Will UAW Strike?

[5030]

We are a Fords family sort of but not quite. My BIL is a very high ranking exec at Fords and I drive a Ford car and pickup but my wife has a Suburban.

Having said that, I'm not about to buy a new Ford, just way too overpriced, besides a vehicle is a bad investment anyway. I avoid anything that depreciates no exceptions.

Finally (think I've said it before), we only buy off lease vehicles with clear records and other than farm related stuff (which is a tax write off, we don't finance anything.

Like the old saying goes... There is no romance in the finance

 

[Joel/ak]

I've never bought new. Don't plan on it. Would love to but can't afford and not paying the interest .

The 2008 f350 we just got, paid cash for. I'm tapped out but worth it.

If I can't pay cash for it, I don't need it

Bro sent me a pick of the new traverse zr1,thing is nice but for 60K, no thanks

 

[5030]

Looks to me like an expensive date and one that depreciates as well. I'll pass. Candidly, I do prefer GM's over Fords simply because I do 99% of the work myself and Fords, in general are hard to work on, whereas GM's aren't. I can literally sit on the Suburban's fender and dangle my feet in the engine bay. On a Ford, you cannot even see the ground under the engine bay.

 

[Joel/ak]

I doubt it's a new suburban you can dangle your legs in. I don't work on chevies too much anymore but if it's newer, your exaggerating. Nothing in the last couple decades you can do that with

 

[Torvy]

Got a Traverse as a rental once. I'll pass.

 

[ultrarunner]

Will there be a mandatory back to work order?

EV production will decimate the ranks of the UAW, and the administration is pushing it hard. This is a very interesting position for both sides to find themselves in. I seriously don’t see EV sales popping due to issues with ICE production. The economy is slowing, the big 3 have plenty of stock, this is great timing for management, and not so much for the workers being crushed by Bidenomics.

 

[Torvy]

I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to force the oems to accept Fains deal. Laws don't really matter.

 

[Joel/ak]

Eventually the big 3 are gonna get rid of the unions. Other big companies have done it. It will be a court battle but it's business

 

[Torvy]

Some of the case law involved would have valid reasons to be overturned. Happened during FDR and his unlawful/unethical effort to pack the court. Justices were pressured to support the Parish decision which was a key cog in this mess (although it directly dealt with minimum wage).

 

[JasperFrank]

"That's not good for our kids or national security in my view."
Oh My!

 

[Hay Dude]

Do you agree however they are man-made and not natural calamities?

CC is naturally occurring cycles that have gone on for millions of years. As are volcanoes, earthquakes, many forest fires, and the like.

Blowing up the Nordstream pipeline is a man made environmental catastrophe nobody talks about.
Wonder why nobody talks about this sabotage that caused the largest release of methane gasses into the atmosphere in the history of the world? That definitely harmed the atmosphere.

Is the guy that did it being protected? Why?

 

[milkman636]

Based on my experience your story does not make sense.

My experience at IH each job was bid on and you won the bid based on your union tenure.

Maybe GM uses some other means to assign jobs, but I rather doubt it

I have no first hand knowledge how it works there , but it sounds as though supervision may have gained some latitude in assigning jobs based on “operational needs” since the whole 2020 short-staffing experience happened. My friend is also a devout Christian guy, and the supervisor is not a fan of Jesus at all, but knew enough Bible to take some advantage of my friend.

The end of the story is what was i thought related to this thread. Instead of just separating these guys with reassignments, they sweetened the pot so my friend would agree to stay home and get paid probably 10 more years of pension than he would have had if given a little more time for rehab.

His elbow is doing great after a summer off. And instead of paying just him, GM is now paying both him and a replacement that will probably end up at the same wage tier. Some of you will view this as his union pension plan costing you money on new truck. Some may say I’m full of ****. And i see this an example of a supervisor that literally just cost GM hundreds of thousands of dollars over the next ten years because his own personal issues.

I’ve seen enough of corporate and government entities to know there’s plenty of bloat and waste at levels above the hourly people. If the top is truly leading by example and caring about doing things right it will translate all the way down to the bottom. That’s the general way I’ve seen things work in homes, sports, business, etc…..

No matter how we feel about it, these people and companies are coming out of an era where both sides thought the labor and pension costs were acceptable and manageable. These patterns were set and bargains were made. Right now the union is saying one side of the bargain is taking the hit when things get tight, and the other side of the table is reaping the rewards when money is flowing freely. And what they are saying is probably true.

History will tell us if these these companies will ever be able to pivot back into making vehicles more affordable for the masses again, and whether or not they can simplify and scale back on more things than just labor cost to make that happen. Right now it appears they are more committed to chasing pie in the sky mandates and high per vehicle margins than future volume and market share.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I have no first hand knowledge how it works there , but it sounds as though supervision may have gained some latitude in assigning jobs based on “operational needs” since the whole 2020 short-staffing experience happened. My friend is also a devout Christian guy, and the supervisor is not a fan of Jesus at all, but knew enough Bible to take some advantage of my friend.

The end of the story is what was i thought related to this thread. Instead of just separating these guys with reassignments, they sweetened the pot so my friend would agree to stay home and get paid probably 10 more years of pension than he would have had if given a little more time for rehab.

His elbow is doing great after a summer off. And instead of paying just him, GM is now paying both him and a replacement that will probably end up at the same wage tier. Some of you will view this as his union pension plan costing you money on new truck. Some may say I’m full of ****. And i see this an example of a supervisor that literally just cost GM hundreds of thousands of dollars over the next ten years because his own personal issues.

I’ve seen enough of corporate and government entities to know there’s plenty of bloat and waste at levels above the hourly people. If the top is truly leading by example and caring about doing things right it will translate all the way down to the bottom. That’s the general way I’ve seen things work in homes, sports, business, etc…..

No matter how we feel about it, these people and companies are coming out of an era where both sides thought the labor and pension costs were acceptable and manageable. These patterns were set and bargains were made. Right now the union is saying one side of the bargain is taking the hit when things get tight, and the other side of the table is reaping the rewards when money is flowing freely. And what they are saying is probably true.

History will tell us if these these companies will ever be able to pivot back into making vehicles more affordable for the masses again, and whether or not they can simplify and scale back on more things than just labor cost to make that happen. Right now it appears they are more committed to chasing pie in the sky mandates and high per vehicle margins than future volume and market share.

This strike will produce a ton of teaching materials. It is no accident Toyota has announced recently they're moving to Giga casting and robots so they can complete with Tesla in factory operating costs after recently tearing down a new Tesla Model Y.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Action and activities state by state.

Across US, reaction to Fain's strike call is swift and strong

UAW President Shawn Fain lambasted GM and Stellantis for failing to meet key union demands, and called on workers at 38 GM and Stellantis plants in 20 states to strike. Here are some updates from affected states.

www.freep.com

 

[Hay Dude]

I guess we can all bend over and get ready to pay 10-20% more for cars & trucks so UAW’s can make 150K per year with a benefits package that would make a gubmit employee jealous?

 

[hiddentacocatneddih]

People keep buying over priced junk, they will keep making it


We are past the days of peak cars and trucks. Peak truck drive traine was the p7100 5.9 cummins.

For trucks, the leaf spring air bag combo is ideal for the rear

Most the changes are infotainment crap and unneeded complication

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I guess we can all bend over and get ready to pay 10-20% more for cars & trucks so UAW’s can make 150K per year with a benefits package that would make a gubmit employee jealous?

That was already the case if you are ICE minded even if there had been no strike.

Assume one is going to get into the business of baling hay with all new equipment. Would the fixed equipment cost be twice more to bale 20,000 bales annually than say 10,000 bales annually?

For Tesla to go from 1,000,000 units to 2,000,000 units annually reduces their unit cost by 15% on average. When they go from their current 2,000,000 annual build rate to 4,000,000 annual build rate their per unit cost declines another 15%. At 8,000,000 run rate there's anything 15% per unit cost reduction.

Elon Musk is not lowering his prices to hurt Ford's EV sales but to reach his in print annual run rate goal of 20,000,000 vehicles by the end of 2030.

Most every new EV sale kills a new ICE sale which will drive up the future ICE vehicles cost.

A long strike will lock the doors of a number of second and third tier parts suppliers we read forever driving up the cost of ICE vehicles even.

You can expect new ICE vehicles prices to increase by another 20-40% by 2030 regardless what the UAW does.

 

[Torvy]

I think you are missing how supply and demand work.

If Ford, for example, is still producing the same number of ICE vehicles and more people choose EV, the Demand for ICE goes down while Supply remains the same. Prices for ICE vehicles and gas, for that matter, will come down. (Of course, that assumes production remains constant).

If, on the other hand, Ford reduces ICE production in favor of EV production, the prices would go up on ICE as supply would decrease.

The Economics is more complicated than that, but I had to keep it simple for you material scientist types to understand.

 

[tacticalturnip]

It would be pretty neat if we had a free market.

 

[lilranch2001]

We haven’t had a free market since the café standards went into affect