The UAW Could Learn From The Teamsters
Unlike the UAW which seemed to wait until the last minute to start serious negotiations with GM, the Teamsters Union doesn’t mess around.
United Parcel Service Inc (UPS.N) said on Saturday it may reach an agreement with its unionized U.S. drivers as early as Monday.
“The Teamsters have set a goal of completing the talks and getting a tentative agreement by Monday,” said Norman Black, UPS spokesman. “We do believe it’s possible that we will be done by then.”
And guess what? Their contract does not expire until August of 2008. That’s 11 months from now and they have already reached an agreement.
UPS and the union representing some 250,000 workers kicked off negotiations in September 2006 for a new deal to replace a six-year contract set to expire in August 2008. That contract is the largest labor pact in the U.S. private sector.
Imagine that. Dealing with each other and negotiating in a timely manner so your business, and your employees, are not impacted by stalled talks.
The UAW could really take a few pointers from the Teamsters if you ask me.
Sphere: Related ContentGM Won’t Shutter Plants
You’d think, with all the articles buzzing around the ‘net about the deal, that it had been ratified, but apparently it hasn’t. The deal will be voted on by union members before October 10th.
General Motors’ tentative labor deal with the United Auto Workers union includes guarantees that the automaker will continue to build cars and trucks at its remaining UAW-represented assembly lines, according to highlights of the agreement given to the union’s local leadership Friday.
In addition, the deal provides for General Motors (Charts, Fortune 500) to pay 70 cents of every dollar of estimated future cost of healthcare coverage for its union-represented retirees and their families.
Wouldn’t it be a pisser if the union membership said no deal? Yeah, but we all know that won’t happen.
Union Allows GM To Cut Pay
Wow GM made out like a bandit with the strike negotiations…
I have no idea how many members of the UAW actually work for GM, but, for the sake of argument let’s pretend half of them do (which would be approximately 90,000).
Now, based on the following clip from the Associated Press, GM will be able to buy out 24,000 (26.66%) of their “soon to retire” workforce so they can bring in many new people at the new “lower pay package”.
General Motors Corp (GM.N) would be able to buy out as many as 24,000 UAW workers and replace them with lower-paid hires under a tentative contract agreement, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site on Friday.
Such a potential buyout stems from a move by the union to expand the definition of non-production job classifications, the article said, citing management and union officials briefed on the pact.
GM will be able to hire at a much lower pay package janitors, landscape workers and material handlers, the report said.
How awesome is that deal? I can feel the prices of GM vehicles dropping already.
Sphere: Related ContentUAW and GM Settle. The Crowd Goes Wild.
So, the UAW and GM settled the strike. Whew. Didn’t see that coming either did we?
Okay, so I thought they were going to drag it on a bit longer, but I was wrong.
The United Auto Workers union and General Motors Corp (GM.N) struck a groundbreaking deal on Wednesday, ending a two-day strike by agreeing to create a health-care trust fund that will reduce the automaker’s costs.
The agreement allows GM to shift more than $50 billion of retiree health-care liabilities to an independent union-aligned trust — a breakthrough expected to allow Detroit automakers to cut in half a labor-cost gap against Japanese competitors.
News of the tentative four-year pact, which ended a nationwide walkout by 73,000 GM employees on Monday, sent GM shares up almost 9 percent to their highest level in 10 weeks.
So everyone is happy now, right? I wonder how much it was costing GM every day, for the two days?
Sphere: Related ContentDay 2: UAW Strike
When the UAW called for the strike two days ago, people thought they were just going through the motions.
The 2-day-old nationwide strike against General Motors Corp.(GM.N) by the United Auto Workers union spilled across borders on Tuesday, threatening production in Mexico and shutting down Canadian plants, as both sides resumed bargaining in Detroit.
More than 73,000 UAW-represented factory workers walked picket lines in the first national strike against the top U.S. automaker since 1970.
The strike began on Monday after 10 weeks of contract talks seen as crucial to GM’s survival as it restructures money-losing U.S. operations and tries to free itself from a health-care obligation of more than $50 billion.
GM told dealers that it had enough vehicles in the pipeline “for the immediate future” and said it would maintain spending on sales incentives and advertising during the strike.
But the impact from the UAW-ordered shutdown of more than 80 GM facilities in the United States hit GM’s plants in Canada and Mexico, which are closely aligned to the U.S. operations and depend on them for some auto parts.
I bet the people who can no longer work because their plants are shuttered aren’t too happy about those motions right about now. So how long do you think the “strike” will last? Do you think we’re in it for the longhaul, or do you think it will be over quickly?
Me? I think the whole thing is stupid. The UAW named GM as their strike target weeks ago, so we all saw this coming, didn’t we?
Home Prices Dropping Rapidly
Even though it’s been a week or two since there was big news from any of the major mortgage companies, I think the whole housing market “bubble” hasn’t finished popping yet.
The decline in U.S. home prices accelerated nationwide in July, posting the steepest drop in 16 years, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday.
Home prices have fallen by more every month since the beginning of the year.
An index of 10 U.S. cities fell 4.5 percent in July from a year ago. That was the biggest drop since July 1991.
“The further deceleration in prices is still apparent across the majority of regions,” MacroMarkets LLC Chief Economist Robert Shiller said in a statement.
A broader index of 20 cities fell 3.9 percent in July over last year, with 15 of 20 cities reporting that prices fell.
This is horrible news for those trying to sell their homes and get out of the scam mortgages they were talked into in the first place.
Sphere: Related ContentPicket Lines Go Up At GM
Word was they were negotiating for 21 days, and both sides had a willingness to reach a compromise. Today we learn the truth we knew all along.
United Auto Workers union- represented workers at plants in Michigan and Ohio began walking off the job and organizing pickets as a strike against General Motors Corp (GM.N) began on Monday.
“We’re on strike. It’s too late to call us back now,” UAW Local President Chris “Tiny” Sherwood told Reuters as a union-imposed strike deadline passed at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT).
It’s never too late. If it was, strikes would never end. You gotta love rhetoric.
Sphere: Related ContentUAW To Strike Monday Morning
See. I told you. All the talk in the world doesn’t matter if the union has officially named your company as the “strike target”…
The United Auto Workers set a deadline of Monday morning to strike General Motors Corp. if a new contract isn’t reached, even as the two sides continued bargaining late Sunday night, according to a local union Web site.
The deadline to reach an agreement was set for 11 a.m. EDT Monday, according to a posting on the Web site of UAW Local 160 in Warren.
GM said in a statement Sunday night that it is working with the union to resolve issues.
I bet, in the 20 days they have been talking, the UAW hasn’t really been listening. That’s just my opinion though.
Sphere: Related ContentUAW And GM Still Talking
The talks have been ongoing for 19 days and there is no word if they are actually any closer to an agreement. Sure, it sounds good, but at this point both sides want to appear to have the upper hand.
Representatives of General Motors Corp (GM.N) and the United Auto Workers union returned to the bargaining table on Saturday amid expectations the two sides were closing in on a deal that would slash health care costs for the top U.S. automaker.
By Friday, the two sides had moved closer to a deal that would allow GM to shift responsibility for providing health insurance for over 540,000 GM retirees and their spouses to a new trust fund, two people familiar with the talks said.
GM and the union also agreed to bring in a third party to audit the financial assumptions behind such an agreement.
Wall Street analysts have said such a deal could cut GM’s costs by $3 billion annually in exchange for a one-time payment from the automaker expected to top $30 billion.
When the previous contract was negotiated, there were 380,000 members of the UAW, this year, there are just 180,000. They better agree to something or by the time they negotiate in four more years there might not be a UAW to negotiate with.
Industry Expert: We Need Lead In Jewelry
The shiny tiaras and bracelets that little girls love to wear need to contain lead despite its dangers to keep the cost down for consumers, the Fashion Jewelry Trade Association told a congressional committee on Thursday.
“The total elimination of lead in jewelry, particularly jewelry that is not intended for young children, would impose difficulties and costs on the industry and adversely affect quality and costs to consumers,” Michael Gale, president of the jewelry group, told a House of Representatives Energy and Commerce subcommittee.
Yes, prices would go up. Yes, items would not be as “flexible”. No, I don’t think people would really mind if it meant that their brains cells would stop dying left and right due to lead exposure.
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