Chrysler workers also break out the fire barrels

[J]

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Chrysler strike could be a long one
New owner Cerberus may take tougher stance than GM with union

Roland Jones
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There was a feeling of déjà vu in Detroit Wednesday, as unionized workers walked off car production lines and out of warehouses in a nationwide strike against Chrysler after a union-imposed deadline passed without a new contract agreement.

Just over two weeks ago, the United Auto Workers union ordered 73,000 workers to walk out at General Motors after a similar deadline passed. But while GM strike lasted only two days, a strike could unfold differently at Chrysler, observers say.

While the issues in the strike are broadly similar to the GM case, Chrysler is not under the same pressure to settle, in part because it has become a privately held company and does not have to answer to public shareholders as GM and Ford do, noted Aaron Bragman, senior automotive analyst at consultancy Global Insight.

In August, Germany's DaimlerChrysler AG completed the sale of 80.1 percent of Chrysler to private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP — a factor that could mean the strike at Chrysler is dramatically different to the walkout at GM, Bragman said.

“There are no big institutional shareholders pressuring management and saying, ‘Hey, we need to come to a settlement soon because the share price is going down and we are losing value,’” Bragman told CNBC. “So Cerberus and Chrysler could potentially hold out for quite a bit longer than a public company.”

The issues at stake in the Chrysler talks are similar to those between the union and GM. While the automaker wants to reduce the nearly $20 billion it pays for active workers, retirees and their families’ health care — which U.S. automakers say add some $1,500 to the cost of building each car — the UAW wants to preserve much of those benefits and wants Chrysler to also guarantee that certain new products will be built at UAW-staffed factories.

But those guarantees may be hard to squeeze out of Chrysler’s new owner Cerberus, which is looking to put in place a more competitive structure at Chrysler. The automaker pays some of the highest wages in the automotive industry, and Cerberus has a track record of investing in troubled companies with a view to making them more profitable, so it may take a more aggressive stance with the union Bragman noted

“Chrysler may not be in a position to deliver,” Bragman said. “To get a GM-style set of guarantees they would have to be fully engaged in their product plan like GM, but Chrysler isn’t there yet, so they are probably unable to offer job security, to commit to building product X in plant Y at a certain date, because they may not know what their product plan is going to be.”

Chrysler’s negotiations with the UAW may also be more acrimonious, observers say, because Chrysler didn’t get the health care concessions gave to GM and Ford in 2005 that reportedly were worth some $340 million a year. Back then, the automaker was the U.S. division of DaimlerChrysler and was thought to be in good financial shape compared with GM and Ford.

Today, Chrysler’s financial footing looks less secure. The automaker is down to fourth place in U.S. market share and has seen sales decline 2.7 percent this year. Wednesday’s strike, which has seen some 49,000 UAW members put down tools at 17 of the company’s 22 plants, is expected to cost the automaker some $50 million a day. It is the first UAW strike against Chrysler in a decade.

Union members certainly seem steeled for a fight.

“We’re not backing down. We’ve made concession after concession over the last few years. It’s never enough,” said Ronnie Bryant, 45, a 12-year veteran of the Chrysler Stamping Plant in Twinsburg, Ohio.

Striking UAW workers typically receive only $200 a week from the union during a walkout, a fraction of their usual wages, so it is questionable how long workers will be able to last, analysts say.
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A short strike of around a week would not have a major impact on the automaker, as it has enough cars and trucks on dealers’ lots to last anywhere from three weeks to three months, according to Ray Wert, a senior editor at car enthusiast Web site Jalopnik.com.

“Chrysler has a glut of production and can weather a strike well,” he told CNBC. “But things could be different with Chrysler because Cerberus has deep pockets. The UAW might think it can get more out of them than they can with a public automaker like GM and Ford.”

If a strike is prolonged, Chrysler could be hurt by a shortage of its new line of Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country minivans, a bread-and-butter product that is being backed by an aggressive marketing campaign.

“Chrysler is ramping up production of these minivans, and so this is one specific vehicle where the company might suffer negative consequences from a prolonged strike,” said Jesse Toprak, chief economist for the auto research site Edmunds.com. “A few days will not hurt the process dramatically because they have sufficient inventory, but if this lasts for over three weeks that’s when we get into the territory where people get worried, and given the shape both sides are in I don’t think they will want to let this go on that long.”

The two-day GM strike ended with a landmark agreement under which new employees will be paid lower wages and the union will assume responsibility for retiree health care, managing a trust fund worth at least $35 billion.

Anyone know when the Ford contract is up by any chance?

[Kanastrous]

Fewer fucking minivans on the road makes the whole thing worthwhile, from my point of view.

[Starglider]

“We’re not backing down. We’ve made concession after concession over the last few years. It’s never enough,” said Ronnie Bryant, 45, a 12-year veteran of the Chrysler Stamping Plant in Twinsburg, Ohio.

Hi ho, it's the story of the UK car industry playing out on a thirty year delay. Let the morons kill their own industry, you seemingly can't start rebuilding it until the (modern) unions have been utterly discredited as parasitic fuckwits.

I would seriously like to dump all these idiots in the IT industry for a year, where you are hired on merit and fired on a month's notice (max) if you become useless (through your own fault or otherwise). Of course if I worked in the US rather than the UK that would be a deeply unpleasant year.

[aerius]

I'm hoping Cerberus management tells the union wankers to go fuck off and die. Fire every last one of the fuckers and then hire them back under slave wages. I don't think it'll happen, but I'd laugh so hard if it did.

[Kanastrous]

Fire every last one of the fuckers and then hire them back under slave wages. I don't think it'll happen, but I'd laugh so hard if it did.

Why do you find that an ideal outcome?

[phongn]

I would seriously like to dump all these idiots in the IT industry for a year, where you are hired on merit and fired on a month's notice (max) if you become useless (through your own fault or otherwise). Of course if I worked in the US rather than the UK that would be a deeply unpleasant year.

The big unions have repeatedly tried to unionize the IT industry and pretty much always fail. CWA kept trying to expand into Verizon's IT group, Verizon Wireless and Verizon Business (former-MCI) and have so far met with miserable failure.

[Kanastrous]

The big unions have repeatedly tried to unionize the IT industry and pretty much always fail. CWA kept trying to expand into Verizon's IT group, Verizon Wireless and Verizon Business (former-MCI) and have so far met with miserable failure.

Is this resistance by management, disinterest of the workers or both, at play?

[Starglider]

A lot of it is just union entitlement asshattery. This isn't to say that the management isn't also broken - in many cases it is, and I don't like spiralling undeserved CEO compensation and destructive asset stripping any more than I like union benefit insanity.

However there is a genuine problem with people who can't get their heads out of the notion of traditional corporate defined benefit pensions and into the notion of individual defined contribution asset-backed pensions. The 'suck profits from current operations to pay for legacy union benefit cruft' model is the social security system in minature - it's dubious enough when governments do it (partly for demographic reasons) but it's extremely silly in the modern business environment. But there are still plenty of fools who go for 'the company will always be there and profitable and able to pay my pension' along with 'a job should be for life'. Repeated examples in various countries have illustrated that there's no real way to kill this attitude other than to let the affected industry (and in some cases, national economy) go down in flames, then try to build something better out of the rubble.

At least most of the non-useless redundant US auto workers have the option of being hired by a foreign owned factory. That's better than what say the UK coal miners and steel workers got. All they have to do is swallow their pride and stop wasting money on UAW dues.

[phongn]

Is this resistance by management, disinterest of the workers or both, at play?

Both. Management employees - that is to say, anyone not union under VZ terminology - generally despised the union guys.

A lot of it is just union entitlement asshattery. This isn't to say that the management isn't also broken - in many cases it is, and I don't like spiralling undeserved CEO compensation and destructive asset stripping any more than I like union benefit insanity.

When it's the freaking board that sets compensation, it's no wonder that it's sky-high. Everyone's scratching each other's backs. I don't even mind so much when a company is performing well (Steve Jobs, Jack Welch, etc.) but they're getting golden parachutes when they totally screw things up (Carly Fiona) .

At least most of the non-useless redundant US auto workers have the option of being hired by a foreign owned factory. That's better than what say the UK coal miners and steel workers got. All they have to do is swallow their pride and stop wasting money on UAW dues.

One of the few bright spots in US manufacturing is indeed all those foreign factories setting up shop in the non-union South. They pay pretty good wages too, IIRC.

[Kanastrous]

Is this resistance by management, disinterest of the workers or both, at play?

Both. Management employees - that is to say, anyone not union under VZ terminology - generally despised the union guys.

Despised them because...?

[phongn]

Well, that was a short strike.

Union announces labor deal with Chrysler
By Shawn Langlois, MarketWatch

Last Update: 6:22 PM ET Oct 10, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- It didn't take long for the United Auto Workers and Chrysler LLC to realize both sides would be better off if the rank-and-file went back to work.

The UAW and the automaker reached a labor agreement Wednesday, according to the union, just hours after Chrysler union workers went on strike for the first time since 1997.

Earlier this week, the UAW had set a deadline of Wednesday at 11 a.m. Eastern for a new deal, but the talks stalled. Several analysts had for a longer strike than the one that shut down General Motors Corp. for two days last month.

With new private-equity owner Cerberus Capital Management reluctant to make too many job security promises and Chrysler pushing the union to catch-up with concessions made for Ford and GM back in 2005, hourly workers easily could have found themselves stuck on the picket line for days or even weeks.

But with a tentative deal in hand, union workers will be notified to report to work on their next available shift, the UAW said.

"Once again, teamwork in the leadership and solidarity in the ranks has produced an agreement that protects jobs for our communities and also protects wages, pensions and health care for our active and retired members," General Holiefield, head of the UAW's Chrysler division, said in a statement.

Details of the agreement that covers 45,000 union-represented employees will become available once it's ratified. Chrysler said, along with some other changes, the new deal will allow the company to establish an independent retiree health-care trust.

"The national agreement is consistent with the economic pattern, and balances the needs of our employees and company by providing a framework to improve our long-term manufacturing competitiveness," Chrysler President Tom LaSorda said.

Separately, GM announced that its 74,000 UAW-represented employees have already ratified the four-year labor contract reached last month.
The union called a nationwide strike against GM to force an agreement on job security and other vital issues after having accepted GM's demand that the union take responsibility for a long-term health-care trust for its retirees.

UAW leaders had already approved the new labor pact, which goes into effect at 80 GM facilities across the U.S.

Ratification by the union's rank and file was widely expected.

[phongn]

Despised them because...?

Work ethic, or lack thereof, demands on the company, etc.

[MKSheppard]

I'm hoping Cerberus management tells the union wankers to go fuck off and die. Fire every last one of the fuckers and then hire them back under slave wages. I don't think it'll happen, but I'd laugh so hard if it did.

Buying into the Shep "We had to destroy the forest to save it" method?

[The Yosemite Bear]

I'm hoping Cerberus management tells the union wankers to go fuck off and die. Fire every last one of the fuckers and then hire them back under slave wages. I don't think it'll happen, but I'd laugh so hard if it did.

As a SEIU/HERE Rep, and your anti-health, pro walmartized statement makes me sick, go rape yourself.

[J]

Well, that was a short strike.

Surprising, very surprising. I really expected the strike to drag on for a few weeks.

[Ma Deuce]

Well, that was a short strike.

Surprising, very surprising. I really expected the strike to drag on for a few weeks.

Didn't we all expect that with the GM strike as well? On the other hand, while I'm not sure what's happening with the talks with Ford, they have indicated they need deeper concessions from the UAW than GM asked for, and Ford is seen as less capable of weathering a strike than either GM or Chrysler.

As a SEIU/HERE Rep, and your anti-health, pro walmartized statement makes me sick, go rape yourself.

So, you don't think UAW workers are grossly overpaid and overbenifited compared to their non-unionized counterparts at say, Toyota and Honda (whose workers the UAW has consistently failed to prostelize)?

[CmdrWilkens]

The union system in the United States is broken mostly because Unions are political entities. In effect they are PAC with the ability to legally control territory. If the union wassimply a workers advocacy group with no political wing, minimal staffing, and a voluntary join system across all non-management jobs you would see a much better union system. The problem is the current union's are almsot akin to the renaissance trade guilds: they control a given market and move fiercely and aggressively to attack potential new markets not even realizing that their cuthroat tactics are alienating their potential membership and scaring off employers who might be willing to work with a less agressive and more co-operative group.

[Glocksman]

I'm hoping Cerberus management tells the union wankers to go fuck off and die. Fire every last one of the fuckers and then hire them back under slave wages. I don't think it'll happen, but I'd laugh so hard if it did.

As a SEIU/HERE Rep, and your anti-health, pro walmartized statement makes me sick, go rape yourself.

UNITE HERE Local 399 shop steward here, brother.
I'm sure it surprises some people, but this right wing asshole is very much pro-union despite the union leadership's advocacy of policies (gun bans, amnesty for illegals) I disagree with.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Yeah Yosemite is in the process of switching from SEIU to Unite HERE because we are tired of being represented by people who are all paramedics, nurses, and cops, who don't seem to understand our work arrangements.

Edit---
My dad's a former machinist in the Steelworkers union, and a former organizer for united farmworkers

oh and despite her leftist back ground my mom's alternative power, self contained growing and well armed enough, to be a survivalist...