No-Vote Unionization: Union bosses and Dems want it resurrected...

With the union-controlled National Labor Relations Board doing labor's bidding these days, one would think union bosses and their Democrat minions would forget about pushing the job-destroying and hallucinogenically-named Employee Free Choice Act. But apparently that is not the case.

As the Union of Ailing Workplaces United Auto Workers (UAW) meets in Detroit this week to install a new king (Bob King, that is), they had a visit from the AFL-CIO's top boss, Richard "the Fifth" Trumka, who, among other comments seemed to be calling up the spirits of EFCA:

Trumka also called on UAW members to intensify phone calls, letter writing and other lobbying of their congressional representatives and senators to pass the Employee Free Choice Act....


"We won't quit until the EFCA becomes the law of the land and everyone who wants a union can have a union," Trumka said.

Not to be outdone by Trumka's remarks, Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) seemed rather frustrated by Democrats current impotence on EFCA:

“I do not understand it. … We control the White House. We control the Senate. We control the House of Representatives," Lewis said. “Let's pass it and pass it now.”

No matter how bad the idea, no matter how many jobs it will destroy and no matter how many freedoms it takes away, unions and their Democrat minions will stop at nothing at seeing a unionized America.

Remember GOTV on NOVEMBER 2nd.  Your right to vote depends on it.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

On UAW's Gettlefinger: It doesn't get any more surreal.

This week, the United Against Work United Auto Workers (UAW) is holding its 35th constitutional convention in Detroit this week, one protester was handcuffed (actually he is a UAW retiree and convention delegate) and the UAW's new king (Bob King, that is) is being challenged by a dissident member.

Meanwhile, the UAW's retiring boss, Ron Gettlefinger (the man who brought you Government Motors), in an interview with reporters, offered his rather surrealistic views on worker rights.

United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger gave a preview Sunday of part of his Monday farewell speech at the union's constitutional convention, telling reporters that he would vigorously defend the right of workers to organize.

Okay.  So far, so good.  But here's where he goes all screwy:

Gettelfinger questioned why it is all right for groups like the National Association of Manufacturers to have members, but businesses try to trample the rights of individual employees to form unions and collectively bargain for wages, benefits and working conditions. 

What Gettlefinger is doing in this one statement is deploying at least two distinct propaganda techniques, namely transfer and The Big Lie.

For decades, unions have used (as an argument for unionization) the transfer meme that there's really no difference between businesses belonging to associations like the National Association of Manufacturers or Chambers of Commerce versus workers belonging to labor unions.

Unfortunately, there are many differences between business associations and unions. Here are just a few:

• Businesses can quit their associations whenever they want, union workers cannot.  In fact, trying to get a union out of the workplace is extremely difficult for workers.
• Businesses can stop paying money to their associations any time they like and the worst that would happen to them is they get kicked out.  If a unionized worker quits paying a union, in 28 states, the union can have him fired.
• Businesses who break an association's rules can get kicked out, but a union worker who breaks a union's rules can be placed on trial by the union and fined money.
• Business associations cannot cause their members to go out on strike, unions can.
• Business associations cannot cause their members to lose their jobs, unions can.
• Business associations cannot cause their member companies to outsource jobs, unions can.
• Business associations cannot cause the government to nationalize companies, unions have the UAW has.

The second propaganda technique Gettlefinger uses is the Big Lie.  In fact, not only does he use it once in his statement but twice.

• First, Gettlefinger alleges that businesses try "to trample the rights of individual employees..."  Despite that this is an overly broad generality (there are over four million employers in the U.S.), the fact of the matter is, unions win roughly 68% of all NLRB elections.  This means that, if Gettlefinger's statement was true, employers are doing a pretty poor job at trampling the rights of workers.

• The second point Gettlefinger makes in the same sentence is another union myth:  "...individual employees to form unions and collectively bargain for wages, benefits and working conditions."  Unions like the UAW are no longer "formed" by workers, they are legal entities already established and, more importantly, when workers belong to a third-party union like the UAW, the union is the members sole and exclusive bargaining representative for the purpose of collective bargaining.  In other words, the workers don't do the bargaining, the union does.  Moreover, according to the UAW's own union constitution, in order for any UAW contract to be approved, the UAW must approve it (and the union has veto power as well).

What is even more hypocritical of Gettlefinger's portrayal of unions is the fact that his successor, Bob King, who was chosen by the UAW leaders last year, is not even going to be voted on by UAW members but will be installed this week by the convention delegates.

For more than 60 years, the UAW's top leadership has blocked attempts to permit union members to vote directly for the union presidency. Rather, as the UAW's new designated nominee, King has the support of the union executive board, which has picked the UAW presidents since the late 1940s through series of closed caucuses.

It's a good thing Ron Gettlefinger is retiring because the truth just can't be stretched any more than it has.

Goodbye, Ron.  It's been surreal.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

New UAW King wants union payback

Now, this is rich:

Bob King, the likely future president of the UAW, said union members have made tremendous sacrifices in recent years to help save the domestic automakers and the companies should be prepared to reward union members as the industry recovers.

"There was equality of sacrifice, there has got to be equality of gain," said King, a UAW vice president who is the union’s nominee to be elected president at a constitutional convention in June.

[snip]

King, 63, made his comments following a speech Tuesday at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s automotive conference in Detroit titled, “A new role for labor? Partner and owner.”

Throughout his speech, King said the union has proved in recent years that it iscapable of adapting to new challenges in the automotive industry and working with the domestic automakers to help them through times of crisis.

In 2007, for example, the union agreed to take over the responsibility of managing retiree health care from the automakers.

Um..Bob? How about the taxpayers get paid back for bailing you guys out first?
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

A Re-Run? UAW being asked for concessions at Ford

Although this was posted this morning, the video appears to be a "re-run" of sorts.  As a result, we cannot affirm whether this is new news or a dated video.



We'll update this post as soon as we can verify the date.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Live Standoff: Laid-Off UAW Worker Occupies Foreclosed Home

In a sense, you want to feel sorry for Keith Sadler.  Like so many others across the country, Sadler, a former UAW worker, is unemployed and facing eviction.

Mr. Sadler, who mostly has worked in factories, said he made his mortgage payments for 12 years after buying the house from his father but fell behind last year after he was off work from Dana Corp. for medical reasons. He said his mortgage holder, State Bank and Trust Co. of Defiance, promised to work with him.

"They said they were going to try to work out a plan for people like me," he said. "The next thing I know, I get a registered letter" saying a foreclosure action had been filed.

Ordinarily, Sadler's dilemma would draw a huge amount of empathy (it still does, to a degree), but then the story oddly veers off to the left.

Sadler, you see, has decided that, instead of letting the banks come and take his home and his land, he would make a statement by barricading himself in his home, along with some lefties who are along for the ride.

On Monday May 3rd, Keith Sadler a former UAW Autoworker (who lost his job) of Stony Ridge will be evicted from his home. But unlike many in a similar situation, Mr. Sadler intends to resist his foreclosure and stay in his home illegally. 

"I am resisting this eviction through non-violent civil disobedience," states Sadler. "It's time to make a stand against this corrupt system." 

Alongside Sadler stands a group of community members from the Toledo Foreclosure Defense League, a Northwest Ohio coalition of housing activists. TFDL is also joined by the national group Take Back the Land based out of Miami, Florida. 

Sadler, along with the Toledo Foreclosure Defense League, will be peacefully occupying the foreclosed home by sealing themselves inside until the foreclosure is called off and a moratorium on all foreclosures is enacted.

"Housing is a human right. While banks are being bailed out, people are being thrown into the streets. The time has come to take back our land and our communities," said Sadler.

Following Sunday's press conference May 2nd at 6pm, activists will lock themselves inside until their demands are met.

Unfortunately, Mr. Sadler went from an individual with a grievance to an activist pushing a statist cause.

To that end, the the Left activist crowd has set up live streaming video of the standoff.

CAUTION: Strong Language Warning



Free live streaming by Ustream

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.”Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Good News, Bad News: UAW is thrilled Cat is recalling

First the good news:

Whatever it takes to thrill the leadership of United Auto Workers Local 974, the prospect that a couple thousand of its members could be back to work this year ranks near the top.

“This is definitely good news. We’re thrilled to hear it,” said Local 974 President Dave Chapman after learning that Caterpillar Inc. believes it can recall 9,000 or more of its laid-off workers worldwide — including close to 3,000 in Illinois — by the end of 2010.

Added Wes Hogsett, Local 974 bargaining chairman: “It is always good news when Caterpillar’s business picks up. That’s because our members can get back to work and get back to earning the paychecks they need to support their families.”

Now the bad news:  Caterpillar's business is picking up due to order is mostly foreign markets.

Caterpillar chairman Jim Owens spoke during the U.S.-Saudi Arabia business summit in Chicago last week and, during a question-and-answer session, said the company believes the recalls are likely because business — particularly in foreign markets — is regaining strength.

While about 6,000 of the recalled workers are in those foreign markets, including Asia and Latin America, where the growth is strongest, thousands of workers at U.S. plants that export their products will be brought back as well. The bulk of those are in Illinois. [Emphasis added.]

In either case, though, Cat's rehiring is good news.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Another UAW bailout is coming...

A couple of weeks ago, we posted on the giant-sucking sound that the UAW has become to America's tax payers.

Well, the Truth About Cars blog has even more dire forewarnings than were previously reported on:

GM needs help from the government in areas that have nothing to do with the Volt as well. A recent GAO report exposing GM’s $27b in unfunded pension liabilities presents a similarly dire risk to GM’s long-term viability, and another entry on Ed Whitace’s DC to-do list. And once again, the advance guard of GM’s influence machine has already sprung into action. Senator Sherrod Brown and Rep Tim Ryan, both democrats of Ohio, have already written a letter to the Treasury [in PDF format here], urging GM’s masters to prevent the dumping of GM and/or Delphi pensions onto the struggling Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. The congressmen write:

According to the GAO, we are now facing an even greater liability in auto sector plans. The failure of additional auto sector plans would not only cost retirees tens of billions of dollars in lost benefits, it would also require the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to assume an estimated $42 billion in unfunded liabilities. 

As a majority owner of General Motors, the U.S. government must not put itself in the pensions [sic]. It also would be a poor outcome for the U.S. taxpayer to sell our interests in the auto sector only to have the U.S. government to assume [sic] the unfunded liabilities in their pension plans. 

We would like to request a meeting with to discuss how Treasury and the Auto Task Force plan to resolve the outstanding pension issues in the auto sector and how you will ensure that the federal funding in the Automotive Industry Financing Program will protect pension plan participants and the PBGC from assuming the unfunded liabilities.  [Emphasis added.]

Since American's are already on the hook for billions of dollars in bailouts for Detroits automakers, perhaps it's time for someone to just say "no" when they come back to the cookie jar for more sweets.
__________________

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

UAW Becomes Giant Tick, Sucks U.S. Dry

Following our earlier post on the UAW suing Government General Motors, a friend sent us this story about the Government Accountability Office warning that U.S. taxpayers may have to cough up another $14.5 billion to bail out the UAW pensions of both Government General Motors and Chrysler.

Automakers General Motors and Chrysler will need to put billions of dollars into their pension plans over the next five years to meet their funding requirements, the Government Accountablity Office said Tuesday.

The GAO concluded that GM will have to add $12.3 billion by 2014, while Chrysler is expected to need $2.62 billion more during that time for its pension plan to keep it properly funded.

[snip]

The GAO said in a report that the future of those plans "remains uncertain" as the companies struggle to make money again.

Chrysler and GM will be able to meet their funding needs if they are profitable, the GAO said. The Treasury Department, which oversees the government's sizable stake in the two companies, believes that will happen.

But if GM and Chrysler falter and are forced to terminate their pensions, the government's Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation insurance program would have to absorb $14.5 billion worth of company obligations to workers.

To read the GAO summary report (PDF), go here or to read the full 77-page (PDF) report, go here.

To read how to dispose of a tick, go here.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

UAW sues Government Motors

Ordinarily, seeing a headline that states "UAW sues General Motors" would require a real quick scan, get the gist of the story, post it (or not), then move on.

In this case, however, the moving on part came to an abrupt, screeching halt...

Hey! Wait a minute!

Long pause, closer look:

Today, the UAW filed a lawsuit against General Motors, claiming the automaker owes the union $450 million as part of a three-year-old contract with its former part division, Delphi. 

In the lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Detroit, the UAW contends that GM was obligated through a labor contract and the bankruptcies of both GM and Delphi to pay $450 million intended for the UAW's Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association for Delphi workers. That trust, called a VEBA, is to provide for retiree health care.

Then, the questions started rolling around.

How can Government General Motors be sued by the United Against Work United Auto Workers if the UAW owns 17% of GM?

Further, if the UAW wins its suit, does the amount awarded get reduced by 17%?

And, more importantly, if the U.S. government owns the majority of GM, isn't the UAW really suing the U.S. government?

And, by suing the U.S. government, isn't the UAW actually screwing suing us?
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

On UAW Membership Losses: Tell us how you really feel...

Yesterday, we reported on the UAW losing tens of thousands more members in 2009.  Today, the Detroit Free Press has a letter to the editor worth sharing:

In the March 30 article “UAW membership sinks to post-WWII low,” the statement “auto bankruptcies cost it (the union) jobs in manufacturing” is a lie, used to front a story when bankruptcies are only two years old and the decline has been going on for the past 20 years. The government destroyed the unions by changing the work rules and laws to make workers disposable. First with NAFTA and then paying manufacturers via foreign investment tax credits to go overseas for cheap labor to favored trading countries such as China and calling it a world market. A true lockout.

The final straw was allowing temporary workers and workers willing to work for half the wages and no benefits.

The union used to call them scabs, and now they are welcomed. All those who fought and died for the American dream of a piece of the pie have been betrayed by greed and avarice, the new American way of defeating union brotherhood and solidarity forever.

Paul Heller
Washington

While Mr. Heller blames the government, more likely the decline of the UAW is due to competition from more efficient automakers. 


Perhaps Mr. Heller should have questioned the 'greed and avarice' of his union sooner.


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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

United Auto Workers loses another 75,846 members...

The Union of Ailing Workplaces (also known as the UAW) lost another 75,846 members in 2009 or the equivalent of 17.6%.

Down substantially from its peak of 1.5 million members in the late 1970s, the UAW went from 431.037 members at the end of 2008 to a low 355,191 at the end of 2009.

The value of UAW's assets dipped by about $70 million to $1.13 billion, while its receipts fell by nearly $30 million to $277 million.

Faced with the humiliation of having to sell its famed Black Lake Resort, the UAW's fortunes have fallen on hard times, despite gaining a majority ownership stake in Chrysler and 17.5% ownership in General Motors.

In addition to its loss of members, the UAW has also suffered an image problem over the last year.  In part, this is due to the auto bailouts and structured bankruptcies under the Obama administration, as well as the negative perception of the public at large.

“They think we are overpaid, lazy workers, and we are not,” said Ronda Danielson, president of UAW Local 879 in St. Paul, Minn.

Well, that may or may not be the case.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Labor Shorts: Obamacare to cost Caterpillar $100 million year one & other union news...

Labor Shorts: Exposing Union Bosses One Skid Mark at a Time...

The latest (and largest) pile of labor news from around the country, given to you in short form from LaborUnionReport.com:

• Cat may become Obamacare road kill... Heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar said Thursday that the health care legislation being considered by Congress would increase its health care costs by more than $100 million in the first year alone. [The sucking sound that will be heard will be more UAW jobs.]
• Moonbeam Brown urges unions to "attack"... In California's gubernatorial race, former governor and current Attorney General, as well as gubernatorial candidate Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown urged union honchos to "attack" for him during his campaign for the governor's mansion.
• Union Intransigence May Doom Amnesty Immigration Reform...Unions don't want a guest worker program. Businesses do. Compromise may be impossible despite the administration's efforts to do a deal by November.
• SEIU boss Andy Stern sends Glenn Beck a purple package...It's doubtful that Fox superstar Glenn Beck and his on-air nemesis SEIU's Andy Stern will become bosom buddies following Stern's attempts at détente.
• Firefighters' Union 'Sticks it' to City of Portland...The City of Portland and the Firefighters union are 'going to war' over the union's desire to have the city continue paying a con artist's disability payments.
• Communications Workers are cranky at Christie's Cuts...Public workers marched all across New Jersey yesterday at newly-elected governor Chris Christie's attempt to address a huge-budget gap left to him by his predecessor, Democrat John Corzine.
• $18 billion for jobs bill not enough, says lefty laborites...Trying to figure out how to add more to the already overwhelming federal debt, lefty bloggers at In These Times note that the $18 billion jobs bill that the House sent to President Obama isn't enough to "create or save" the 11 million jobs needed to return to pre-recession unemployment levels.
• Hungry unionists protesting for jobs... Approximately 600 Seattle/King County Building and Construction Trades Council members protested for jobs on Wednesday while 35 unemployed steelworkers protested being unemployed for more that a year in Northern Ohio.
• Shameful...Why are family members who are taking care of their own children being forced to be in a union? [Read more at our blog here.]
• Those Unfriendly Skies:
• The Teamsters to add to worldwide turbulence by vowing to mobilize support for a possible strike of British Airways flight attendants, while Germany's Ver.di pledged its support as well.
• Air France flight attendants may also be disembarking for a four-day strike on March 28th.
• Back in the U.S. of A...
• United Airlines' pilots were joined by pilots of five other airlines on the picket line to protest an outsourcing deal between UAL and Ireland's Aer Lingus.
• American Airlines' flight attendants are the second union at the Texas-based carrier to ask the National Mediation Board for a release in order to begin the countdown to strike.
• Blanche Lincoln Bites Back at Unions. Following the abandonment of Arkansas Democrat Senator Blanche Lincoln by her former union friends, the outgoing Senator put out a surpisingly in-your-union-face ad.
• Teamsters and Tea Party Activists: Kindred Spirits? Both groups don't like taxes that costs jobs but somehow we think the similarities may end there even though the Teamster fight against Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter's proposed soda tax sounds surprisingly like something one would hear at a Tea Party rally.
• Vale Inco CEO strikes back at striking steelworkers' union...After enduring an eight-month strike by the United Steelworkers, Vale Inco CEO Tito Martins posted a letter on the company's website accusing the USW of engaging in a "a global campaign of misinformation, racism, intolerance and xenophobia" while being content to "keep its members on strike so long as it supports the USW strike in Ontario."
• Labor's Back Door... A business owner explains how media hype over the 'failure' of labor's agenda is more hyperbole than reality as union bosses are still getting their sweetheart deals in mutated form.
• UPS: The Tonya Harding of Cargo Shipping...? By trying to "level the playing field" by hitting its competitor in the proverbial knees with a Teamster-made baseball bat, UPS is disingeniously still trying to saddle rival FedEx with the Teamsters by fighting in Congress to put RLA-covered FedEx under the National Labor Relations Act. [For more on the Brown Bailout, go here and video here.]
• Speaking of Bailouts...Are unions the primary beneficiary of President Obama's "Green Jobs" economy?  It certainly appears so, but you can read this and decide for yourself.
• Eee Gads! A Soccer Strike Looms... Soccer fans the world over (not really) may be put in limbo if negotiations fail this weekend between Major League Soccer players and team owners and the players strike next week.  Here's an update. [Zzzz!]

That's a wrap for LaborUnionReport.com's Labor Shorts and End of Week Report.

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"I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes." Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

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Cross-posted.

More on the UAW at NUMMI: Police called on fed-up members (again)

After Government Motors (the auto company formerly known as) General Motors, abandoned its 50% partnership with Toyota at the NUMMI plant in California last year and Toyota's subsequent decision to close the NUMMI plant, the Union of Ailing Workplaces United Auto Workers has gone into overdrive in an attempt to shift the blame for the plant closure from GM and its Obama-administration bailout structured bankruptcy to Toyota.

In January, after months of unanswered questions from their UAW leadership, a union meeting for the NUMMI membership erupted with one of the UAW bosses telling members to "shut the f**k up" as members felt that the UAW is hiding something.

Then, when Toyota's safety issues resulted in a recall worldwide recall, UAW-backed politicians put Toyota execs through the standard (are-the-TV-cameras-rolling?) Congressional grilling.  This is despite the apparent conflict of interest of Washington's ownership of GM, and despite the fact that GM has also had numerous recalls, including for faulty airbag deployment, fire hazards, malfunctioning door handles, and Corvette roofs that could fly off while driving. [Just a partial list here.]

Then, of course, there is GMs' current recall of 1.3 million cars, as well as two even quieter (albeit smaller) recalls on some of the new 2010 Camaros and Cadillacs.

The UAW's hypocrisy in targeting Toyota for its decision to close the NUMMI plant after Government Motors GM (of which the UAW is now a partial owner) made the decision to bail out on its workers [pun intended] and on top of the 14 other UAW/GM plant closings announced last year has not gone unnoticed by the NUMMI workers.

In this latest video, NUMMI workers are again trying to get answers to their questions from their UAW leadership who, apparently, will no longer let its members video tape meetings.



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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

GM to give (UAW) vice chairman Girsky $5M pay package

It's always good to know that the government is watching out for taxpayers. And, more importantly, it's good to know the government watches out for its biggest contributors, like the UAW.

From bailing out GM and Chrysler, to crucifying non-union Toyota, the government is doing a fantastic job for the UAW giving the union a seat at the table both in the White House and the board room of Government Motors...er GM.

In fact, were it not for the government and its 'too-big-to-fail' bailout of the car company formerly known as General Motors, the United Auto Workers might not have a seat at the table at all.

In this case, however, the UAW's seat is filled by some guy named Steven Girsky, who, thanks to the UAW and the Obama administration is getting a $5 million pay package.

General Motors Co. will pay vice chairman Steve Girsky, who also sits on the automaker's board as a representative of the UAW, a $5 million package, the automaker disclosed in a regulatory filing.

The package includes a $500,000 annual salary and $4.5 million in stock spread out over time. Girsky is president of S.J. Girsky and Co., an advisory firm based in New York, and a longtime adviser to both GM and the UAW.

In 2012, Girsky will start to receive $3 million in stock over three years. He also is eligible to receive $1.5 million in restricted stock once GM repays federal aid it has received. Girsky has to be employed for three years before the stock can be awarded.

It's good to know the government's watching the taxpayer's backs and even better to know the taxpayers will still be picking up the tab.

Read more here.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

GM to UAW workers: Buy our cars...please? Oh. And sell them too!

Just how bad are sales these days  for Government Motors General Motors? Apparently, it's so bad that GM can't even get its own UAW employees to buy the cars they make and is asking for help to sell them.

But wait, that's not the punchline and this is no joke:

GM is planning a campaign aimed at its own employees!

General Motors is kicking off a new word-of-mouth campaign to get people talking about its lineup of vehicles. The talkers GM has in mind? Its own employees.

The campaign is a whistlestop event called the"Vehicle Plant Tour" -- which may not be the best title we've ever heard, but it's a pretty accurate description of the project. The Tour involves GM reps visiting 40 of the company's manufacturing plants with a number of hot GM vehicles in tow, including the Buick LaCrosse, the Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon,the Chevrolet Equinox, Camaro and Malibu, and theGMC Terrain.

At each stop, factory employees will learn about those models, and they'll have the opportunity to test-drive them. There are also some public events on tap -- presumably so that the employees can experience the vehicles in the company of family, friends, and other members of the community. Each stop on the Tour will last about a month, and in total, the campaign is expected to reach about 40,000 GM employees. The Tour kicks off at facilities in Arlington, Texas, Defiance, Ohio, and Tonawanda, New York.

[snip]

That said, it sounds like a great campaign to us -- not only because it will give GM employees first-hand knowledge of the company's new vehicles, but also because it's likely to boost morale in the workplace, which is especially important for GM right now. Over the past year, General Motors has undergone some dramatic, traumatic changes, and thanks to ongoing personnel shakeups, the dust at GM yet to settle. Making things worse, many people have criticized GM for its inefficiency and for taking bailout dough from the feds, which has led some to refer to GM as "Government Motors". GM employees are a dedicated bunch, but in the face of all that instability and bad press, it's been a bit harder for them to keep their spirits high. [Emphasis added.]

Another great investment from the bureaucrats in Washington Detroit.

Here's a radical idea:

Instead of spending more taxpayer money (at a minimum of $2.2 million*) to fund another stupid idea, why not have the Government Motors GM dealers do a UAW appreciation day and invite them down to the lot?

Oh...Never mind.  Bad thought.

The dealers might not really appreciate all that the UAW has done for their business.

* Assuming each of the 40,000 employees take an hour off from their normal jobs to go stand in a parking lot and look at the new line up, at $55 dollars an hour, that means GM will be spending (at a minimum) $2.2 million just to pay people to look at the cars. 

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

UAW quiet on GM's recall of 1.3M compacts for steering problem

Karma: action, seen as bringing upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in a reincarnation

Amid the public crucifiction of Toyota, the government/UAW-owned General Motors has a little, teeney-weeney, itsy-bitsy recall problem of its own.

From the Associated Press:

General Motors Co. said Monday it will recall 1.3 million Chevrolet and Pontiac compact cars sold in the U.S., Canada and Mexico to fix power steering motors that can fail.

The recall affects 2005 to 2010 Chevrolet Cobalts, 2007 to 2010 Pontiac G5s, 2005 and 2006 Pontiac Pursuits sold in Canada and 2005 and 2006 Pontiac G4s sold in Mexico.

The automaker said the vehicles are still safe to drive and never lose their steering, but it may be harder to steer them when traveling under 15 mph.

[snip]

GM told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the recall on Monday. NHTSA began an investigation into 905,000 of the models on Jan. 27 after getting 1,100 complaints that the cars lost their power steering assist. The complaints included 14 crashes and one injury.

Read more here.

No telling if government/UAW-owned GM execs will get the same Congressional UAW-inspired grilling from the politicians that Toyota execs received.

Somehow, we doubt it.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

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For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

UAW greed has dismembered Michigan

Regarding the same union that tells its members to "Shut the f**k up!" and calls Toyota a "danger to America," the Washington Times has this fascinating post:

Legend has it that during a brutal contract bar -gaining session, Harry Bennett, Hen-ry Ford's enforcer, attempted to break the tension by passing around snapshots taken during a visit to Maxon Lodge, a gorgeous hideaway in the woods of northern Michigan.

Walter Reuther, architect of the United Auto Workers' rise, looked over the photographs, tossed them on the table and said to Bennett: "Come the revolution, we'll own that place."

It was no idle threat. In 1967, flush with cash from a bulging membership, the UAW purchased the lodge and 1,000 acres on Black Lake.

And, as often happens with revolutionaries, the temptations of power were too strong to resist.

The UAW turned the lodge into a stunning and sprawling $33 million complex, adding another 200 acres and a $6 million golf course rated among the best 100 public courses in the nation.

Although it bills itself as an education center, it is actually a world-class resort, long a favorite spot for the union's leaders to unwind. Reuther, who made the place his personal retreat, died in a plane crash on his way to Black Lake in 1970. His ashes are scattered on the grounds.

But today a "For Sale" sign hangs from the resort, which has required more than $25 million in subsidies from the union's depleted treasury over the past five years. The UAW's membership has fallen to roughly 430,000, from a peak of 1.5 million in 1979.

You can read the rest here.

h/t: Glenn Reynolds
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"I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes." Thomas Paine December 23, 1776
 
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UAW, Not Toyota, is the Real "Danger to America"

Union Bosses Gone Wild: To view how the UAW earned

the nickname United Against Work, go here.

As Democrats prepare for a public and politically-charged flogging of Toyota, the United Auto Workers bigwigs (along with their comrades from the Teamsters and some green-weenie enviro-activists) rained some atomic rhetoric on the Japanese car maker by calling it a "danger to America" while astro-turfing at the Japanese embassy in Washington yesterday.

While Toyota does have recall issues it is dealing with (as the UAW-controlled Big Three are all-too-familiar with), the UAW bosses are not protesting Toyota's safety issues. Rather, the union is protesting the company's plans to close the only Toyota plant in America that the UAW has its talons in, the NUMMI plant in Fremont, California on March 31st.

Apparently, 80% of the UAW's membership is angry with the union's handling of the plant closing (this is the same plant where a UAW boss told members to 'Shut the f**k up!' last weekend). As a result, UAW leaders appear to be trying to placate their members in a futile effort to change Toyota's mind, as Toyota appears solidly against keeping the California plant open or maintaining a relationship with the UAW.

With the UAW constantly agitating to gain entry into Toyota's other U.S. plants which are UAW-free, once President Obama's General Government Motors pulled out of NUMMI, Toyota could finally cut all ties to the UAW.

While it is unfortunate that 4,700 more jobs will be lost by the UAW, the NUMMI jobs are but a drop in a very large bucket of UAW job losses at the Big Three.

More importantly, as the UAW's rust-belt Democrats in Congress prepare to put Toyota on show trial, rather than helping the NUMMI workers in California, the UAW's radioactive rhetoric against Toyota may do more to hurt the thousands of other UAW-free Americans employed by at its other plants in the U.S.

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"I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes." Thomas Paine December 23, 1776

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Cross-posted.

UAW Boss to Members: 'Shut the F*ck Up, You Motherf*ckers...'

On March 31st, NUMMI, the UAW-represented joint venture between Toyota and General Motors, will be closing its doors in California, throwing another 4,700 United Auto Workers out of work.

With 80% of the UAW members upset with their union, this past Sunday, the Union of Ailing Workplaces (aka UAW) held a membership meeting that turned into a shouting match between rank-and-file members and their union leadership. 

At one point, one UAW leader (identified as Javier Contreras) yelled at the crowd, telling them to "...Shut the f*ck up, you motherf*ckers!..."

Things got so bad, that UAW leaders had to call the police to restore order.

Fremont police were called in to help restore calm at a rowdy United Auto Workers meeting on Sunday as union leaders faced heckling from rank-and-filers as the March 31 shutdown of New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. sends tempers rising and morale sinking among more than 4,700 plant workers who expect to lose their jobs.

While union leaders blamed the disruption on company "plants," the company denied the charge.

Longtime Nummi worker and union member Ken Villegas, who was at most of the meeting, said the general tenor of the rank-and-file complaints were that union leaders should go after GM, as well as Toyota, and that they should be working harder at getting a package to assist workers who soon face the loss of hard-to-replace jobs.

WARNING: Strong Language, Not Workplace Safe






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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine December 23, 1776


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UAW to Sell Golf Resort: Taxpayers unlikely see a penny in return

The United Auto Workers, also known as the Union of Ailing Workplaces, is selling its union dues-funded golf resort known as Black Lake.

According to the Detroit News:

The United Auto Workers is hoping to sell its $33 million lakeside retreat in northern Michigan, long a symbol of the union's success but now a financial liability.


The UAW cited the recession and shrinking membership as reasons it is seeking a buyer for the Walter and May Reuther Family Education Center, located on 1,000 heavily forested acres near Onaway. The union bought the property in 1967.

The center, named for the union's iconic leader, was a jewel in which many UAW members took great pride. It is expected to go on the market yet this month.

The property includes the top-notch Black Lake Golf Club and the ashes of Reuther and his wife, who died along with four others when their small plane crashed en route to the property in 1970.


The center recently became a target of critics who grumbled that the UAW shouldn't keep such a luxury while hundreds of thousands of its members have lost their jobs or taken buyouts or early retirement as the domestic auto industry restructured.

The facility lost an estimated $23 million in the past five years and the UAW was forced to borrow to keep it afloat, according to filings with the U.S. Labor Department.

Since taxpayers are on the hook for billions of dollars to bail out the UAW-owned auto makers GM and Chrysler and save UAW jobs, we wonder:  Will the UAW give any of the proceeds back to the American people?

Wishful thinking, we suppose.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.