Strike at Deere plants in the US, more supply chain shortage to come

[kenmac]

I was paying about the same ten years ago for my wife and I, over $26K per year ($2,200 per month, $13 per hour) before being Medicare eligible. I'm not sure people who have health insurance included by their employer take this completely into consideration.

who knows ? Many of these large corporations self insure. Many pay a regular insurance company, (Blue Cross, etc, ) to draw up and over see the plan

As large as Deere is, If they aren't self insured, I'm Pretty sure they can get a better deal than just a two party /family insurance plan

 

[Milo]

who knows ? Many of these large corporations self insure. Many pay a regular insurance company, (Blue Cross, etc, ) to draw up and over see the plan

As large as Deere is, If they aren't self insured, I'm Pretty sure they can get a better deal than just a two party /family insurance plan

Self insured or not, all I'm saying is we workers sometimes don't appreciate what we're being paid. The weekly check we cash may only be $500 but the cost to write that check after paying their share of medical (huge), SS, unemployment, workers comp, retirement, etc., may be over $800.

 

[Torvy]

When I first got involved in the 'financials' of business (1985), the money set aside for fringe benefits (insurance, vacation, etc.) was 35%. My wife is still involved in that aspect of her job and it is over 55%. That's for nonunion workers.

As for CEO and corporate officer compensation, in addition to other good points mentioned, I would venture to guess that most of the compensation is in the form of stock options or other bonuses directly tied to business performance. That means if the market drops across the board, those guys make a lot less money. The key here is that the large numbers are far from guaranteed.... Reminds me of the Dire Straights song, Money for Nothing. Most people have no concept of the effort and pressure of management, much less being the CEO. The bigger the company the worse it gets. (not taking away from small business owners at all here)

It is considerably easier to find a guy who can competently work on the line than a competent manager. Now multiply that by 1000 to find a competent CEO. The CEO may have a parachute, but they are forced to jump out of the 'plane' a lot more readily than a front line worker. Even nonunion workers have basic HR protections against being fired for no reason (yes, even in at-will states like Texas). Firing a union employee is difficult even if there is good cause. Management does not enjoy the same level of protection.

 

[riptides]

I was paying about the same ten years ago for my wife and I, over $26K per year ($2,200 per month, $13 per hour) before being Medicare eligible. I'm not sure people who have health insurance included by their employer take this completely into consideration.

Healthcare costs when employed by someone else are usually brushed aside as an afterthought. At least I never really looked into how much it actually cost my employer. I was only concerned with what came out of my paycheck. Being self employed and having to bare the full cost of insurance, really wakes you up to the overall issue.

 

[rekees4300]

Deere executives said Wednesday that the company wouldn't return to the bargaining table with striking workers because it wouldn't offer a better contract than one they rejected that included immediate 10% raises.

Deere Says Latest Offer Rejected by Striking Workers is Best it Can Do

 

[riptides]

What is the history behind a 10 percent raise desire?

No raises or COLA for x number of years?

Part of me says you cannot bargain on trying to get a 10 percent increase with what has happened to the economy these last two years. That's being out of touch.

 

[Cub 7275]

I don't know anything about those 7 people or what they do or how long they've been there but in the past 5 years Deere leadership created about 75 billion dollars of additional wealth for shareholders, of which anyone with a few hundred bucks in their pocket can join. Even regular peasants like you and me. How much of that wealth occurred because the person installing tires at the factory was super amazing at their job? No offense if that's your job btw, just using it as an example. You can't just assume that any schmuck can run a large multinational corp and get the same results - most don't and many businesses fail because of it sending thousands to the unemployment line. Depending on how you look at it, those 7 employees are an absolute screaming deal.


That's the million dollar question. Eventually there will not be enough jobs for all the humans to have one no matter how smart or educated they are. In some ways we're seeing the beginning of that today. There are only so many rocket scientist and Deere CEO jobs that need to be filled, and a lot of smart, capable people will be left fighting for the few remaining server jobs at Chili's, or no job at all. We'll have to solve that problem before it gets away from us but I don't have much confidence we will. All I do know is that it isn't caused by all those evil rich elites in their fancy EVs making their big fat paychecks, and while putting their heads on a pike would surely make a ton of folks feel all warm and fuzzy inside, it won't actually solve any of our problems.

Whoa, take a breath. Nobody is looking for heads. Clearly top executives jobs are difficult and demanding. While there are a limited number of people who can do them, I don't buy into the idea that it's so few that it justifies such high pay.

Your justifying outlandish executive pay and emphasizing shareholder profit without any consideration given to the humans that do the actual hands on work is just the mindset that will make the future, that both you and I agree is coming, all that much worse.

.....
As for CEO and corporate officer compensation, in addition to other good points mentioned, I would venture to guess that most of the compensation is in the form of stock options or other bonuses directly tied to business performance. That means if the market drops across the board, those guys make a lot less money. The key here is that the large numbers are far from guaranteed....

​

Um, yeah, nah. "CEO pay rises to $12.7M even as pandemic ravages economy"

CEO pay rises to $12.7M even as pandemic ravages economy

NEW YORK (AP) — As COVID-19 ravaged the world last year, CEOs’ big pay packages seemed to be under as much threat as everything else. Fortunately for those CEOs, many had boards of directors willing to see the pandemic as an extraordinary event beyond their control.

apnews.com

To be fair, not all CEO's get outrageously compensated and the issue is more that the average worker is being left behind (and potentially permanently eliminated with the advances in AI). It is simply unsustainable. Henry Ford had it right when he paid higher wages so his employees could afford to buy the cars they were making.

 

[two_bit_score]

Is there a real shortage or is it the result of a new system of central planning by the administration?


We went from a mostly free market economy to almost complete central planning over the course of a year.

From freedom to choose where and how much to work to you could work or not based on decisions made by the central planners. From you could travel where and when to strict control on who could travel and where and when determined by the central planners.

Unless we rid ourselves of the central planners get ready for extreme shortages and high inflation akin to Venezuela. It’s the natural result of the central planners. At least for the masses, never for themselves.

 

[MossRoad]

Here's what they rejected:

The UAW and John Deere drafted this tentative, 6-year contract agreement on Saturday, Oct. 30. Here are the contract details:

• 10% wage increase in the first year
• 5% wage increases on years three and five
• Bonuses on even numbered years
• Healthcare with $0 premiums, $0 deductibles, $0 coinsurance
• New paid parental leave
• Autism care
• Retirement benefits
• Ratification bonus of $8,500

Per here:

Deere spokesperson says rejected contract is 'last, best and final offer' for union workers

While a John Deere representative says the second rejected contract proposal is the last draft, the UAW claims negotiations will continue.

www.wqad.com

 

[PuffyC]

Healthcare costs when employed by someone else are usually brushed aside as an afterthought. At least I never really looked into how much it actually cost my employer.

Many bigger companies are switching to the 'total compensation' model when discussing such things with employees just because of that. So many people have no clue that even for a good (not great) plan it costs on average about $2,000 a month with family benefits. I've seen total compensation for some employees making $100,000 a year top $150,000 or more once you add in bonus and whatnot. Yet when you ask those people how much they make they always say $100,000.

Side rant - kids are the worst. You can offer a college grad $100,000 a year in salary with $150,000 in total compensation and they'll turn it down to work for $105,000 with $130,000 in total compensation. I'd chalk it up to ignorance but even after you explain it most still don't care.