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United Auto Workers Strike

GM electric car push could mean fewer and lower paying jobs

If U.S. consumers ever ditch fuel burners for electric vehicles, then the United Auto Workers union is in trouble.

Gone would be thousands of jobs at engine and transmission plants across the industrial Midwest, replaced by smaller workforces at squeaky-clean mostly automated factories that mix up chemicals to make batteries.

The union is keenly aware of this possibility as it negotiates for the future as much as the present in contract talks with General Motors. Meanwhile, more than 49,000 union workers are on strike against the company and have shut down its factories for the past six days.
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So far, thousands of Canadian GM workers have been laid off due to the strike in the States.

It would seem that electric cars will be the future in the automotive field. Amaazon just purchased 100,000 electric trucks.

Employees of one of the GM plants that will closing down are asking the Federal government for money to convert the plant into an electric car facility. They are hoping to make electric vehicles for the government and other industries such as Canada Post.

Autoworkers at GM's Oshawa plant ask feds for more than $1B to build electric vehicles
 
Utter nonsense. But what is 'losing'? You mean they aren't making money that day? Is that 'losing'? In that case, what are the workers losing each day? Significantly more in terms of direct impact on their lifes. esp now that GM cut off their healthcare after lying and saying they had paid it until october.
 
There may be some acknowledgement of what the different terms mean for Canadians.

If you are laid-off, you can claim employment benefits.
If you are locked out, you are not eligible to receive the benefits.

Therefore, being laid off is better than a lockout, so they were laid off.

This is not the first time that I have heard of a multi-national company taking into consideration the uniqueness of the country. A while back, a Huawei big wig toured their Canadian and American offices.
The executive handed out $100 to all employees.
The Americans got a $100 bill.
The Canadians got five $20 bills.
The executive told the Canadian employees that, although the Americans were fine with the one bill, he recognizes that Canadians do not like big bills.

We really don't like big bills.
 
spring-peeper said:
There may be some acknowledgement of what the different terms mean for Canadians.

If you are laid-off, you can claim employment benefits.
If you are locked out, you are not eligible to receive the benefits.

Therefore, being laid off is better than a lockout, so they were laid off.

This is not the first time that I have heard of a multi-national company taking into consideration the uniqueness of the country. A while back, a Huawei big wig toured their Canadian and American offices.
The executive handed out $100 to all employees.
The Americans got a $100 bill.
The Canadians got five $20 bills.
The executive told the Canadian employees that, although the Americans were fine with the one bill, he recognizes that Canadians do not like big bills.

We really don't like big bills.
Click to expand...
So, aside from this odd drivel at the end, you're saying that GM is using Canadian taxpayers money to try and break the US strike.
 
butchersapron said:
So, aside from this odd drivel at the end, you're saying that GM is using Canadian taxpayers money to try and break the US strike.
Click to expand...

Interesting concept.

But, the layoffs are not at the striking GM plant. How is laying people off at a different plant helping the GM?

The Canadian plants make parts for the striking plant's assembly line.
If there is no need for the parts, why should they keep working?
 
Wtf are you on about? You said the canadian workers are being laid off and are then getting canadian unemployment benefits - apart from both articles you linked to making it very clear they are being paid their wages as normal, they just have no work to do, so most likely won't be getting unemployment benefit. So, in your scenario, the canadian taxpayer would be funding GM workers in this little dispute, leaving them (already bloated with a strike breaking record profits) a little bit better prepared to sit out the strike, or pay for strike breaking manouveres.
 
butchersapron said:
Utter nonsense. But what is 'losing'? You mean they aren't making money that day? Is that 'losing'? In that case, what are the workers losing each day? Significantly more in terms of direct impact on their lifes. esp now that GM cut off their healthcare after lying and saying they had paid it until october.
Click to expand...
From a corporate standpoint, yes, that is losing. Although GM does have about a 70 day supply of cars on dealer lots. The workers are losing their livelihood but the UAW is giving them a stipend of $250/week :rolleyes: . Personally, I think the strike will be resolved fairly quickly.
 
Detroit City said:
From a corporate standpoint, yes, that is losing. Although GM does have about a 70 day supply of cars on dealer lots. The workers are losing their livelihood but the UAW is giving them a stipend of $250/week :rolleyes: . Personally, I think the strike will be resolved fairly quickly.
Click to expand...
Do you think the workers are being forced to strike by the UAW or something?

So, in your telling the workers are losing their livelihoods because of the actions of record tens of billions in profits GM but the real loss here is GM losing out on potential ways to make even more profit?
 
butchersapron said:
So, in your telling the workers are losing their livelihoods because of the actions of record tens of billions in profits GM but the real loss here is GM losing out on potential ways to make even more profit?
Click to expand...
both parties lose in a strike
 
Detroit City said:
From a corporate standpoint, yes, that is losing. Although GM does have about a 70 day supply of cars on dealer lots. The workers are losing their livelihood but the UAW is giving them a stipend of $250/week :rolleyes: . Personally, I think the strike will be resolved fairly quickly.
Click to expand...


I remember reading that people don't like buying cars from a striking company.

If that is true, that 70 day supply of cars may well stay at current levels.
 
This is why we need Medicare for All. The current system allows employers to use the loss of health insurance as a weapon:

The United Auto Workers union has a strike fund that pays striking workers $250 per week and covers health insurance through the federal COBRA program for laid-off workers. But, according to the UAW, the company cut the benefits without warning, before anyone knew they needed to sign up for COBRA.

“The company decided they were going to cut ’em yesterday before the union was ready to take over with our strike fund,” Al Tiller, shop chairman of UAW Local 1005 in Parma, Ohio, told Payday Report on Wednesday.

Tiller said some workers were actually unable to get health care as a result.

“We’ve had a couple members who’ve been sick, they couldn’t get treated,” Tiller said. “We’ve got a member with a kid who has cancer, went to get his treatment, and couldn’t get it.”
Click to expand...

HuffPost is now a part of Oath

The company claims that COBRA starts when the company shuts off coverage, but COBRA can only be signed up for within a certain timeframe, so their claim is a little misleading. It also is really expensive. I looked at how much my COBRA would cost and it was $900 just for me.
 
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www.bbc.co.uk

UAW strike: Ford and union agree record pay rise in tentative deal

The tentative deal with the striking union to end the six-week walkout includes a record pay rise.
www.bbc.co.uk

"We told Ford to pony up and they did," UAW President Shawn Fain said.
Mr Fain said the agreement included a 25% wage increase over the four-and-a-half-year life of the contract, with an initial increase of 11%.
The lowest-paid temporary workers would see pay rises of more than 150% over the period. The union also won the right to strike over future Ford plant closures, he added.
 
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