Why you might ask, well, I think the Detroit News kind of figured that one out:
Since American Axle was spun off from General Motors and reconstituted in 1994, the union negotiates with American Axle, not GM, and does not get the sweetheart deal other UAW workers will get. In fact, Local 235 went on strike for three months last year and lost. It was a cold, bitter dispute, complete with fires in the oil drums. The unionized workers, numbering nearly 2,000 at the time, gave in to deep wage cuts, in some cases from $28 an hour to $14, in exchange for keeping their jobs. Apparently it was not enough. Fewer than 300 union members were working in the plant Monday.
In the meantime, Dick Dauch, the CEO and chairman of American Axle, was given an $8.5 million bonus by his board of directors after the strike and gave assurances to the workers and the city of Hamtramck that he would keep production here.
I followed one of my favorite workers Jerd0708, and cross referenced worker pay and executive pay, an issue that resinates with workers from Wal-Mart to the American Red Cross to the guys and gals on the docks. It's the Entitlement Mentality of the highest levels of executives that seals the fate of so many of us who simply want to work. Folks who just want to put in an honest day of work for an honest day of pay.
More than ever, I believe in the power of unions, but we need stronger labor laws to make it possible for union workers to rebuild the middle class. We need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act to make it possible for more workers to sign a union card and join a union. Together maybe we can start holding boards of directors, CEOs and other executives accountable for their actions when they give an $8.5 million bonus to Dick E Dauch (I said BONUS here) just for the hell of it.
One other thing: We as a nation need to do a better job of ensuring that companies can't just flee one jurisdiction to go to another because somewhere, down the road, doing so might be cheaper (think of what American Axle is doing in moving jobs to Mexico or Kongsberg Automotive moving production into Poland) in terms of labor costs and environmental costs. Again, from the Detroit News:
Chris Son, the director of communications at American Axle, called late Wednesday to say that the layoffs are "fallout from the GM and Chrysler shutdowns." He also confirmed that the Mexicans will continue to work as the Americans are out on the street.
"For logistical reasons, a level of production will continue in Mexico," said Son. "At the same time, there will be lower production requirements in Detroit. Other than that, I have no further comment on that matter."
Logistical reasons, right. Chris and Dick, if American workers can't buy cars produced with your parts, what's the point in moving to Brazil, Poland or continuing operations in Mexico? If we can't buy these cars, who will? Oh wait, I know the answer, guys like you, right?
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The UAW worker speaking is from American Axle and the staffers at the table have never heard of American Axle. NEVER HEARD OF IT. Why is that important? An 11 week strike this past winter.
How can we expect the Republican Senators to be able to pull their heads out of their asses if their staffers can't even keep up on an 11 week strike that SHUT DOWN GM plants all over the country, in Mexico and also hit Canadian autoworkers? Are these rely the people who should be making policy about how and if money should be loaned to manufacturing in this country?
Idiots and asshats. Because of them, there's no money out there in the form of a LOAN for the auto industry!!
written by bendygirl
at Thursday, October 02, 2008
Boeing executives say a prolonged strike could wound the company, which is behind schedule on the fuel-saving Dreamliner 787 and has seen high demand ramp up production by 50 percent this year.
I’m all shits and giggles for Boeing. I know in my heart that they think about their workforce the same as the likes of Kongsberg Automotive and American Axle, not a squat.
The virally anti-union JetBlue’s CEO took a 50% pay cut from August to the end of the year and Airtran’s Bob Fornaro opted for a 15% pay cut. Clearly, these are nothing in comparison to the massive pay cuts taken at Continental by CEO Lawrence Kellner and President Jeff Smisek.
With the recent talk of a bailout of Wall Street and the massive salaries for CEO’s, actions like that of Kellner and Smisek are even more out of the ordinary, they are down right singular. That’s one of the reasons I wonder about the current actions of Boeing and their desire to only compensate workers when what they want is to help make Boeing a better company, more profitable and producing a better product. Boeing has a work force dedicated to the success of Boeing.
The union is using the strike to attack the company's relentless outsourcing. In the 2002 contract Boeing won the ability to use non-union suppliers for more parts. The union wants a six-month window where it could bid on work before it is outsourced.
If the Machinists can come up with a proposal and show that we can do it cheaper, better, that quality work is there, we should be able to keep that work in-house," said Local 751A steward Steve Parsley.
Boeing hasn't shown much interest in letting the union make its case. The company complained the union was trying to tell it how to run the business, and instead touted its proposed 11 percent wage boost over three years. Boeing negotiator Doug Kight reportedly called his proposal "the best contract offer in America this year."
Wage increases are great, especially for the worker coming in making $11 an hour, however, it means nothing if you have to pay higher prices for prescriptions and insurance and oh yeah, this one:
Boeing's proposal, however, would… take away the family's right to a pension if a worker dies.
With Boeing hovering at 5 to 7% labor costs per plane produced and…
Aircraft maker Boeing has been groaning under a $275 million backlog of orders for new airplanes that waste less fuel. The company booked a $4.1 billion profit last year, and its principal union, the Machinists (IAM), says Boeing's profits have soared by 828 percent in recent years.
When your workers make you profitable, why is it they can’t share in the success? When things are bad, they take concessions to keep the company afloat, but when things improve and they have made it possible for the company to bring in $4.1 BILLION in profits in 1 year, then then contract that’s offered, the one that’s put forward should take into consideration the sacrifices made to bring the company to this position. I know American Axle and Kongsberg Automotive don’t understand this concept, but if Continental’s CEO and President can get it and sacrifice themselves, then why can’t Boeing figure this out?
Boeing, let me break it down for you:
When you invest in your people, they’ll invest in you. When you’re good to your people, they’re good to you. When YOU sacrifice for your people, they’ll sacrifice for you. But when you screw them with reduced benefits and offer nominal pay increases in the face of massive profits and current substantial backorders, well, don’t expect anything less than a strike, it’s really the only option left on the table for your workers.
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Reuters is reporting that the New York Times has interviewed numerous executives who told Freddie Mac’s CEO to dial back on the risky loans and increase their capital cushion, but Syron knew better and was simply too afraid to say no to anyone.
When I was an underwriter, loans often went through Loan Prospector (LP). This is the proprietary system created by Freddie Mac, Desk Top Underwriter (DU) was the one created by Fannie Mae for their loans.
Over the years, I watched as loans that I reviewed had increasingly bad credit, no assets or a combination of factors and they were getting through LP. In the early days of LP, it processed the easy loans, the A1 credit the loans with high credit scores (above 660) or ones that had lot of cash left over. But LP is really only as good as the user inputting the data and too often, mortgage brokers would send it through time and time again until they got an accept and once they did, whatever requirements they needed they made sure the paper work would be in the file.
For instance, if a borrower had 10 open credit accounts and borrowing money from their 401k meant that they could pay off 2 or 3 of those credit card debts, they might get through LP because those paid in full accounts meant that LP might issue an accept.
I thought of these tactics as gaming the system. In the early days, I didn’t see this sort of thing very often. But by around 2002, I was seeing it on nearly all the loans that were pulled for quality review due to an early default (loan that went into foreclosure the 1st year of the loan).
In an interview with the paper, Freddie Mac's former chief risk officer, David Andrukonis, recalled telling Syron in mid-2004 that the company was buying bad loans that would likely pose an enormous financial and reputational risk to the company and the country.
Syron received a memo stating that the firm's underwriting standards were becoming shoddier and that the company was becoming exposed to losses, the paper said, citing Andrukonis and two others familiar with the document.
But Syron refused to consider possibilities for reducing Freddie Mac's risks, the paper cited Andrukonis as saying.
Having been associated with the industry and witnessed these loans myself (I never worked for Freddie or Fannie nor did I work for a mortgage company in anyway), it makes me wonder what was really going through Syron’s mind in 2004. That’s when Reuter’s sealed the deal for me with this little ditty:
Those and other choices initially paid off for Syron, who has collected more than $38 million in compensation since 2003, the NY Times said.
Okay, the Greedy Ass part is mine, but it fits, I think.
I was noticing that I'd gottena couple of hits off alternet and didn't know why...so I looked, and wouldn't you know it, they've linked to a post I had up on that piece of shit Dauch. Highly recommend you head over and read it yourself, but as a teaser:
Smart societies understand this dynamic and work, through tax laws and cultural norms, to keep rewards within reason. Here in the United States, we used to have many such laws and norms. We no longer do. We have swept away the restraints that once kept our society's rewards relatively reasonable.
And now we're paying the price. Our smart and talented today regularly do dumb things -- and cause great damage.
Our latest exhibit A: the career of Richard E. Dauch, Corporate America's latest superstar executive turned scourge of the late great American middle class.
Dauch currently serves as the CEO of American Axle and Manufacturing, an auto parts giant carved out of General Motors 14 years ago. Late this past May, after threatening to outsource "all of our business to other locations around the world," Dauch forced 3,600 striking workers at his company's five original American plants to accept a contract that cuts wages from $28 an hour down to as low as $14.35 and slices the company's U.S. workforce by half.
One month later, in June, Dauch pocketed his reward: a $8.5 million bonus from the American Axle board of directors for his "leadership role" in "the structural transformation achieved under our new labor agreements."
Dauch has now collected, over the last decade, over $258 million in compensation from American Axle -- and, in the process, tossed thousands of U.S. worker families out of the middle class.
Auto workers, ironically, once symbolized that middle class, and for good reason. Precedent-setting union contracts at GM and other U.S. automakers after World War II helped give birth to the first mass middle class in world history.
And the executives who signed those contracts? They did well, too, but not too well. In 1950, for instance, General Motors president Charlie Wilson pulled in $586,100 in income, a bit over $5 million in current dollars. Today, someone at that $5 million level will usually clear, after taxes, around $4 million. Wilson cleared the equivalent of only $1.25 million. He paid nearly three-quarters of his income in taxes.
They've linked to my posting on Dick E Dauch's entitlement mentality. Right now, I'd rather the strike had been more successful for the AAM workers. I'd much rather that than a link on alternet.
All in all, there's little more to say about Dick E Dauch except he's a greedy bastard. Yep, that about sums it up.
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Continental cuts workforce and more due to fuel costs
DALLAS -- Continental Airlines said Thursday it is cutting 3,000 jobs and reducing capacity by 11 percent, citing record fuel costs that have pushed the industry into its worst crisis since 2001. It also said its two top executives will forgo pay for the rest of the year.
The job cuts represent about 6.5 percent of the company's work force of 45,000.
However, Continental seems to have a conscience:
The company also said Chairman and Chief Executive Lawrence Kellner and President Jeff Smisek will not take salaries or incentive pay for the rest of the year.
Did you catch that, from September until the end of the year, Kellner and Smisek will forego pay. And how much is that exactly? The Post claims:
Last year, Kellner got a salary of $712,500 and total compensation that the company valued at nearly $6 million, down 9.3 percent from the year before, according to an Associated Press analysis of a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
However, about one-third of Kellner's compensation was in stock and option grants that are now worth far less than they were when granted in February 2007 because of the slump in the company's stock. In a filing Wednesday, the company said 2008 salaries would be $296,875 for Kellner and $240,000 for Smisek.
So this salary issue made me start thinking about Dick E Dauch at American Axle and his entitlement mentality. Not long back, over at Freep (Detroit Free Press), there were all these anti-union folks pointing out that Dauch’s more than $10 mill was fair compensation for him starting the company and making it profitable. That even if they weren’t profitable (they were last year at over $37 mill profits), he still deserved a high salary of over $1mill. I wonder how many of these same people are cheering Kellner’s and Smisek’s decisions to forego pay during the current fuel crisis.
But before anyone gets their panties in to a bunch and quotes me anything about how Americans get paid too much and CEO’s earn their keep or that labor is a commodity and blather on about the market, let me point out this gem from the Post:
The company said that several fare increases have not been enough to offset the rising cost of fuel. Continental estimates it will spend $2.3 billion more this year than last _ a difference of $50,000 per employee. Fuel has surpassed labor as Continental's biggest expense.
My dad’s shop is having a similar problem. The cost of running the presses and hammers is high and he’s trying to get the company to add a fuel surcharge to orders but he hasn’t been successful at this yet. Since my dad gets a profit sharing incentive through work as his bonus, it’s important to him that the company make money and he’s sitting back and watching as his 1 to 2% bonus becomes fuel for running a hammer for a couple of days. Kind of sucks, doesn’t it?
I’m hopeful that Continental will be able to work things out without layoffs, perhaps through buyouts or retirement or attrition, because I really don’t want to see anyone have to figure out how to make it in this economy without a job and no prospect for new employment.
BTW, my dad’s shop is hiring. They’d rather hire seasoned journeymen level press operators, tool and die makers and machinists. So, if you’d like to move to Ohio, East of Cleveland, drop me a line and I’ll send your info to my dad. Ohio’s a great place to grow up, I just wish I were able to suggest something for the Continental employees.
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Obama made his first public comments about the American Axle strike last Thursday in Macomb and then, suddenly, there’s an agreement. I highly recommend seeing the video and listening to what he says about American Manufacturing jobs:
Let's take a look at the “agreement” Mlive has the skinny:
DETAILS OF THE DEAL
Details of the tentative agreement between the United Auto Workers and American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc.:
WAGES: Varies by factory location. Production workers in Detroit would see pay cuts from $28 per hour to $18.50, up from $17 the company was offering. Factory support workers would make $14.35 in Detroit and $10 per hour in Three Rivers.
BUYOUTS: Workers with less than 10 years of seniority could get $85,000 to leave the company. Those with 10 or more years could get $140,000.
PLANT CLOSINGS: Company will close forges in Detroit and Tonawanda, N.Y. No date was revealed for the closures.
EARLY RETIREMENT: Workers who are 60 or above with 10 or more years of service could get $55,000 to retire.
BUYDOWNS: Workers would get three annual payments to make the transition to lower wages. The maximum amount would total $105,000.
BONUS: Workers would get a $5,000 signing bonus.
THE VOTE: Starts Monday at some UAW locals. A large local in Detroit votes Thursday.
The “deal” is pretty darn disappointing especially in light of American Axle’s profitability, rare in the GM spin-off companies. So, let’s take a look at the striker’s reactions from the AP to step up their coverage of the American Axle strike:
After the meeting, Adrian King, outgoing president of UAW Local 235 in Detroit, said the session didn't go well. Workers were angry about the deal, and their frustration was compounded by a malfunctioning public address system that hampered questions from the crowd. "We had a lot of angry brothers and sisters," he said. "It's definitely a hard-looking contract, very tough pill to swallow for the membership."
>snip<
Most workers leaving the meeting Sunday predicted the vote will be close. One worker tossed pages of the summary into the air as he walked out.
"There will be a lot of unhappy people," Reed said as he carried a picket sign outside the school. "But I think it's going to be accepted."
Today, American Axle workers are voting on this “deal”. From Mlive for some, it’s good news like:
Jeff Claussen, 58, of Three Rivers, said he is prepared to take a buyout and will retire after 28 years at the Three Rivers plant. His 59-year-old wife, Ruth, retired last year.
"If you prepared for retirement, and we have for the past 20 years, then I guess you're all set," Claussen said.
I'm voting no. It's totally unacceptable," said Gary Reed, 52, of Warren, who criticized American Axle Chairman and CEO Richard Dauch for making millions while asking production workers to take a pay cut from $28 per hour to $18.50.
"It's a slap in our face," Reed said. "We've been watching this guy making millions and millions of dollars even while we've been on strike, and were going to accept a stab in the back and just walk away with a smile on our face?"
"I feel like I'm done, but I have no choice," said Tod Rippe, 43, of Dearborn. He said he plans to accept a buyout and may move out of Michigan. "It's a nightmare. It really is."
Mike Ulicne, 39, of Trenton said the contract would be tough to accept.
"I'm relieved, but not happy or satisfied," Ulicne said.
>snip<
Terasiena Cunningham, 36, of West Bloomfield started a similar chant for workers gathered outside the school. Cunningham said she feels workers gained little, if anything, by going on strike.
"We can get better than this," she said. Cunningham also said she wished the two sides had extended the contract that expired Feb. 26, allowing workers to stay at their jobs as negotiations continued.
Former Local 235 UAW Vice President Erik Webb, 39, of Detroit said a much calmer meeting was held Sunday afternoon at the Local 235's union hall in Hamtramck, and predicted the contract would pass.
"Everybody who has been out on the picket line has been frustrated. People are ready to go back to work," Webb said. "We didn't really get what we wanted to get, but something is better than nothing."
>snip<
"Most of us are at a point where, financially, we are so ruined that this contract beats being homeless," said Michael Dudun, 46, of St. Clair Shores.
Workers at American Axle are hurting and some are willing to vote for anything. After 11 weeks (Wednesday marks 12 weeks out), it’s understandable. Again, from Mlive
Local workers have been living on $200 a week in strike pay. Many workers who said they were unhappy with the settlement said they would vote for it anyway.
"It's just a nasty situation," said Curtis McCall, 45, an American Axle worker who attended an informational meeting Sunday in Detroit. "You almost have no choice. If you vote no, then really you're out in the cold."
Workers will see their wages slashed under the deal.
A 54-year-old worker from Lockport Township, who declined to give his name, said he will see his pay drop from $27 an hour to $14.50. The 15-year employee said Sunday he hadn't decided how he would vote.
"We're putting one of our trucks up for sale, I've sold some scuba equipment on eBay -- but I just don't think we can adjust to such a drastic rate in pay," the worker said.
The summary of the contract distributed by the union said there will be buyouts of $85,000 for someone with less than 10 years with the company and $140,000 for a worker with more than 10 years. An offer of a $55,000 early retirement bonus also was included in the proposed contract.
Workers would get a wage "buydown" of up to $105,000 paid over three years to help ease the transition to lower hourly pay. The size of the buydown would vary with the size of a worker's pay reduction.
It’s even tougher to swallow a contract like this when you know that Dick Dauch will be shelling out nice bonuses to himself again next year.
But then again, what can we expect in this day and age? The haves like Dauch can reap $10 plus millions dollar compensation packages while the working stiff gets a whopping $14 to $17 an hour. Seems an awful lot like the times of the Robber Barons and I for one don’t want to return to the days of ole and the likes of Carnegie and Rockefeller.
I don’t know how I’d manage with a 50% reduction in income even with the 3 year buy down. I suppose, like many others, I’d be looking at a new line of work or a new job, just like Jerd0708:
I have been on the hunt for a new employer. Going well. I think I am going to take the buy out either way. I had a real nice interview with a forging / machining company out in Wayne. My pastors brother in law works there and loves it. They have been looking for CNC experienced guys to start up a new machining building. They can only handle about 20% of there work there right now so they are building a huge new building with all new equipment to bring all the work back in-house. Good money and they just got a huge contract with a wind mill company making rings for the shafts and generators. They are 100% non automotive. Quarterly bonuses to the workers and great benefits.
Another company I have been dealing with is in South Carolina. Had two phone interviews and now they are flying me down for a plant tour and sit down on Tue the 13th. I really like this company too. They are a German firm that make Engines and Crankshafts. Huge in Germany. They have a lot of new equipment. They are offering me a shift leader position. Money will be close to what I was making Pre-Strike. All Benefits and a lot of time off. Wife really wants to stay here but is cool with leaving too.
Voting on the contract is taking place today, so we should know tonight if the contract has been ratified. I’m very happy that they might be going back to work this week, but I still have to say that this is a really awful pill to swallow. For those choosing to go down the path that Jerd0708 has now chosen, there are profitable forges in the States doing good precision work with owners who aren’t trying to reap for themselves on the backs of their workers. Unfortunately, AAM isn’t one of these companies and Dick Dauch isn’t one of these owners. For me, it really all comes down to Dick’s entitlement mentality; he’s entitled to all of it and hell with his workers.
So, would you vote for this contract?
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American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. boosted its wage offer and increased the payments it will give workers to take a wage cut as part of a tentative agreement that could settle an 11-week strike by the United Auto Workers union, a person briefed on the deal said Saturday.
Okay, so I'm happy that there is movement now on this, it's cool, really cool. I'm especially elated that this movement comes just DAYS after OBAMA spoke about this.
I heard about this through an e-mail from one of the striker's families:
So, Obama has finally recognized the strife of the American Axle worker. It wasn't much but he did mention us in his speech today at Macomb Community College. I feel that he should have visited our picket lines today instead of a Chrysler plant in Sterling Heights. But as I have learned; our struggle isn't much of anything to others just us....for now. Until it affects the rest of us one day soon. I won't complain much - we received more attention with his comment then I thought we ever would.
The American Axle comments start at 1:09 and the applause at 1:17 (it's a solidarity thing). I think you should also read some of the text, here are my favorite pieces from the speech:
Not too far from here, at American Axle, UAW members have gone on strike to fight for good wages, and good benefits, and a decent standard of living. These are things that all hardworking families should expect and that UAW members deserve, and we stand in solidarity with the folks on the picket lines, and the families impacted by this strike.
Their struggle is part of a larger struggle that's being waged not just in Michigan, but all across the country. It's a struggle to ensure that we have good manufacturing jobs so American workers can raise a family, have health care when they need it, put their children through college, and retire with dignity and security. They're common hopes, modest dreams, but they're slipping out of reach for too many families.
It's a small mention, however, it's a big time mention about the entire industry and how too many decision are made in boardrooms that effect workers without workers even being involved. Way to go Barack, way to go!
I won't stand here and tell you that we'll be able to stop every job from going overseas or bring every job back. But I will tell you that we can end the Bush-McCain policy of giving tax breaks to companies that ship our jobs overseas, and we can start giving those tax breaks to companies that create good-paying jobs right here in America. Instead of opposing job training similar to what's being offered at M-Tech, like John McCain has, we can make sure every American has the skills to compete in the global economy. We don't have to stand idly by while foreign competitors outpace us in making the cars of the future. I'm running for President to make sure that the cars of the future are made where they've always been made - right here in Michigan. Because the fight for American manufacturing is the fight for America's future - and I believe that's a fight this country will win.
Personally, it's a fight we must win.
So, thank you Senator Obama for making a more important and relevant statement about the strike and the issues facing American manufacturing.
As for American Axle's strike, here's what AP is saying now:
The deal is similar to what the UAW agreed to with auto parts maker Delphi Corp. last year, the person said. In that deal, Delphi agreed to pay workers "buy downs" of $105,000 over three years.
Noncore workers, which are those that aren't involved in actual manufacturing, would be paid $14.55 per hour, the person said, while skilled trades workers would get $26 per hour.
American Axle confirmed Friday night that both sides had agreed on a deal, but details weren't released. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said in a statement Friday night that the American Axle bargaining committee voted to recommend the agreement to members, who would get details starting Sunday.
The agreement, which still must be voted on by about 3,600 workers at five plants in New York and Michigan, includes the closure of American Axle's Detroit and Tonawanda, N.Y., forge operations. It also has a separate but lower pay scale for American Axle's operations in Three Rivers, Mich., the person said.
Just a look at the kind of people this will effect in Tonawanda:
My bigger issue with this agreement is that it might not actually be ratified by the membership. They are giving up a great deal to keep these jobs. So, is it worth the 11.5 weeks they've been out to get very little more than what was originally offered by Dick Dauch, a man who took more than $10 million last year from American Axle in compensation and bonuses. Again, from AP:
Strike captain Duane Thompson said ratification will depend on whether workers believe they can get a better offer. He thinks a better deal than what's been reported can be negotiated.
"There's a bunch of us who don't like it because we feel we deserve more, or just leave what we have alone. But don't take away from us," said Thompson, a Hamtramck resident.
Thompson also said he worries about the impact this contract could have on future contracts for all UAW workers.
"If we pass it, it will make people look funny at us: 'Did you do everything in your power to win, or did you just give up the fight?'" Thompson said.
Skilled trades worker Doug Sherrill, of Macomb County's Macomb Township, said Saturday that union workers are skeptical.
"We're happy we got a tentative agreement, but is it going to pass? The way people feel around here is it's going to be a tough sell," Sherrill said.
UAW workers were picketing Saturday, and plan to continue until an agreement is ratified, but they are feeling the pinch of living on strike pay for nearly 12 weeks, non-production worker Leo McGucki said.
"There's a lot of people hurting," McGucki said, a Warren resident who has worked for American Axle for nearly 13 years.
Still, Thompson said the workers know what's at stake.
"This is our livelihood we're talking about. We can't take that lightly," he said.
I wonder how many of us could stand by and just let it happen. I don't think I could. I just don't know how much more the strikers can take. I don't know how much more the rest of us can, either.
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We can work together to stop corporate abuses, but we have to do it together. In that spirit, I'd recommend we all nominate my favorite "screw" the worker companies of the day, American Axle and Kongsberg Automotive.
Here's the current list of nominees:
The Nominees Archer Daniels Midland for making Indonesia the world’s worst contributor to global warming (after the U.S. and China) through its clearing of endangered forests and wildlife habitat for palm oil plantations. Read more.
BlackWater for killing unarmed Iraqi civilians, hiring paramilitaries trained under military dictatorships, and using its close political and financial ties with the Bush Administration to secure lucrative contracts. Read more.
Countrywide for predatory mortgage lending to elderly and non-English-speaking borrowers, and for gouging minority borrowers with discriminatory rates and fees. These actions have forced nearly a quarter of subprime borrowers into default, at the same time their CEO earned a $120 million salary. Read more.
Mattel for producing tens of millions of lead-contaminated toys and aggressively lobbying against bans on other highly toxic chemicals. Read more.
Nestle for numerous labor violations including child exploitation, contributing to the obesity epidemic, and threatening community water supplies for its bottled water brands. Read more.
Toyota for aggressively lobbying against increased fuel economy standards and state measures to reduce global warming gas emissions, while hypocritically spending millions to advertise its environmental leadership and popular Prius line. Read more.
Wal-Mart for displacing local businesses, failing to cover employees under the corporation’s health plan, and opposing legislation that would increase homeland security. Read more.
Wendy's for its contribution — as America’s third largest fast food franchise — to the growing childhood obesity and diabetes epidemics, and for refusing to meet nutritional labeling regulations. Read more.
Even though these are their current list of corporate slime, let's face it, there are lots more and right now on the top of my list are AMERICAN AXLE and KONGSBERG AUTOMOTOVE. And it would be absolutely fantastic if you'd give them some love, too. And head over to the Corporate Hall of Shame and push them in as write in candidates. I think they both deserve this honor.
Unions members previously had said the company wanted to negotiate the closure of American Axle's Detroit and Tonawanda, New York, forge operations. Gettelfinger confirmed Saturday that those closings had been agreed upon.
I hope the GM offer is moving this along. I'm sure everyone wants to be back to work.
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General Motors said Thursday that it had agreed to give as much as $200 million to a parts supplier, American Axle and Manufacturing, to help settle a 10-week strike that has reduced or halted production at 32 G.M. factories.
About Freaking time!! Way to step up GM, way to freaking step up!! More from the New York Times
G.M. said in its filing that the deal to pay American Axle was reached recently but did not say when. A spokeswoman for American Axle, Renee Rogers, said, “This is sort of a breaking news situation. It happened very quickly.” Ms. Rogers said a deal to end the strike was not imminent but that “multiple” issues had been resolved.
Of G.M.’s cash infusion, she said, “It makes us hopeful that the parties can quickly reach an agreement to bring an end to the terribly costly and disruptive strike.”
Gee, GM, it's about time you realized how costly this strike has been. For the workers, it's been even worse as Food Pantries have run dry all over, take the report from the Toledo Blade:
Linda Crouch-Roepken, associate executive director of The Foodbank, said the strike has raised demand and lowered donations. She said the hardest hit food pantries have been AFL-CIO satellite sites, including one spot where 300 people picked up food a recent day.
"We have been able to address the need, but it has been a strain on the entire network," Crouch-Roepken said.
So, to sum this up, way to finally step up PUBLICLY GM, now Dick Dauch, stop being a freaking dickhead and let your workers return to work based on a FAIR CONTRACT. All workers should be able to put food on their tables and also into the pantries, too.
Lockhart says all the talk about pay cuts and buyouts is upsetting, but he has to prepare for the inevitable. He doesn't want a pay cut, but he also wants to go back to work.
"I guess that's what it's going to be," he said. "I refuse to stay mad and make being out here even worse."
And right now, with this GM proposal, I finally have my fingers crossed and I'm holding my breath that this might really be near the end of this strike. It's still not good enough, I'm sure it isn't good enough for Lockhart or Jerd0708 or any of the other American Axle workers out on the lines right now, but it's movement on the strike. And that to me, it's a good sign.
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Rick Tincher knew there was a problem when the AFL-CIO's main food pantry at 184 Salem Ave. ran out of food.
"It was chaotic," recalled Tincher, AFL-CIO labor liaison to the United Way of the Greater Dayton Area. "It was a fire sale. It was the alarm bell going off."
To gauge the local impact the United Auto Workers strike against American Axle & Manufacturing, simply visit one of the satellite food pantries the AFL-CIO opened in the strike's wake. There's one at 313 S. Jefferson St. in downtown Dayton and another at 1543 Alwildy Ave., opened with the help of the local United Way.
At either location, hundreds of families weathering temporary lay-offs as a result of the strike get help stretching their food dollars. Volunteers load cardboard boxes with jars of peanut butter, sacks of potatoes, cans of soup, stew or pork and beans.
Tincher points to the numbers: In February, the AFL-CIO pantry served 252 family members, packing up 3,780 meals.
The UAW strike against American Axle began Feb. 26 and radiated outward. The General Motors SUV plant in Moraine halted production March 3.
So the March numbers jumped, with the union pantry serving 687 families 10,305 meals.
From April 1-25, 2,686 families drew from the pantry, taking 40,290 meals.
Compared to March and April 2007, the numbers of meals served has jumped 2,389 percent.
Tincher — who emphasizes that he supports the UAW's strike — estimates the pantries have six more weeks of food.
"I've got to prepare for the worst and hope for the best," Tincher said.
When, Dick, when will you do the right thing for your company and the workers who made it profitable in the first place?
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I know she's the spokesperson, but OMG, I'm so sick of seeing Renee Roger's name in all of these freaking articles. From BizJournal:
"There is no timetable for a presentation to the union membership at this time," company spokeswoman Renee Rogers said.
She was referring to what last week she called speculation that negotiations included closing Tonawanda and Detroit forge plants. She said that "at this point, all of what you have been reading is rumor and speculation. There has been nothing presented to membership so we are not going to comment on any of that stuff that at this point is just speculation."
So, Renee wants to make sure that everyone knows that the previous reports were wrong and they're no closer to an agreement. Yippee, isn't that great? But wait, there's more, the business article broke down some numbers for us...
But little else was being reported as the future of the company's two Buffalo-area facilities and about 600 hourly and salaried jobs could hang on the outcome.
- snip -
The Tonawanda plant employs about 400 hourly workers. A machining facility in Cheektowaga, which has 110 hourly employees, has not been mentioned as a target for closure, but because it services the Tonawanda plant, its future would be uncertain if the forge plant closed.
I don't know about you, but I so needed to be reminded what's at stake here in terms of numbers. Actually, wait, I didn't!!
And, Renee, it's not just Freep reporting on this, other news outlets are as well...
Worker Ken Krzycki said a local union official told picketers some details of the possible settlement. It would include negotiating the closure of American Axle's Detroit and Tonawanda, N.Y., forge operations. The possible settlement would also include wage cuts for production workers to $17 an hour from about $28.
Local 235 President Adrian King confirmed the numbers and said the union was evaluating the proposal.
Again, bad proposal. Doesn't matter if it's coming out of BizJournal, Freep or Washington Post, a local agreement is just like breaking up the union. When strikers worry about their individual jobs, it pits worker against worker at plants from Tonawanda to Three Rivers. And this also means way more work at the local level because Local agreements mean that each individual plant must hold the company accountable, instead of getting the help from the national (or international) on issues like Pay, classification and many other issues.
And what makes this important is that in local agreements, many don't vote on the contracts. Look at UAW local 1005 in Parma Ohio
...and at the end, they mention that the UAW Parma local REJECTED their contract:
Workers in Parma rejected a new local contract earlier this month. UAW Local 1005 President Tito Boneta, in a letter to his members, said voter turnout was less than 50 percent for that rejection, so the union's leadership is putting the tentative pact up for a new vote Wednesday.
And at the Re-Vote, they barely approved their contract with a TOTAL VOTE FOR: 550 and AGAINST: 537. That means that 51% approved it. And I wish I could figure out how many showed up for this vote, or rather, how much more than 50% of the membership for this vote.
But wait, don't worry, The Toledo Blade has more, this time they make a note about the Delta Township plant, out on strike since April 17th...
GM spokesman Dan Flores said Friday the automaker is pleased the agreement was ratified and hopes to reach other local agreements.
A local at a plant in Delta Township near Lansing went on strike April 17.
Locals at a Warren transmission factory, a Grand Rapids metal fabricating plant, a metal parts stamping factory in Mansfield, Ohio, and a factory in Kansas City, Kan., all have threatened walkouts.
Local plants negotiate their own operating agreements.
And as for Kansas City's plant, well, the Washington Post (actually it's from AP) has the scoop and it means, STRIKE...
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Members of a United Auto Workers union local went on strike Monday at General Motors' Fairfax facility _ hitting the plant that makes GM's popular Malibu sedan.
During talks over the weekend, UAW Local 31 set a Monday morning strike deadline because union negotiators believed the two sides remained far from an agreement. The Fairfax plant employs more than 2,500 UAW members.
The plant makes the Chevrolet Malibu, a medium-sized sedan that was named "Car of the Year" at this year's North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
For GM and the UAW, it still feels like death from a million papercuts. From Renee's mouth to everyone out there, all of these local agreements for American Axle (if they are a part of the agreement even if Renee says there's no agreement, ugh, my head hurts), we're still talking a death by a million paper cuts. And I think it's cuts to AAM, GM and yep, the UAW.
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More than two months into the UAW's strike at American Axle & Manufacturing, it appears that the two sides have pulled together a potential framework for a settlement, which likely will include buyouts, buy-downs in exchange for lower wages and the closure of at least two plants.
A settlement potentially would shed American Axle's national UAW contract, replacing it with individual agreements for the surviving plants, said people briefed on the talks.
Local agreements are the equivalent of a million paper cuts to the overall health of a union
Due to the local contracts that discuss the specifics of jobs and skills, we now have the potential of bigger issues to resolve. The new GM contract from the summer seems to have created greater issues for the locals in that they must now bargain on their own with GM in relation to what is considered "skilled" More from the Plain Dealer:
The bigger issue in November was skilled trades. At the time, Boneta said the company wanted to consolidate several job titles, eliminating positions for some of the plant's highest-paid workers.
Instead of having machine repair, millwright, tinsmith, pipe fitter and maintenance welder positions, GM asked for one position called maintenance, Boneta said in November.
Today, he declined to say what issues remained between the union and the company.
The loss of multiple skilled trades categories could mean demoting skilled tradesmen to the production line or cutting jobs.
A settlement could include buy-downs -- which are lump sums of money offered in exchange for lower wages -- of $90,000 over three years and buyouts of $140,000 over two years. Wages at the company's U.S. axle operations are shaping up to be $17 an hour for production workers, $14 an hour for nonproduction workers and $25.50 for skilled trades workers...
>snip<
Before the strike, workers at American Axle were making about $28 an hour, and skilled workers were making more than $30 an hour.
There also is the potential for an 8% match on 401(k) contributions.
Forging plants in Detroit and Tonawanda, N.Y., near Buffalo are negotiating deals that would close those factories, according to people familiar with the talks. It is unclear what would be offered to those workers in the event of a closure.
AH- more stupid local agreements. Wonder if AAM strikers will like this agreement or maybe they'll look at it the same way Parma GM workers did...they rejected it
Workers in Parma rejected a new local contract earlier this month. UAW Local 1005 President Tito Boneta, in a letter to his members, said voter turnout was less than 50 percent for that rejection, so the union's leadership is putting the tentative pact up for a new vote Wednesday.
Okay, so for me, this is the money quote:
That the four plants involved in the strike would have their own deals is a move that makes American Axle's labor contract more like those at other suppliers, which negotiate their terms on a plant-by-plant basis.
Dick Dauch's been pushing for "more like Delphi" and other similar screw the worker agreements forged between Bankrupt corporations and their workers. This of course is where trade kills the American worker.
It's not worker against worker as some on this site have claimed, it's really corporations against countries. Trade has everything to do with Environmental standards, labor laws, labor costs, benefits, safety rules, even the tax rate of these countries.
Trade isn't as simple as labor costs, it's much bigger and much worse than that.
We have an inability to force other countries to bring up their standards and when we can get them to raise their standards, we forge ahead and lower ours. Weeklytoll provides a toll that this has on work place safety
So, theUAW is going to bend over backwards and tell Dick to take whatever he really wants. So, how has this served the membership? I'm not feeling like this has served the membership, especially today of all days, May Day.
What the Fuck is the UAW thinking? In fact, I'm wondering if they're thinking at all, and I don't just mean the national here, I mean the freaking locals, too. WTF?
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Yesterday, families and strikers mounted a rally in Detroit to highlight American Axle's desire to screw their workers while continuing to reap huge profits and dishing out million dollar bonuses to CEO and other executives.
And despite more than 37,000 workers off their jobs, 3650 American Axle Workers on strike, more than 30 plants shut AND 3 different countries affected, we still have nothing From Obama, Clinton and Mr. No-Right-To-Work-tax-your-benefits-anti-EFCA-McSame.
Not a F U C K I N G Word. Not one!
So, the union and other allies, families and friends, put together a rally. And then things went horribly bad.
So, I got this e-mail this morning (really early) and I needed to share and vent at the same time.
I went to another American Axle rally for Rich today. It was a great success through most of it. I was astounded and appauled by this site right before us. This woman, an AAM employee, asked to "jay walk" along with other women. As she did a Detroit officer put her in a "chokehold" and litterally dragged her backwards to his cop car and arrested her. I was completely amazed. This woman is an older lady - I am told she is 65 with a heart condition - and she didn't do ANYTHING!
Now, ya all know me. I am not one to keep quiet and I told Officer McGain this (the officer who did this to her). I am writing papers, tv stations and any parties connected with the Detroit Police force.
But don't take my word for it, take a look at the pictures
This isn't the time of Pinkertons killing strikers and locked out workers.
sure, it was a real threatening group. At least, if US media won't cover it, Pan African News Wire does:
This is the 2nd incident with Detroit Police; police represented by a union as well. The first incident happened earlier in the strike.
Traditional media barely works. We have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of people. Our neighbors, friends, countrymen.
Now, it's not the headline that is interesting to me, it's the loss of production right now.
With American Axle's strike affecting more than 30 GM plants in at least 3 countries and countless other manufacturing jobs elsewhere (think about the nearly 2% rise in unemployment for Fort Wayne), well, I think you get the picture.
“We obviously want to win, and we’d like to be No. 1 in sales at the end of the year,” he said. “But really our focus right now is on profitable, sustainable growth across the world.”
GM said it posted record sales in three of its four regions, but a 10 percent drop in North America pulled down the overall numbers. Sales were up 8 percent outside of North America, the Detroit automaker said.
A record 64 percent of GM’s sales in the latest quarter came from outside the United States, with the company reporting nearly 20 percent growth in the Latin America, Africa and Middle East region, 6 percent growth for Asia Pacific operations and 3 percent growth in Europe.
GM sold roughly 2.27 million vehicles worldwide in the first quarter of 2007.
I like the profitable sustainable growth quote, but I'm not sure that GM can sustain such a thing if their most popular cars and trucks are simply not being manufactured as is increasingly becoming the case now. So, when is it going to be the right time for GM to put PUBLIC pressure on Dick Dauch so that he starts negotiating in Good Faith, once and for all?
This isn't what the strikers at American Axle want, but it is what happens when management and owners screw workers like they are trying to do at American Axle. From WSBT in South Bend Indiana:
Explorer Van in Warsaw laid off approximately 175 workers.
Warsaw Mayor Ernest Wiggins told WSBT News Monday evening the layoffs are probably temporary due to the company running out of parts. He says Explorer Van employs more than 200 people.
Tuesday, the owner of the company confirmed the layoffs are tied to the strike at American Axle.
General Motors had to close two more plants Monday because of the strike.
Well, looks like GM may finally enter the Fray on American Axle and Dick Dauch’s resolve not to negotiate, from CBS channel 3 News in Michigan:
(NEWSCHANNEL 3) - It looks like striking American Axle workers will stay on those picket lines a little longer.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger says the company didn't do much negotiating with the union over the weekend.
He says he's not sure when they'll actually reach an agreement.
I think they might have gotten this information from the AP or perhaps the Detroit News. There’s also the Ft Wayne Paper…
Gettelfinger told reporters before speaking to a Detroit-area Democratic Party dinner that American Axle isn't negotiating much.
>snip<
"I would hope we could resolve Axle, but we cannot negotiate an agreement with ourselves," he said before a speech to Livingston County Democrats. "It seems like it's all give on our side."
>snip<
Gettelfinger said in his speech that American Axle Chairman and CEO Richard Dauch made $258 million from 1997 through 2007 but wants workers to work for nothing. "They use the word competitive until they wear it out, but are they competitive with their own salaries?" he asked.
What is interesting in all of this is that GM still isn’t putting public pressure on Dauch to bargain in good faith, of course, I do hope they are putting the screws to him behind closed doors, but that’s probably a pipe dream . With more than 30 GM factories affected by the strike, I have to wonder when they will. I suppose Fort Wayne Indiana is also thinking about it.
The unemployment rate for the Fort Wayne metropolitan area shot up to 6.4 percent in March, 1.5 percentage points higher than the 4.9 percent rate from March 2007, a state unemployment report showed Friday.
>snip<
The strike at American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. was cited as one of the factors. The strike, which began in late February, has caused several shutdowns and layoffs in the auto manufacturing industry.
“Unfortunately, the effects of the American Axle strike are being felt here and have had an impact on our unemployment numbers,” Teresa Voors, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, said in the report.
American Axle is a key supplier to General Motors Corp., which has a truck assembly plant in southwest Allen County. Production at the plant was shut down between Feb. 29 and April 7 because of a lack of parts, affecting 2,500 hourly workers. Currently, the Allen County plant is back to normal production on a temporary basis.
With the American Axle strike now affecting employment rates in other states, over 30 GM plants, and the workers at American Axle as well, perhaps it’s finally time for the candidates to address this issue and take a stab at understanding what it really means to HAVE to WALK A PICKET LINE and how important this strike is for US workers. Of course, it's also time for GM to get its head out of the sand and publicly address Dauch and his cronies on this. Of course, it's been time for the candidates and GM to answer this call. Wonder when they finally will.
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Enough progress has been made for the UAW to call off a rally slated for today in Hart Plaza, which was viewed as an encouraging sign that the strike by 3,650 workers at four American Axle plants would end soon.
"We are ready to go back to work," said Anthony Jones, a 51-year-old single father and an American Axle production worker for 13 years. "But at least we want it to be fair."
Fair would be nice, I'll keep my fingers crossed, but until then, I'm with Lisa
Lisa Akra of Plymouth Township, who left a job at Rock Financial to become a machinist at American Axle, said she feels frustrated hearing word that a deal could be reached soon and then hearing that it might take more time.
"It's desperate mode now for most people," she said, noting that the strike is in its eighth week. Strikers get $200 a week from a UAW fund. "We didn't expect to be out this long."
Too many are in desperate mode. Some onf Dick, bargain in good faith for once!!
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Lansing - United Auto Workers walked off the job at General Motors Corp.'s Delta Township plant when a 10 a.m. deadline passed with no deal on a local contract.
The walkout started at about 10:15 a.m. with dozens of vehicles streaming out of plant gates. Some workers picketed the plant with signs as passing motorists signaled support.
UAW officials have not specified the local contract issues in dispute. In addition to the overarching UAW contract reached last fall with Detroit's Big Three automakers, most UAW locals are still negotiating plant-level deals.
Doug Rademacher, president of UAW Local 602, which represents workers at the Lansing plant, said talks have broken off and that he didn't know when they will resume.
He dismissed speculation that the strike is part of a UAW strategy to draw GM into the lengthy labor dispute with partsmaker American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. The UAW walked off the job at American Axle plans Feb. 26.
Rademacher said workers at the Delta plant have been working under a contract put in place in 1999 when GM built the factory. The contract, he said, was intended to give GM flexibility to get the factory running, but was never supposed to be a long-term labor agreement. The UAW planned to get a plant-level contract in place for Delta after last fall's national negotiations, he said.
This workforce deserves respect," he said. "We changed our culture to work with the company. We need a local agreement."
The Delta plant is critical for GM because it builds the automaker's popular crossovers, the GMC Acadia, Saturn Outlook and Buick Enclave.
The overall article is interesting in that it mentions the American Axle strike, but doesn't really address why that's important here. There's simply only a mention.
So, let's take a look at it. What GM cars have been affected by the 52 day American Axle strike. So far, we're looking at:
And these are only the models named. Most are listed as "GM light trucks", "Cadillac" vehicles as well as "SUV". Pretty generic names that really are more likely on the lines of Escalade, Vibe, Cadillac, Saturn VUE and many others.
So, what exactly does this all mean to American Axle. Well, it means the loss of GM work.
The five week-old strike at American Axle is finally starting to wear on GM, and the General has decided to move a small but crucial parts contract over to rival supplier Dana to help get its truck plants moving again. The 30,000-unit prop shaft contract for light pickups is considered a small deal, but the fact that GM is beginning to move on shows that the strike, which began on February 26, is beginning to take its toll on the giant automaker. The move is going to anger the striking workers, but it will also likely help get American Axle management back at the bargaining table.
It did bring Dick Dauch and his son Dick Dauch, back to the table in early April, but it’s now day 52 of the strike and more plants are being idled as GM runs out of parts for some of their best selling brands.
But what about the workers in Delta Township who now have no local contract in place for their plant? Well, it looks as if it's a waiting game. I suppose it is also a waiting game for even more workers:
A UAW local at a GM transmission plant in Warren, Mich., has a strike deadline set for Friday morning. And a union local at a GM stamping plant near Grand Rapids, Mich., issued a warning to the auto maker that it may strike if progress isn't made on its local agreement.
I wonder if the steelworkers in Van Wert are doing any better in their negotiations from their lock out than American Axle workers are doing in their strike. Somehow, the greed of these corporate goons makes me think, it's just not the case. Read More...
