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Sunday, September 22, 2019

GM workers will go on strike, the latest stoppage in a global trend of large-scale labor action

UAW workers will launch their first nationwide strike in 12 years, and the largest strike by any union since 2007.

At least 46,000 hourly General Motors employees will take to the picket line at midnight Monday, according to representatives from their union, United Auto Workers (UAW), as a result of stagnating contract negotiations with the Detroit-based automaker. This will be UAW’s first nationwide strike in 12 years.

Representatives for GM and UAW have been meeting for contract negotiations since July in order to hammer out details on wages, healthcare, benefits, profit sharing, and job security for both permanent and temporary workers. The union was also pushing for GM to reconsider the proposed closures of four facilities. Throughout, leaders on both sides expressed hope that they would reach an agreement, according to the Detroit News.

But GM workers’ contracts expired at midnight on Saturday with no agreement yet reached. At a press conference in Detroit on Sunday morning, Terry Dittes, a UAW vice president who leads the union’s GM efforts, said a strike was “our last resort.”

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30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Their demands are really not that great considering. Seasoned workers making 24 dollars an hour new hires 17 and part time scabs 15. These really are not living wages that contribute to a middle class investment in our economy.

Anonymous said...

strike = extortion
hire someone that wants to work

Anonymous said...

Gm will close and move out of country. Union reps are all dems and are willing to ruin the entire plant for politics. Be happy you are turning wrenches in Detroit and not looking at a closed factory like so many others.

Anonymous said...

DEMOCRAT UNIONS CONTINUE TO DESTROY JOBS BC THEY HATE TRUMP THAT MUCH...... TRAITORS.

Anonymous said...

Seasoned workers make 63per hr including benefits.

Anonymous said...

They will hire someone that want's to work like everyone else does.
Immigrants for minimum wage which will set the standards for Americans. You can dismiss Unions as you see fit but many of you would not have the middle class comforts of unskilled and uneducated laborer's without them. The precedent created the wages that tradesmen like plumbers and HVAC workers get and as those jobs are now usurped by franchising and the independent tradesman unable to compete via skill and ethic they too one day will wish they valued their skill and fought for it collectively instead of bagging out on disability and posturing that they are self made smarter and more deserving than those willing to work for less ragging on their educated and prosperous peers and dismissing school teachers. Trump is very smart he tapped into butt hurt looser America that want's to blame everything on others except the opportunities they did not take advantage of themselves like he did sucking the silver spoon and hair spray.

Anonymous said...

Ask Wayne Pump/ Dresser people what happened. The union threw them under the bus for unrealistic demands. And the company said ,ok, we'll just move to Texas. Screw you. Thanks UAW. Don't trust them. Unions aren't what they were. I've been in 2. They've become, or the people should I say, are political, self serving con men, or women who only care about the condition of the union, not the members, or the company that employs the members. They are both relative.

Anonymous said...

Wow. You just said alot oooooof, NOTHING!

Anonymous said...

they can all go to work at crown cork and seal

Anonymous said...

2 years ago these workers were making $70 + an hour plus benefits. Naturally when they see the company charging $60,000 + for a vehicle worth $30 - $35,000 and you lose an average of 35% OF vehicle value / what you paid as soon as you sign and get the keys, THEY WANT THEIR FAIR SHARE of the profit. People need to do their homework when buying a vehicle.

Anonymous said...

You guys are idiots. Not only to you refuse to take a look at the history of labor, you dum dums speak out loudly against the very forces that are there to help you. Its amazing to me that when the price is high at the pump, or when it comes to luxury goods, you are willing to say "well thats the market". But when it comes to your own labor market, you dum dums figure you will take whatever pennies get thrown at you instead of organizing to boost pay/benefits.

Anonymous said...

Don’t they realize Honda and Toyota make better products? A strike will merely drive more customers to the better brands

Anonymous said...

I agree 9:39, but you're using the word scab incorrectly. I real scab is a former Union worker that selfishly went non-union undermining what their Union accomplished

Anonymous said...

I'm not turning wrenches in Detroit

Anonymous said...

10:56 speaks the truth 11:35, it's just over your head

Anonymous said...

So true 12:25

Anonymous said...

Some honda & toyota assembly plants use organized labor too

Anonymous said...

Where is sbj ?

Jersey boy said...

GM employees are already making 13* more than the next highest paid auto workers. GM employees have to pay 4% of their healthcare premium whereas other auto workers pay appx 20% of premiums.
It looks to me that their requests for more pay and benefits just gives them something to bargain away to get what they really want, JOB SECURITY.

Anonymous said...

I hope the bust up the UNION. The leadership are all college buddies of management. They sell Out their own members. Been doing it for year's. Remember Delaware?? Thanks to the UNION leaders, upper management, and the politicians ALL GONE!! BESIDES. The product is overpriced JUNK. Pay 50 thousand for a car. Get 25 RECALLS during and after the loan. Not just the UAW. Look at all the union's. ITS DONE. Instead of workers running the Union's. You have the college crowd who haven't worked an honest day in their sellout lives.

Anonymous said...

Unions are corrupt. Union ran by College crowd in bed with management. You THINK a UNION frat boy is going to go against his brother over a UNION member??

Anonymous said...

Everything is negotiable, that's why the bottom line on the window sticker of a $15k car is $40k. The exec's need to get their over proportional pay and yearly bonuses

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Seasoned workers make 63per hr including benefits.

September 16, 2019 at 10:48 AM

https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=General_Motors_Corporation/Hourly_Rate

If one figures in the cost of benefits, MAYBE they make 63? hr. But according to this, the highest I see is 44HR.

Whatever the market will bear determines wages also. Anyone would try and get as much money as they can so more power to them.

If they make a billion(s) dollars in profit, surely they can pay workers high wages.

I have seen amounts similar to what you quoted on Facebook but that doesn't make it true.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...
strike = extortion
hire someone that wants to work

September 16, 2019 at 9:39 AM

What makes you think these people don't want to work? Making such a good salary and wanting more money means they don't want to work to you? Surely not.

A strike does not equal extortion. It is called negotiation and a business tool. I'm not a big fan of unions myself but I won't begrudge anyone from making top dollar, hopefully having the skill set to warrant such a reward.

Low wages, predominate on the shore, IMO, will probably always be the norm in this area and others like it which the people do not know their worth or the intelligence to get higher wages.

And then there are factors such as jealousy, holding others down, such low self-esteem and poor self-worth which hinders improvements/advancements in one's life.

Maybe working hard for low wages is what some people aspire to but I prefer to work smarter, not harder. Nothing wrong with working in chicken plants, landfills, driving a truck, or some others. It's honest work usually and fills a need.

Nevermind. I feel like I'm wasting my time with the mentality of a lot of people who think it's wrong to assert oneself and improve their lot in life. Have a beer and go drive your 4 by.

Anonymous said...

1:40 I feel the same way on everything you stated except the last paragraph

Anonymous said...

They had non union working there for 4 years. How the hell did the UNION allow that. BECAUSE the UAW UNION are sellouts.

Anonymous said...

What's your source for that information 9:46? I think it's bogus just like you

Anonymous said...

I think you mean 63/hour wage and benefits combined

Anonymous said...

I was always a super when it came to union jobs so it never helped me but that didn't make any difference i made great money. The union workers always got the shaft by the union LOL they make workers think they're for them but they're not. It's all about the union leadership lining there pockets. The only winners are the union itself not the employees.

Anonymous said...

9:45 The Union officials negotiate a livable pay scale and benefits for its members. What else should be expected of them ?