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Now that the UAW is going after Ford instead of Chrysler,
the headlines are beginning to fly. Basically, Ford workers want a “richer”
deal than GM workers got. Please remember that Ford CAN be struck, unlike GM
and Chrysler.
In TV interviews with Ford workers leaving their plants, all
the ones interviewed were arrogant, demanding and even threatening…we better
get what we want or else.
They are pissed that their leader Alan Mulally got a real
big bonus…only for saving your stinkin’ jobs dudes! They are even more pissed
that white collar workers got some wages and bonuses restored…but they had a
lot taken away from them and they do actually design and engineer the cars that
the blue collar workers build and if they did a poor job of designing and
engineering cars, the cars would not sell and the blue collar workers would
have nothing to build and therefore no job and no profit sharing and…
I am not saying that UAW workers should get nothing but the
arrogance with which they are demanding much more than GM workers received, is
very off putting and will piss off the public even more and bring down even
further the low opinion the public has of the UAW and unions in general.
Ford may not have taken a bail-out from the government /
taxpayers and has managed to do a pretty good job surviving the great recession
but they took a really big hit in the years when cars were not selling at all
and YES, the UAW workers AND the white collar workers gave concessions to keep
the company afloat AND their jobs in place.
But the company is in debt big time and needs to get that
taken care of with continuing profitability which is very questionable now that
we know we are heading into a second dip recession where auto sales will stall
again.
I will repeat again and again that one thing Ford cannot do
is to add to its fixed cost of building autos and that means NO wage increases,
NO cost of living adjustments, NO enhanced unemployment benefits, etc. which
would add to fixed costs of production which Wall Street does not want to see
and Ford worries about Wall Street because Wall Street can make Ford a safe
investment again.
Yes, give signing bonuses like GM did and an increase in
profit sharing which would not add to fixed costs of production but most
importantly, give the workers some job security which should be the most
important issue for the workers and not plain money greed.
If we return to the bad ole’ days of UAW greed and Ford
acquiesces to that greed and becomes threatened by the possibility of a strike,
then Ford must kiss all the hard work its done to stay off the public dole and
viable, goodbye and the UAW can kiss its job security goodbye and the workers
can stick their demanding arrogance where the sun don’t shine.
Bob King has his job cut out for him…his hair cannot stay
jet black forever, unless he colors it to hide the stress.
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