150% funded. Congress changed laws, allowing companies to ‘invest’ their pension funds in company stock. Over the next twenty-five years GM propped up their failing stock by investing more and more of the pension fund in company stock. When GM went bankrupt, thousands of GM workers across the company suddenly had no pension. It had all been spent propping up investor returns.
Did they get preferential treatment? Certainly over the investors, and they deserved it. Did they get bought out with our tax dollars? Yes. The alternative would be thousands of blue-collar people thrown out on the street without the pension they had been promised. Which political party wants that on their hands?
Agreed. But they would not have been without a pension. They would have gotten the same deal as the Delco workers, who had the same expectations, but got screwed by comparison.
I can understand the anger, but would they rather see GM die like the death in 2008/2009?
There were plenty of visionaries in 2009 who predicted that GM needed to drastically restructure back then in order to avoid a second death 10 years later.
Well, now is the best time to restructure while the American economy is booming.
These people and the unions are just selfish and want to get every last cent they can from GM until it dies again, and either gets a bail out, or is give for good.
Then these people will find a new healthy host to sink their teeth into until the same result happens again.
How many of “these people” do you personally know? Yeah, I thought so.
Of course not; GM is a cash cow for them.
I don’t really give a crap what’s good for the unions. I want what’s best for America. Continually subsidizing GM’s mismanagement and outsourcing is not it. There is equity in GM’s brands and operations; if they go under someone will swoop in, take over and hopefully clean house.
sporty, that “clean house” could mean reducing excess capacity, just like Ms Barra is doing now with closures.
Item to note here, Jaguuuuuarrrrr announced they will be laying off thousands of their workers. We’ll be feeling that here in the US of A by seeing sales staff reduced at their dealerships. Those will be the first to go, as always.
I don’t follow your logic, I work for a Jaguar dealership, not Jaguar corporate so how would I be affected? Sales are soft but layoffs are because the Chinese market has cratered.
cdnsfan27, Maybe you’ll be a keeper.
But, like you said, sales are soft, and Mgt is not going to let a bunch of sales staff stand around the floor with their hands in their pockets, playing pocket-pool, eating donuts and drinking coffee all day, expecting to draw weekly advances they can not repay out of sales commissions.
With four brothers in the car bid’ness in four states for over 30 years, I have seen firsthand that the sales staff is always the first to be reduced.
They should have ditched everything but Chevy and Cadillac in 2009. If they had built a production of the Hummer HX (as the proposed H4), Hummer could have still been viable.
The union showing the even-handed and rational approach for which they are famous.
A Zebra can’t change its spots.
Leopard? Zebras have stripes…
Geography was never my best subject…
My chuckle for the day
Well, have they tried Neutrogena Oil-Free Salicylic Acid Acne Fighting Face Wash?
I’m sure that all of the shareholders will acquiesce to the union’s wishes. Ha! GM must have an entire fleet of lawyers – with one in the pipe for a quick shot. This union head has stood on his Johnson in a rather public way.
So GM who went hat in hand to beg the US and Canadian governments for a bailout in the billions now repay
the those that bailed them out by shifting production overseas . GM will of course be fighting against tariffs
when they import vehicles to the American and Canadian markets. Has anyone noticed a cost savings when purchasing a GM imported vehicle versus a GM domestiy produced vehicle ? Time to tax imports to help support
the safety net when the jobs go away.
Here Here, I see Mary is fighting to keep the $7,500 EV Subsidies and against Import Taxes on ALL CARS MADE IN CHINA, INDIA, VIETNAM AND THAILAND. Gues in which of does Countries has GM expanded or set up operations?.
John
In Vietnam, GM sold its assembly plant to Vingroup earlier this year.
In Thailand, GM expanded operations after shuttering operations in Indonesia
In China, GM splits profits with local partner SAIC.
In India, GM’s 1 factory builds lowend vehicles targeted at 3rd world markets.
manu06
No! GM still builds a large number of vehicles in the U.S. Tariffs will hurt Toyota which imports most of vehicles in to the U.S. 1 million a year from outside North America.
Toyota makes about 1.8 million vehicles in North America. They wish they needed to import over a million of their high end products from Japan. That would pretty much make them the number one luxury auto maker and number one in overall sales.
They’re “assembled” here. Leave it to you to ignore facts that paint Toyota in a negative light. Why did they say the price of an “American built” Camry would increase by several thousand dollars due to import tariffs? Because the parts are all imported FROM Kentucky and not to it?
ToddAtlasF1
Most Rav4s are imported from Japan along with all: Prius, Marai, 86, 4Runners, Land Cruisers, Lexus IS, NX, RC, GS,GX, LS, LC & LX models. The C-HRs made in Turkey & Yaris Liftback made in France.
I NEVER SAID LUXURY. I don’t consider the bedazzled Camrys Toyota sells as Lexuses Luxury.
>Most Rav4s are imported from Japan
Most of the ones I see have Canadian VINs.
Lectrobyte
Thru November Toyota sold 388,501 Rav4s in the U.S. 159,189 were built in Canada. 229,312 were built in Japan.
*Numbers taken from Toyota’s own monthly press release.
“229,312 were built in Japan”
I am utterly flabbergasted. I had dimly assumed that by now the vast bulk of Toyotas sold here were built somewhere on this continent.
So Toyota can still compete at the top of a best-selling segment even with shipping costs from Japan.
Reminds me of Tiger Tanaka in You Only Live Twice… “How’s that for Japanese efficiency?”
It’s called Curency Manipulation.
Peter, anecdotally, except for a handful of RAV4 Hybrids which amount to a rounding error, literally every single RAV4 in my company’s fleet is Canadian built. Considering it’s a model in the midst of changeover, do you have anything to prove that percentage is anything other than an aberration? What is the breakdown of Canadian vs Japanese production at this time last year?
Last year Toyota sold 407,594 Rav4s in the U.S.
188,911 built in Canada
218,683 built in Japan
GM is a global company. They pulled out of Australia, and Europe, and they’re reducing their presence in Canada and the US. So Asia is their target. There is no way to change their strategy.
They haven’t made a vehicle that I would buy in more than 40 years. Sure, a Corvette would be fun, but their passenger cars and SUVs and pickups are not for me. I have tried them. They are crap, from the Chevette to the Malibu to the Impala to the Cruze, these or boring, low quality POS vehicles.
Just please please stop giving them taxpayer’s money.
I see you point, went and looked at the NEW Silverado and Sierra at the LA Auto show, Jesus I would be Embarrassed to drive either, so would my sons. My oldest just got a 2019 RAM V6, but added a Magnacharger Kit and it drives better and has higher mileage then the Hemi, my other son decided to pass over the Colorado, Canyon, Tacoma and New/Old Ranger for the New Jeep Gladiator. Hell they can’t seem to even get the muscle xsr diwm, The Camaro drives great but the gut, finish and design are lacking so I got a Mustang instead.
And my wife looked at the CTS V, V Sport and the CT6 and wound up getting the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, most powerful sedan for the money and the fun factor is beyond measure.
Oh John, I want that Gladiator. Maybe you will post a review after you have driven it.
I am not getting it, Allen my 23yr old son is. He currently drives my 2009 Hand me down GMC Sierra . So his first Jeep will be a Truck.
Where is Red Ink Rick when you need him?
Can the populists crying about the government bailout please stop? It was an extremely cheap jobs program at the height of a major financial crisis. Would you rather the whole thing would have come apart right in the middle of the downturn? Talk about breeding even more Trunp voters.
There’s no advantage to keeping expensive union labor around iftheees no need for it. See what happened to GM last time for an example. These companies are living off trucks again, and preparing for lean tome where that might not be possible is prudent.
Yes, we should spend billions to ensure people don’t vote for a certain candidate or party.
To be honest, it is your logic that is breeding Trump voters.
Losing union-backed factory jobs while GM allocates new products to Mexican and Chinese locations is most certainly going to breed more populists.
No, they are not Dr. Nick. That is Mary’s public statement, but it is not entirely true. GM is basically shifting production to plants with much lower labor costs and environmental standards under the guise of “preparing for lean times”. Admittedly, GM is selling less coupes and sedans than it used to – but more crossovers and trucks. Even in the crossover and truck market, no one wants the 100% Chinesium Envision.
If GM was really getting ready for lean times (especially in the face of auto tariffs), they would not shut down 6 North American plants and continue to add production in Mexico and China. The move to close North American plants and expand production overseas and in Mexico is a slap in the face to the American and Canadian taxpayers that helped bail out GM a decade ago.
Agree with every word you posted. And it’s really nice of GM to repay American and Canadian workers for a couple decades of concessions along with the tax payer funded bailouts by investing in China and Mexico.
Just Google how many cars they sell in Mexico vs what they build there, pathetic.
This “take them down mentality” is why people don’t like Unions.
The art of it all is figuring out whether an action only enlightens a percentage of people you can afford to show your hand to at any given time, provided your game is destroying the middle class. Often times union members don’t figure out that unions aren’t on their side while their employers still exist. Unions don’t ACT like organized crime, and it isn’t because of the guys who just want to provide for their families.
The union has no leverage. They can ‘waste’ GM and declare victory, but GM will still do what it wants. Keeping Oshawa open for 2019 is a gift. That plant could close right now with little effect on GM’s fortunes.
And don’t think that GM’s lawyers haven’t considered the union. Unifor won’t get far with their complaint.
Let me tell you a bit about whats going on in Oshawa.
GM people here fall into two factions . By GM people , I’m including active GM hourly, and Salary. Retirees and families.
Faction one wants to wave placards, hold demonstrations, put up lawn signs, and generally make a bunch of noise .There is those that advocate “never buy another GM product” By and large well meaning folks that feel their voice needs to be heard.
Faction two says…”This is a done deal. ” Lets get the best package we can for the impacted employees” In other words “Hope for the best, and prepare for the worst ”
Needless to say this situation has been a polarizing topic in every conversation. As a Gm retired employee that owns two Mustangs, I keep my ears open and my mouth shut.
I would hope the union would work for the cause of Faction 2 in your description. There is nothing wrong with trying to ease the pain of the people about to lose their jobs. Companies – unionized or not – tend to scrimp when it comes to helping people move on, as I have personally experienced.
But it sounds like Mr Dias wants to go down in flames. For all his rhetoric, he knows he’ll be the last one out the door.
Sounds like a great way to get GM to close the othe two plants on Canada, of course this is most likely bravado by Dias to say he fought hard and got some of the workers who will be out of jobs moved to St. Catharines or Cami (same as the displaced us workers). And tout it a a win for the union, ie look at the great deal I got for number of dis-laced workers, I am great and fought hard for you, let me keep,running the union, all noise when this decision had to have been known for quite a while. (Certainly didn’t surprise any of us in the St. Catharines plant)
Sounds like a great way to get GM to close the othe two plants on Canada, of course this is most likely bravado by Dias to say he fought hard and got some of the workers who will be out of jobs moved to St. Catharines or Cami (same as the displaced us workers). And tout it a a win for the union, ie look at the great deal I got for number of dis-laced workers, I am great and fought hard for you, let me keep,running the union, all noise when this decision had to have been known for quite a while. (Certainly didn’t surprise any of us in the St. Catharines plant)
All my little brain can grasp is that the Impala is a beautiful car and its demise is a damn shame.
I have had several for rentals, and have always felt that it was a pleasant place to spend ones time. Nothing sticks out as spectacular nor does anything come across as a deal breaker, fit and finish was alway what it was supposed to be etc.
Reality is the buying public does not want sedans, so the factories that make them need to close. For now. I have yet to see or read anything pertaining to the closings that says GM will never return to these plants to build something else. Granted, that does not mean it has not been said or implied. If anyone can shed some clarity on this issue for me, I would be appreciative for the information/education.
I was just channeling my inner child who remembers the glorious Impalas of yesteryear.
My inner geezer is also impressed that the feminine elegance of those oldies is somehow retained in that 2018 despite the brutal pressures of CAFE and the reptilian styling trends from Asia.
@ 87 Morgan I can’t shed any clarity on this issue for you. I wish I could.
GM Oshawa has a new modern paint shop, a contagious stamping plant, and one of the most efficient automated, Flexible assembly plants in the world.
The burning question is will they tear it out ? Or will it sit idle for a few years ? No answers yet.
Agreed on the Impala’s looks.
So when was the last time anyone heard/saw/read an advertisement for the Impala? GM doesn’t exactly seem to be going out of its way to promote it. Truth be told though I want a last gen with the 3.6 and a bench seat. So how big a cooler can you get between the front seats in one of those?
You know, for the mineral waters of course.
A government gun-n-jail backed Labor Union IS a Mafia. What else could it possibly be?
I always thought unions protected workers rights. When my Father ran his local at the steel mill, that’s what he said he was doing. I believe him.
Hardworking, honest guy.
Why do we think all union members are evil, here on TTaC?
“Why do we think all union members are evil, here on TTaC?”
I think it’s more about hating the professional union leaders than hating the rank & file.
They are of the same ilk as religious leaders, preying on the desperation and ignorance of luckless people for the leaders’ personal gain.
+1. Deep wisdom.
That.
I see “GM is leaving Canada, and we’re not going to let them”, and I am not led to believe that union *leadership* is respectable and willing to compromise or be fair (as they expect Evil Management to compromise with them).
Combine that with decades on decades of corruption and endless tales of intimidation or worse to get union votes, etc., and why *should* I think of unions as benevolent Worker Helpers?
(Remember, literally the only way unions can keep union worker wages up is by keeping people who aren’t in the union *out of jobs* … and by limiting the number of union members.
Great if you’re one of the union members and the union leadership doesn’t get too greedy, I guess.
Bad for customers and non-union members and everyone else, though.
And no, “but unions collectively did some useful stuff a century ago!” will not change my mind about their current state and utility.)
@Sigivald: your statement that “And no, “but unions collectively did some useful stuff a century ago!” will not change my mind about their current state and utility.)” is not quite correct.
Pay equity, benefits for same sex spouses, parental leave, recognition of mental health claims were not gains made centuries ago. They are fairly recent and created through challenges and campaigns funded by unions.
There are a great deal more, that have occurred during my working life.
Some that I agree with, some that I don’t.
Also unions benefit from adding members, not by reducing them. The primary example being auto workers. When all auto workers were unionized the union had a far stronger bargaining position.
This isn’t why, when a retail chain decides to close a store, that it’s cheaper to surprise the employees by locking them out one morning, handing them all big severance checks (cheques?) of months’ pay, and bringing in a completely different crew to close the place down.
That tactic doesn’t work in an auto plant and a skilled workforce that is still expected to build a quality product until the last day the doors are open.
Speaking of quality, if I *was* in the market for a new Impala or XTS, after hearing all this bluster from the union, I would either hurry up and buy one right right now that is already built or I would soon shop elsewhere.
“Speaking of quality, if I *was* in the market for a new Impala or XTS, after hearing all this bluster from the union, I would either hurry up and buy one right right now that is already built or I would soon shop elsewhere.”
This. I don’t want a product made by an angry assembler from the rank & file who has been spoon-fed their opinion by a union bent on stoking fear, uncertainty and doubt.
The comments here – must have been free Red Bull day at the retirement home.
It was a sunny day and they didn’t have any clouds to shake their fists at.
Making some obvious points that seem to be overlooked in this discussion.
1) The remediation costs for the GM Oshawa site would be staggering. Nearly a century’s worth of industrial waste and contamination. So will the Government of Canada use this cost as a bargaining chip?
2) Unifor’s leadership has to make some sort of public threats/statements. As @Scott has noted, in order to make it seem like they forced GM to transfer some workers from Oshawa to other GM plants in Canada. The union leaders can then list that as a ‘win’.
3) Union leaders have to talk tough publicly. Because they are elected officials. If they don’t then the rank and file will not believe that they are ‘fighting’ for them and will elect other ‘tougher talking’ reps. So much of what posters here complain of is just posturing in order to get re-elected, just like politicians.
4) The writing was on the wall for Oshawa a few years ago when GM refused to announce new products for that facility. The key for the Governments of Canada/Ontario and for UNIFOR is to keep the other auto plans operating in Ontario. And that means making it a) as difficult as possible to close plants and b) easing the operating costs of existing plants. Even if this includes, grants, subsidies and bail-outs.
5) GM senior management and shareholders do not care where they manufacture their product, they only care about maximizing their profits, bonuses and share prices.
@Arthur Daily …Excellent analysis .
10 years on from “bankruptcy” and TTAC’s august founder Robert Farago’s colorful statement still rings true:
“Even with some pertinent strings, the money will simply enable Detroit to continue its addiction to stupidity, sloth, greed and arrogance.”
At this point, GM is too large/corrupt to successfully reorganize for any shifting markets. Having additional government interference (and all of their politically motivated aims) added to the mix will not create the “strong GM” that is the mutual goal.
The host needs to die. GM needs to be allowed to fail, and this time go through ACTUAL BANKRUPTCY. The Bankruptcy which has nearly 100 years of wisdom, experience and pain behind it.
Something will come from the pieces, and it almost assuredly won’t be a UAW wet dream, but it will generate employment and revenue.
I agree, but with President Trump that will never happen because another bailout, handout and nationalization is much more likely to keep the UAW working because the precendence was set in 2009 with the last guy in office doubling down on Shrub’s 90-day bailout ending 31 March 2009.
President Trump is a union-friendly guy and dedicated to keeping jobs in America. Ms Barra knows this and is playing him like a cheap fiddle.
“I agree, but with President Trump that will never happen because another bailout, handout and nationalization is much more likely to keep the UAW working because the precendence was set in 2009 with the last guy in office doubling down on Shrub’s 90-day bailout ending 31 March 2009.
President Trump is a union-friendly guy and dedicated to keeping jobs in America. Ms Barra knows this and is playing him like a cheap fiddle.’
”
Like Trump or hate him no one “plays him like a cheap fiddle” Barra is way out of her league when it comes to dealing with Trump.
Trump has always stated he was all for big government infrastructure spending so a bailout is probably on the table but you can bet he will negotiate much better therms than the bath taxpayers continue to take from 2008
markf, I don’t think that even President Trump can get a better deal from GM and/or the UAW for the next bailout and nationalization than the one in 2009.
We, The People, were lucky to get back the pittance that we got for the loans, but we’re still out the $11.3BILLION that GM got away with.
And didn’t many of GM’s retirees get picked up by the VEBA or other gov’t run pension funds designed to bail out failed pension plans?
That outflow goes on for decades, depending on how long these pensioners live on account of the Cadillac Health Plans the taxpayers are funding for them.
Recently the Canadian Postal Workers Union began a series of rotating strikes.
Sheer genius: Strike a Corporation that has a shrinking market share and force its` customers to learn how to receive and pay bills online. Make them learn how much cheaper it is to ship packages via UPS or Fedex.
So, go on strike, Unifor, I am sure all those customers will wait and not buy another brand of car until the strike is settled.
@readallover: Unifor cannot go on strike. The Ontario Labour Relations Act prohibits strikes while there is a collective agreement in place. If the union were to condone/participate in an illegal strike, then a) the union leaders could be fined, b) the union leaders could be charged under the Act, and more importantly c) the union could be found liable for any costs associated with the illegal strike.
The US economy’s strong performance is an illusion… Interested rates are low, and cheap money is bidding up the stock market.
Many working people work several jobs to make ends meet. Working more than 40 hours a week in more than job tells me all is not well.
When the cheap money ends, if it ends, the party will be over.
The US govt is spending TWICE as much as it takes in. Good luck with that.
As far as CAW, er Unifor, their big sin is that, unlike the UAW, they won’t agree to two-tier wages (paying new hires about HALF of what veteran workers make).
That seems principled to me.
Unions, at least the UAW on a local level, can be a HUGE pain in the a**. However, without them, let’s not kid ourselves, things like a 40-hour week, weekends off, vacations, health-care….a lot fewer people would have them.
Also, when it comes to greed, what does one call CEO compensation? For Mary Barra, a CAREER GMer, who rose up the ranks in part by carrying Mr. Wagoner’s bags, would she be CEO of such a large enterprise if the US/Canada govts didn’t bail GM out? NO.
Yet she’s not shy about getting over $25 million in compensation.
Instead of talking about US/Canda jobs going to cheaper labor, why doesn’t anyone compare Mr. Toyoda’s compensation to the Detroit Three?
Maybe GM’s (overpaid) board should hire an Asian to run the show. He’ll cost less and probably do a better job.
“However, without them, let’s not kid ourselves, things like a 40-hour week, weekends off, vacations, health-care….a lot fewer people would have them.”
The old trope that refuses to die even though it has been thoroughly debunked…….
Proof?