Chrysler blue collar workers in america have been taking cuts in wages ,pensons and health care since 2002 ! If they are to take pay cuts yet again ,that will end up with a 50% wage loss ! Management nor the Canadian chrysler workers have taken anything close if any ! White collar workers are the ones that should be taking the paycuts along with bonus forfietatures ! The government won’t allow that ,thery are just out to bust unions permanently ! Since the birth of unions,they have donated money for family losses and other disasters while the government does nothing ! Somewhere along the line ,someones family or friends have been affected !With out unions,there will be nothing left ! Employers will be able to have workers work as slaves with hardly any benefits for their labor ! They will fire at random > Employers are forced to abide by labor laws ! Corporate greed has destroyed this country ,not the workers,so why should they be the ones to constantlyu give things up ?Fiat is going to end up with Chrysler one way or another. By getting rid of unions ,wages will be brought way down and families will need government assistance to survive ! Is that the way this country should be run? I don’t think so ! An honest day pay for an honest day wage ! That is all the american auto company wants and in return get a decent wage in return ! Stop penalizing the workers !
As our industrial base continues its collapse, Chrysler workers, along with a lot of other workers, are going to take a 100% pay cut. Smart people have been warning us about this outcome for 20 years but we chose not to listen. It’s too late now, the party is over.
It’s too bad that the laws haven’t been written to include capital punishment for the GAMBLERS (aka: big bankers, CEOs, board members and company officers) on Wall Street. Actually, there are laws covering sedition and grave harm to the country—which these people have committed.
I agree that the big players (CEO, CFO etc) should be paying, but unfortunately that is not how things have worked out so far and I doubt it will change. We have a mix of a socialist system and a capitalist system and it is not working. We have to decide which one we want to be and then make it work. If Chrysler fails, then the workers will have to look somewhere else for jobs, all fair in my opinion. Nobody has given me any job security either, but when Chrysler fails the big shots have to pay some financial penalty. I think the way you fix this is not paying them the crazy incomes that they have nowadays. When you divide the income of any big shot CEO to per hour, even if they work 24/7 it comes to a crazy number and I can’t imagine a human beings work be worth that much no matter what they do.
The two biggest problems with our society are apathy and greed.
But I don’t care as long as I get a good sized cut of the pie.
Alot of the blame for what GM and Chrysler are going through does fall on the unions. Paying someone $30/hr to install car seats is just ludicrous. It’s not something that requires a great deal of skill or knowhow. I’m not saying that management didn’t drop the ball. But the Union’s hands are just as dirty.
Wages did not just fall out of the sky ! First of all ,jobs are not done on ones individual speed ! There is one pace and everyone has to be able to keep up ! If a member can’t keep up ,and it happens,they will be fitted to a job that fits them better ! The workers recieve an honest pay for an honest day of work ! The government doesn’t cover our health care like it does elsewhere ! As a blue collar worker ,the union is not to blame for the situation evertyone is in today ! The blame goes to the government ,corrupt bankers ,and greedy executives ! There is not one of them that deserves a $500,000 bonus ,especially in a time of economic disaster ! Yet the government lets them get away with it ,only to take it out on the workers ! All auot workers are losing their pensions they have paid into from day one ,only to lose4 them to state and government workers that only pay for their first 10 years. They only have to work 20 years and they get a full golden pension ! These politicians that blow the stimulus money before the ink dries ,belong behind bars !They can all join Bernie Madoff !
The lead story in Friday’s edition of the Detroit Free Press says Chrysler is paying about $30 million in retention bonuses to keep top executives on the job.
59,000. The number of employees expected to be working for Chrysler at the end of 2009.
That works out to $508 per worker per year. What have they done to earn it except cut workers wages.
Thats a little less than 25 cents per hour, my thought give them 25 cents an hour raise and can the execs bonus.
“Wages did not just fall out of the sky ! First of all ,jobs are not done on ones individual speed ! There is one pace and everyone has to be able to keep up !”
That describes roughly 99% of jobs on the planet
“If a member can’t keep up ,and it happens,they will be fitted to a job that fits them better !”
That’s fortunate, in most other forms of work you would be show the door if you couldn’t hack it.
“The workers recieve an honest pay for an honest day of work !”
Years ago I was paid $10/hr for fixing computers (somewhat technical work that certainly demanded more knowledge than affixing windshield wipers on cars) that the company I worked for charged upwards of $65/hr. for, I had to pay for my own health insurance ($600 per month), and I was damned grateful to have said job.
“The government doesn’t cover our health care like it does elsewhere !”
Unless you work for the government (I’m talking in the U.S. here) or a government related agency, the government does not pay for your healthcare, unless you’re on Medicare.
As a blue collar worker ,the union is not to blame for the situation evertyone is in today !
Well if the union wasn’t so demanding maybe the companies wouldn’t be in the situation that they are in now. Look at it this way, if union leaders agreed to maybe cut wages by let’s say 15% across the board, how much money would that have saved? The pay scale for some of these jobs is asinine in relation to the amount of training and education it takes to perform them.
“The blame goes to the government ,corrupt bankers ,and greedy executives !”
I agree. Management is largely to blame.
“There is not one of them that deserves a $500,000 bonus ,especially in a time of economic disaster ! Yet the government lets them get away with it ,only to take it out on the workers !”
Yet it’s perfectly acceptable for some guy who bolts on fenders to bring home $75k a year. Yet the union lets them get away with it, only to take it out (now) on the taxpayers.
“All auot workers are losing their pensions they have paid into from day one ,only to lose4 them to state and government workers that only pay for their first 10 years. They only have to work 20 years and they get a full golden pension !”
That’s the way it generally works in every other area of employment. It’s a person’s individual duty/prerogative to manage their own personal finance.
I have been an assempler for thirty years. This is not intended to argue over an individuals wages. Assemblers in factories deserve their wages. Only jealous individuals that never had the chance despize the autoworkers ! I was a laborer,blacktopping roads, masonry and other hard outdoor work before I bacame an autoworker !I worked both sides and earned everything I ever made ! As far as workers bringing in 75,000 a year ,I don’t know where you get your info,I only make 55,000 a year ! You must have autoworkers mixed up with prison guard wages ! As far as pensions go ,it shouldn’t be up to the middle class workers to make it easy for those that only contribute to pensions for only 10 years ! You need to do some reading before you answer anyones posts !
Capital punishment for CEO’s eh? I think a guy named Joseph Stalin would agree with you.
Big players should be paying? They are, they are losing their jobs and have become some of the most hated people in America. Just don’t forget that in a capitalist society, there are always “big players” and conversely small players. Too much blame has been placed on evil CEO’s and such. Not nearly enough blame has been placed on the government and their vampire like regulations, fines, fees and taxes. Oh yeah and don’t forget the unions, they are blood suckers as well.
What exactly were your responsibilities whilst working the line? If you were to factor in health insurance and pension to that $55k a year, it’ll come closer to 75k a year than not.
$30 million is nothing, absolutely nothing other than a number the blowhards on cable news can throw around in order to gin up some class envy, get over it.
phft
I make just under $35k a year making clothes dryers, and I’m probably doing as much, if not more, than some people at an auto assembly plant
I don’t find it a class envy as you call it but my thought that the workers deserve the 25cent per hour raise more than the execs deserve 30 mil in bonuses to inspire them to keep their job when their performance report is they are driving a company into near bankruptcy.
“You need to do some reading before you answer anyones posts !”
And you do, too. The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation will pick up the pensions for all workers whose pension plans are terminated. If the UAW runs the pension plan, the PBGC will not pick up your pension because the UAW won’t go out of business, just Chrysler. You will get every penny you would have gotten, up to a maximum of $54,000 for 2009. Here’s the information for auto workers at the PBGC web site:
http://www.pbgc.com/workers-retirees/auto-sector.html
BTW, be sure to thank everyone here for paying your pension. The US government will take the assets of the plan and make up the difference for all those covered by the plan, even if you won’t retire for decades. I left Bethlehem Steel in 1985 and am entitled to $196 pr month when I reach 65. All of my money will be from US taxpayers. Thanks, guys!
Unfortunately, you won’t get any health insurance until you qualify for Medicare at 65. But most retirees don’t get health care insurance anyway.
While some execs are at fault, none of them are driving Chrysler into the ground without help from the government.
Besides, who are you, or anyone outside the company to decide who “deserves” a raise or bonus. The execs run the company. If they want to run it into the ground then let them. The government will certainly do their part, taxing and regulating Chrysler and GM out of business.
I think in a purely capitalist system we can say that Chrysler and GM have failed. That method is not sustainable and there is no arguing over it, we see it as a pure economic fact. It is sad, I feel for the workers and their families, but that doesn’t make the science of it any different.
"While some execs are at fault, none of them are driving Chrysler into the ground without help from the government."
I m not familiar with that conspiracy theory, please explain.