UAW ready to strike

[Stinkbug]

Early in life I was a UAW member at McDonell Douglas Aircraft. I was a motivated person with a strong work ethic. Unfortunately, many of the people I worked with did not share that motivation and were focused on just doing enough not to get fired. I have no problem with people that only want to do what they are paid to do. When they crossed the line, the union was there to rescue them. Usually it was the same handful of guys that were staunch union supporters with the UAW local T-shirts that pushed it a bit too far.

One day it dawned on me that no matter how hard I worked or how good I became at my job, I would never be financially rewarded for it beyond my union negotiated raise. The same raise as the guy doing bare minimum work. That was soul sapping, I left the union and never looked back.

When it comes to union contract negotiations, I don’t have a skin in the game and wish the guy hoping for a raise all the best. He is just trying to do the best he can financially with the skills he has. Just like all the rest of us.

 

[HDRider]

Strike, bankrupt, bailout

Rinse and repeat

 

[HDRider]

 

[JEEPCJTJ]

View attachment 457969

Does their requested 46% pay raise apply to hourly pay?
Or do they want 46% more take home pay while working less hours?

I bet the first answer is NO because the second answer is HELL YEAH!!!

I'm not sure what they want the "Restoration of Traditional Pensions".

I don't see that helping the high seniority workers unless they're also demanding that it "restarts" where they think it should have gotten to had it never been interrupted.

And it ain't going to help any of the workers with less seniority if you look at how many "pensioners" have been screwed over the years.

Oops I forgot about government retirement pensions. Just ignore those, they never get screwed.

 

[CreepinDeth]

Costs have gone down with exportation of work
Prices have not gone down, but still way up

 

[Chris]

I've said this to many people I work with (and none seem to agree, likely because they live beyond their means) - I would trade most of (if not all of some years) our wage increases for more time off. I am in my 20's but have realized time spent with family, friends, and traveling bring me far more joy than extra money.

To your point, I am about at the crossroads of having to work more/make more money if I want to move up (which truthfully is not entirely necessary) or hold stagnant in my current position and try to be content.

That's a wise conclusion you've come to. One that most people wouldn't have realized until they were much older.

Congratulations, you're not a stage one thinker.

I agree with you 100% too. I'd much rather have more time off and be paid less than have to work my life away and never see my family.

 

[Apparition]

Does their requested 46% pay raise apply to hourly pay?
Or do they want 46% more take home pay while working less hours?

I bet the first answer is NO because the second answer is HELL YEAH!!!

I'm not sure what they want the "Restoration of Traditional Pensions".

I don't see that helping the high seniority workers unless they're also demanding that it "restarts" where they think it should have gotten to had it never been interrupted.

And it ain't going to help any of the workers with less seniority if you look at how many "pensioners" have been screwed over the years.

Oops I forgot about government retirement pensions. Just ignore those, they never get screwed.

"The first 20% increase would be effective once the new contract is signed by Detroit car manufacturers, with additional 5% raises implemented annually until 2027. The top-earning union members would eventually make $47.14 an hour, nearly $15 more than the current maximum hourly rate of $32.32. UAW president Shawn Fain, who has promised to aggressively pursue the organization’s interests in the face of “corporate greed,” revealed the wage demands in an overview of the union’s proposed contract released Tuesday. Fain took to Facebook the same day to explain his reasoning. “Big Three CEOs saw their pay spike 40% on average over the last four years…We know our members are worth the same and more,” he commented. As evidence, Fain pointed to Mary Barra, General Motors CEO, whose total pay for 2022 amounted to $29 million, up 34% from the year before. A majority of Barra’s earnings came from benefits, as her $2.1 million salary remained unadjusted throughout the period."

https://www.cbtnews.com/uaw-to-demand-46-pay-increase-from-big-three-car-manufacturers/

 

[CreepinDeth]

Yep, all the $$$ from all that exportation of work and jobs has remained at the top.

I think its fair to say you have all seen the effects of the Plandemic fukkery on car prices too, with the hyper inflated market and costs skyrocketed on everything

 

[P man]

View attachment 457974

The first 2 demands almost seem like a joke don't they? I have no opinion or knowledge about the pension argument

 

[MaximusLJR06]

I currently have 2 weeks vacation, one week of personal time (vacation that you can take whenever you want, I could leave work now). I get a 3rd week of vacation in 2025.

My wife has about the same as I do. It is a serious consideration in staying at both of our jobs. We want to be able to take a 2-3 week trip out west every year plus have other days off for normal stuff. It really isn't attainable now (2 weeks is but it's still a little tight - we want to drive out and 2 weeks isn't enough). I even could (and would) be willing to keep up with my current work in the middle of the trip on my laptop to make it less burdensome on the company.

There is a real shift in mentality of workers. I am one of the "future leaders" here and it is still perplexing to me that they won't discuss what the younger generation is looking for.

I use 1 week of vacation for a summer trip with my wife every year and then about 1.5 weeks goes to hunting season and that leaves me with 2-3 days for random stuff throughout the year. I usually end up taking off the week between xmas and new years without pay, simple because I'd rather be off and with family to relax than at work.

Back in May I had found another job and one of the reasons I didn't take it was because it only had 2 weeks of vacation and wouldn't get 3 until 10 years. Other reason I didn't take it was because my current employer offered me a position at of there sister companies that fits me better and I don't lose my seniority.

My wife and I want to do a 3-4 week roadtrip out west, but I'm not sure when we will be able to do that yet. 2 weeks is definitely a little tight to do it. this trip has been on our radar for the last couple of years.

Edit: Our generation and younger has definitely realized that life isn't all about money. Doesn't me people don't work hard and do their job. For me it's simple as you pay me for a set amount of hours, that's all you're getting. I have a company phone that once I get home, it doesn't get looked at until the following day or after the weekend is over. I see so many people that are pretty much slaves to their employers.

 

[Shank]

I use 1 week of vacation for a summer trip with my wife every year and then about 1.5 weeks goes to hunting season and that leaves me with 2-3 days for random stuff throughout the year. I usually end up taking off the week between xmas and new years without pay, simple because I'd rather be off and with family to relax than at work.

Back in May I had found another job and one of the reasons I didn't take it was because it only had 2 weeks of vacation and wouldn't get 3 until 10 years. Other reason I didn't take it was because my current employer offered me a position at of there sister companies that fits me better and I don't lose my seniority.

My wife and I want to do a 3-4 week roadtrip out west, but I'm not sure when we will be able to do that yet. 2 weeks is definitely a little tight to do it. this trip has been on our radar for the last couple of years.

I get that completely. I wish we had the option for unpaid time off, although our company is fairly decent about giving extended holiday time off.

We have been doing trips out west by flying to Denver and renting cars. I'd much rather drive, but this accelerates the timeline quite a bit.

 

[Apparition]

I've said this to many people I work with (and none seem to agree, likely because they live beyond their means) - I would trade most of (if not all of some years) our wage increases for more time off. I am in my 20's but have realized time spent with family, friends, and traveling bring me far more joy than extra money.

To your point, I am about at the crossroads of having to work more/make more money if I want to move up (which truthfully is not entirely necessary) or hold stagnant in my current position and try to be content.

Interesting you mention this because what we've seen is that it's hard to hire a reliable employee much younger than about 35. I'm yet to have a new hire ask to start with more vacation. It was a demand of mine when I started my current role.

The younger guys aren't efficient workers, they have all kinds of excuses why they aren't in on time and seemingly it's never that they were up all night gaming with their buddies the night before.

I've had ultimatums about only willing to work from home from existing employees. I've had food poisoning, migraines, risk of hail damage to cars if they came in, unwilling to travel the couple days a year I need etc. Only one of them had an established family with children.

I don't see those issues with the older hires.

It's hard to pay someone a six figure salary when they aren't reliable.

 

[Mike_H]

The whole thing pisses me off. Fain is being an ignorant asshole when he says a strike won't "hurt" the workers. The UAW may have a slush fund to pay striking workers from, but they sure as hell don't give me a check when I have to layoff people due to their strike affecting the plants I supply tooling for. I guess the term "American worker" only applies to the union. Now, he has the audacity to not even show up to the negotiation table. He wants to strike and be combative, just to prove he's "more aggressive" than the outgoing guy (Curry?)

 

[MaximusLJR06]

I get that completely. I wish we had the option for unpaid time off, although our company is fairly decent about giving extended holiday time off.

We have been doing trips out west by flying to Denver and renting cars. I'd much rather drive, but this accelerates the timeline quite a bit.

Yeah we flew out to Denver in 2018 and explored some but now we have our german shepherd and we want to bring him along with us. He travels on all of our vacations since we got him.

 

[Mike_H]

Interesting you mention this because what we've seen is that it's hard to hire a reliable employee much younger than about 35. I'm yet to have a new hire ask to start with more vacation. It was a demand of mine when I started my current role.

The younger guys aren't efficient workers, they have all kinds of excuses why they aren't in on time and seemingly it's never that they were up all night gaming with their buddies the night before.

I've had ultimatums about only willing to work from home from existing employees. I've had food poisoning, migraines, risk of hail damage to cars if they came in, unwilling to travel the couple days a year I need etc. Only one of them had an established family with children.

I don't see those issues with the older hires.

It's hard to pay someone a six figure salary when they aren't reliable.

I see this as well. No one really wants to negotiate anymore, just complain that the red carpet isn't rolled out for them every day. The number of no shows we have for interviews is incredible. We're at about 60% no-show...as in if I set up 10 interviews, I can count on 6 of them not even bothering to show up. Then when we DO offer someone, about 50% of those people don't show up for day one. But all I hear is that health care is too expensive, we don't pay enough, and the culture sucks. Holy jumpin horseshit...You might understand the culture a bit, if you'd actually make it through the front door!

 

[MaximusLJR06]

Interesting you mention this because what we've seen is that it's hard to hire a reliable employee much younger than about 35. I'm yet to have a new hire ask to start with more vacation. It was a demand of mine when I started my current role.

The younger guys aren't efficient workers, they have all kinds of excuses why they aren't in on time and seemingly it's never that they were up all night gaming with their buddies the night before.

I would agree with this, I'm 34 and am an estimator in the construction field and its only getting worse finding people to work. Finding estimators is even harder.

I'll be honest the last couple times I interviewed / job hunted, vacation was brought up and it wasn't even a talking point. Employers wouldn't budge on it.

 

[Apparition]

I see this as well. No one really wants to negotiate anymore, just complain that the red carpet isn't rolled out for them every day. The number of no shows we have for interviews is incredible. We're at about 60% no-show...as in if I set up 10 interviews, I can count on 6 of them not even bothering to show up. Then when we DO offer someone, about 50% of those people don't show up for day one. But all I hear is that health care is too expensive, we don't pay enough, and the culture sucks. Holy jumpin horseshit...You might understand the culture a bit, if you'd actually make it through the front door!

Exactly. Had a guy ask to change his interview because he had forgot he needed to babysit his sisters dog.

Hired a guy that missed his first week and only worked 5 of 21 days before I fired him. I saw huge potential but that quickly diminished.

 

[Apparition]

I'll be honest the last couple times I interviewed / job hunted, vacation was brought up and it wasn't even a talking point. Employers wouldn't budge on it.

First step is to ask. I'm not saying I'd budge either. I'm a very lenient boss when people are getting things done. Probably too lenient.

Had a guy that never hit his deadlines, that he set for himself. I watch him through linked in and it's clear he will never have a job for more than a year or two.

 

[Mike_H]

I would agree with this, I'm 34 and am an estimator in the construction field and its only getting worse finding people to work. Finding estimators is even harder.

I'll be honest the last couple times I interviewed / job hunted, vacation was brought up and it wasn't even a talking point. Employers wouldn't budge on it.

First step is to ask. I'm not saying I'd budge either. I'm a very lenient boss when people are getting things done. Probably too lenient.

Had a guy that never hit his deadlines, that he set for himself. I watch him through linked in and it's clear he will never have a job for more than a year or two.

It seems that people don't expect a negotiation anymore, while I ALWAYS expect a negotiation, especially for white collar type work. I guess that is because I've never taken a job where I didn't ask for more than the offer. Now that I'm on the "other side" I will offer a fair wage and our Baseline vacation policy, and generally will give up to an extra week of vaca, or more, if the person coming in has been working for a while and is used to having that much (we max at 4 weeks off, with a 5th paid in salary). We start at two weeks (one week unscheduled, and one week scheduled). But, you gotta ask for it. If I don't know you had 4 weeks at your last job, or you expected something different, you can't blame me for that.

 

[sam53]

And people wonder why companies take manufacturing jobs out of the states. This guy is a complete idiot and an asshole to top it off. I hope that the big three lock the plants up and dont even talk with this fool. 32 hours a week. dont heat, cool and light these places for free. LOCK THEM DOWN