7thsfsniper

I was going to address each one of those, but thought it would be eisier to say that I am 100% economic conservative. Small govt, no union, any type of payola, or whatever.....Bad! I'll tell you whats bad for the avg Joe........

40,000 LAID OFF BECAUSE 3500 GREEDY JERKS WENT ON STRIKE FOR WHAT!!? Did you not see it when I quoted it or when it was posted. Explain that and justify it for me, please.

__________________
The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten

7thsfsniper

Monday, April 14, 2008
UAW rejects American Axle mediator plea

Union President Ron Gettelfinger says third party would not help talks to end strike.

Eric Morath / The Detroit News

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. says it asked a federal mediator to help broker a deal to end the United Auto Workers 48-day strike against the Detroit auto supplier, but the union rejected the offer.

"AAM had hoped that the involvement of an impartial third party at the bargaining table could assist both sides," according to an American Axle statement sent to reporters Sunday. "The UAW refused to allow the Federal Mediator to help the parties reach agreement. AAM was disappointed in the UAW's decision."

Company spokeswoman Renee Rogers said the mediation request was made in the middle of last week.

"While the UAW had conversations with a representative of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, it was concluded that a mediator could add little to the process at this juncture; in fact, it would place the mediator in a no-win situation," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said in a statement late Sunday.

Last week, the union proposed cutting wages and benefits to between $40 and $60 an hour, down from the current $73.48 per hour.

What do these people do that deserves $150,000 a year? And you wonder why we move jobs overseas.

American Axle executives said it needs a wage and benefit package of between $20 and $30 an hour to be competitive with other unionized U.S. suppliers, such as Dana Corp. and Delphi Corp., which both won wage concessions while in bankruptcy.

The strike began Feb. 26 after 3,650 union members at five plants in Michigan and New York walked off the job after their previous contracts expired.

The walkout has fully or partially shut down 30 General Motors Corp. plants, Axle's largest customer. More than 40,000 workers have been laid off.

Neither calling for, nor rejecting mediation, is uncommon in labor disputes, said Gary Chaison, professor of industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.

He said the company is trying to show it is "taking the high road" and wants to work toward a settlement.

At the same time, Chaison said mediators typically are called in only when talks have broken down, not when they are ongoing.

"The union probably doesn't want the pressure from a third party in the room as well," he said.

"But the need for a mediator is questionable, especially when one wasn't needed in the much more complicated talks with automakers."

You can reach Eric Morath at (313) 222-2504 or emorath@detnews.com.

JUST IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

7thsfsniper

Democrats and Unions will Spring the Employee Free Choice Act on the American People

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Democrats and Labor Unions will spring Employee Free Choice Act on the people: Ending Workplace freedom - nawer - Feb. 01 2007


What do the American people not get? Employee Free Choice Act ends collective bargaining as it is known. How many employees like Government deciding their contracts for them? How many employees will like all the union home visits in the middle of night?

New House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has promised to place a newly introduced EFCA bill on the floor this spring calling it a "High priority" for Democrats.

There are three main components of EFCA:

- The central feature of the bill would outlaw secret ballot elections by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) among employees to decide whether to be represented by a union. Instead, the EFCA would permit unions to inveigle employees to sign "authorization cards" agreeing to labor representation in front of union agents.

- Second, the bill would give unions the power to invoke outside arbitration to gain a first contract, abandoning the American tradition of letting the parties settle their differences through good faith collective-bargaining. In other words, business owners would suddenly have no one to negotiate on "first contracts" they would be removed from the Bargaining process and forced to accept due to EFCA an outside arbitration process without their input and the one sided and unfair employment contracts with the unions that this would imply.

- Third, the bill would increase penalties against employers for certain labor law violations, requiring reimbursement three times the amount of wages lost by an employee and imposing civil fines of as much as $20,000 per incident yet would not levy harsher sanctions for union misconduct.

- Authorization cards are inherently far less reliable because they require employees to make a public rather than a confidential decision about unionization, thus subjecting them to peer pressure, harassment, coercion, and misrepresentation. One study showed 18 percent of employees who sign cards don't want the union.

- Unions can obtain commitments from employees without the employer's knowledge and thus gain representative status before the employer is able to make a case as to why unionization is not in the workers' best interest.

Why Union Arguments for EFCA are false:

NLRB election processes are too slow. According to NLRB statistics, in FY 2005, the median time between a union’s petition for a representation election and the holding of the election was only 38 days, and 94.2 percent of all elections were conducted within 56 days of a petition.

It is too hard for unions to get initial contracts with employers. Employers are already required, under penalty of law, to bargain with unions in good faith. Employers should not be forced to submit to onerous terms imposed by a third party that may jeopardize jobs and profitability.

HERE'S ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF SOCIALISTS...ER...I MEAN DEMOCRATS AND UNIONS WORKING FOR THE GOOD OF DER PEOPLE OF DER FADDERLAND! PLEASE VISIT THIS THREAD!

Shek

It is not $39 million in guaranteed bonuses. If you are going to participate in a discussion, then you need to lay out all the facts.

Remember, "just the facts"? If you believe this, then let's not be selective. I'm not expecting the world here, but this is the second post within the span of 2-3 in this thread where you are trying to portray an extreme as the reality.

So what was the reasoning behind what judges decision? Where is a copy of the decision? This conversation cannot move forward unless there is more meat to it.

__________________
"So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

Shek

I'm not sure where you're going with this. Where did the pension fund stand at the time? What were their projections? Were these projections sound? They may have very well made poor decisions. They could have made good decisions that didn't work out in their favor. You're not making a case here, just shooting a shotgun blindly to see if you hit anything.

ba1025

It was because they had met the projections they set out for the company going into bankruptcy. basically, they made the company profitable again and took rewards. it slphi Corp. won court approval Wednesday to extend an executive bonus program that could pay as much as $39.1 million in all to hundreds of executives in the United States.

The bonuses under the annual incentive plan for the first six months of 2008 are to be paid to 442 executives of GM's biggest auto parts supplier, including 21 members of Delphi's top-level strategy board. The performance-based bonuses, which could range from $21.2 million to $39.1 million, have a company earnings target of $871.1 million before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and restructuring costs. To get $39.1 million, profits would have to reach $1.3 billion.

If the company stays in Chapter 11 beyond Aug. 15 and it fails to meet its earnings target, the maximum payout for bonuses could be roughly $25.5 million.

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The company's restructuring plan was created assuming a market value for Delphi of $12.8 billion, or $59.61 a share. The court approved the plan in January.

Seems immoral to give yourself a raise whilst asking others to accept draconian( almost 50%) pay cuts. i would think their is some cause and effect between huge cuts in labor costs and increased sales. Where was labors share or didn't they deserve to share in the success of the company? I'm sorry you think my arguments incomplete but fancy words and sparsing of the issues are only fancy words and sparsing of the issue. labor gave back and management took more.

ba1025

you can't convince me you dont hate a solid 30% of your fellow citizens who lean left.

ba1025

crappy union just like the crappy companies who refuse mediation right?...wait don't you oppose federal mediation further down in the thread??? You want govt intervention now???? I think mediation is great myself. it just seems to go against your core values to have the govt interfere in the marketplace.

Shek

No, a plan was approved that could result in up to $39 million in bonuses. $39 million is not guaranteed. You need to read your own articles.

As I said earlier, there's smoke here, but you haven't provided evidence of fire. A countering scenario is that if the management doesn't figure out how make Delphi viable post-bankruptcy, then the workers all get a salary of $0, because Delphi goes bye-bye. Without more facts, it's just prattling in the wind.

ba1025

Actually you can form another union and drive the old one out. Where i work it used to be the machinist Union now it's the teamsters. There is also no requirement to join. Did the axle company open it's books to prove it's case. Rarely are companies who cry they need wage cuts willing too do that. my guess is the unwillingness here stems directly from the Delphi exec bonuses given after huge givebacks by the Union. Delphi poisoned the well for other companies.

Shek

BA,

I'm still waiting an answer on this. Thanks.

ba1025

Too my minds eye the issue with Delphi is shared sacrifice. What sacrifice did upper management make to save the company? Workers took huge pay cuts. Execs in the end took raises didn't they?

ba1025

I would guess if you look at executive pay versus the avg pay you will find your answer. Do I need to post the exact difference in ratio?

Shek

I don't know. The salary structure for the execs hasn't been laid out. We see potential bonuses discussed, but nothing about their salaries or other forms of compensation. The books for the company haven't been laid out.

Shek

No, I'm just looking for a qualitative response to this illustrative example (I'm not claiming that this is a definitive explanation, but it goes a long way in showing how one should think about statistics and it brings up the issue of income mobility as you look at static snapshots in time in a dynamic process).