Too many cameras have been inside assy plants though. Too many people have seen that the heaviest thing not lifted by a machine, is a wiring harness. The real test is, if the union folded tomorrow, how many people would line up to do your job at half teh wage? The truth is, they would never have any trouble restaffing every plant they have at $10-15/h if the union folded.

 

Very well said man, very well said!

Dude you are smoking something... I don't know anyone that is "skilled" that would take a pay cut like that. How can one survive on a $20800.00-$31200.00 gross income... after taxes are taken out that is roughly $12000.00 - $18000.00... Thats practically impossible to live and be profitable on that after you take out housing costs, food, and then transportation cost, on top of health care, and so on. You'd be basically working to survive, not saying that most of us don't, but in a general sense.

 

I am no lap dog for unions. I think that unions have helped drive alot of business out of the US. However, I also know that the UAW has made alot of concessions over the last 20 years and have been doing alot of good in making sure cars are put together right. I think that they may need to make concessions in retirement and health care, though. Those are the costs that are the tipping point for the manufactures. I make alot less than what auto workers do, but I don't begrudge them making what they do. People who are working the line and making a product deserve every penny they make. It is the retirees that are a black hole for the companies. You can't afford to pay these UAW retirees the same amount to not work as you do the guys who are still punching the clock everyday.

 

Corvettes are still made in Mexico, aren't they? The skill required is given to them through training, as it can be given to anyone that they hire. The only reason a highschool education is required is to aid in thinning out the thousands of job applications that they receive. Unless you are an engineer or designer, "skill" is easily replaceable.

I do quite well with that income, thankyou. I have many nice possessions, I live in an apartment that is pricier than I'd like, I own 2 vehicles, I eat quality food etc. At the end of every month I still find that I have cash left in my pocket. The amount of money you can survive on can be closely related to intelligence. If 30% of your expenditures come from interest, sure life is expensive, if you try to live beyond your means, yeah it's hard. But that is all related to intelligence, isn't it?

 

UHH, Corvettes are made here in Kentucky. Bowling Green to be exact. Not too far from the Holley Carb facility.
Ford has 2 plants here in Louisville, Explorer and SuperDuty. Toyota builds the Camry in Georgetown Ky.

Any auto maker failing would be a big blow to the economy here. I lost my last job in August after 18 years due to the crappy automotive market. Our plant shut down.
I am now employed again, but it's 38 miles from home vs 3 miles to the old job.

 

I stand corrected, GM models made in mexico are Escalade ESV and EXT, Avalanche, Suburban, Yukon XL, HHR, Aveo, and Saturn Vue. Chrysler models are PT Cruiser, Journey, Ram 2500 & 3500. Ford Models are Ford F-650, Ford F-750, Ford LCF, etc...

My point was that alot of cars are made in places not known for highly skilled labor, and that a monkey can be trained to do it.

 

This is very true.

 

I've never said the workers themselves are overpaid, but 70-28 shows you there is $42 an hour worth of additional overhead there. Seems to me the current pension system is unsustainable, especially given current market conditions.

 

There is no overhead there. That is the cost of hundreds of thousands of retirees. They put in their time. They honored their part of the contract.

To whoever said they pay the retirees the same as the rest of us. Not Quite. They get paid about 55 percent of the wage that they retired at. So the guy that retired 10 years ago is not anywhere near the guy that retired today. Their rate gets locked in at the time of retirement.

Nofrag, what on earth are you talking about? The few "camera" shots are what the company allows out. We still pick up wheel and tires by hand. Oh yeah and trailer tow hitches that weight about 85-100 pounds each. Thats just a few of the hundreds of real crappy jobs. There are not very many "gravy" jobs anymore. Most of them are long gone. Come down and do my job of securing the box to the frame. Push that cab around to make it fit right. A crew cab ram is real light let me tell you. You have no idea how the real plant life is. So please keep your ignorance about the work we do to yourself. By the way we build a truck every 48 seconds. We build 75 trucks an hour. Mexico builds one every 4 minutes and 18 seconds. Yep they build 14 trucks an hour. WooHoo!!! I wonder which employee they get far more work out of per hour??? And yes there are about the same number of employees at both plants. By the way after next year NO rams will be built in Mexico.

Joe

 

this article is a little old, but if the numbers are anywhere near true, it shows how the big 3 companies are doomed unless they completely change the way they spend money. any business must match cost to income, no matter what the sell - cars are not an exception.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/31/news...vity/index.htm
Ford lost an average of $5,234 on every North American-produced vehicle, according to the Harbour study, while GM lost $1,436 and Chrysler lost $1,072. Meanwhile, Japanese automaker Nissan (Charts) earned a pretax profit of $1,575 for each North American vehicle, while Honda earned $1,368 and Toyota, $1,266.