I'm paraphrasing. In fact, Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union president Buzz Hargrove told Autoweek [sub] he'll play hardball when it's his union's turn to talk contracts next summer. There'll be no concessions from the CAW. As in none. Hargrove's fuming over the speed with which GM and Chryslerberus announced shutdowns and layoffs after the UAW approved their contracts. "This just reinforces my thinking that you can't change a situation with two-tier wages, VEBAs and concessions." Then in the "DUH!" statement of the year, Hargrove observed if Chrysler's workers had known what was coming they wouldn't have approved the contract. "You'd have to be blind not to see that it was hidden," he added. So… uh… did he just say the UAW was stupid for ratifing the agreement?
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The suits and their corporate apologists are going to look like the Bushites trying to clean up the smell around this latest PR fiasco engendered by the automakers. As usual, headquarters demands concessions from rank and file while continuing to pay executive bonuses and fund dividends and other hedge-type activities. The average American should see this for what it is- a microcosm of the economic feudalism practiced by Wall Street- all the while screaming for a bailout for their greed and stupidity in funding sub-prime mortgages as AAA securities. The entire foul smelling putrid mess should be sticking to the Republicans like the shit smell from a rendering plant. Their spineless "adversaries" on the other side of the aisle do not deserve a pass for their silence while also begging for" contributions" to their own campaigns. This has descended into a mess reminiscent of the 1890's and late 1920's- things and times supposedly rendered "impossible" by regulation and oversight. It has been very subtle- but do not deny the facts- the "New Deal" has been repealed. Their next target is the so-called "bankrupt" social security system. They figure if they say it long and often enough they can make it true by scaring a panicky electorate that their social security in unfunded. Do not let them get away with this, people, we have earned and deserve better.
I don’t know contract law in the United States and Canada, so pardon me if I make a few mistakes.
Mr Hargrove better tread very carefully. The UAW have now ratified a deal which means layoffs can happen easier and Detroit can make cars more profitably (allegedly). This means that if Mr Hargrove becomes too obstinant in talks, Detroit could very well say “Screw you, Mr Hargrove. We’ll just close all your plants down, move production to the United States, where the profitablity is better and the US dollar is weaker than the Canadian dollar.”
And for those people who say “But the UAW plants won’t be able to handle the extra workload” I say this….
Since when was Detroit worried about the quality of their cars at the expense of profitability……?
I am not sure what playing hardball is going to do for CAW members. The loonie has just hit $1.07 US making our exports expensive. It would seem that Canada may have lost it’s advantage with regard to health care costs due to the VEBA’s. I know there are many CAW members who like it when Buzz hoses the place with testosterone but many others will worry if this approach will cause more trouble in the long run. He is right about one thing, the UAW members should have known what the automakers would do once the contracts were ratified. This will make the UAW/Ford negotiations interesting indeed.
Who care about the CAW union? Maybe Detroit should play hardball with Hargrove and close all those plants and bring those jobs home to non union states in America. We would gladly welcome them in my state. The unions just suck resources up and encourage workers to underperform. There are plenty of non union people who would love the opportunity to build a product with pride in return for employment.
Did anyone else see this quote in the Detroit News from a Ford worker:
Lolinda Bellamy is a temporary assembly worker at Ford’s Dearborn Truck plant, where she already makes a lower wage than permanent hires. “I really want this job, but we already had cutbacks here. It’s hard to understand why they keep asking for more sacrifices.”
How can these entitlement freaks (she’s not even a permanent worker) not understand the companies are circling the drain?
While I celebrate the repeal of the new deal and firmly believe Social Security for my generation is nothing but a myth, I do have to agree with olddavid on the management bonuses. It is simply outrageous that they continue to reward themselves so lavishly for poor performance while asking everyone, salaried workers included (more so even), to make huge sacrifices. Of course to the CAW this matters little. They have two options at this point, work for less or not at all.
well, though it may be very un-PC of me to say it
of course they didn’t see it coming
there’s a reason they’re automotive laborers and not white collar executives . . . .
Actually many of them did see it coming. That’s why the Chrysler contract passed with such a small margin of victory. The UAW was just better at bullying persuading the majority to vote their way than the opposition was.
In Windsor, Ont., alone there was at one time 6 Chrysler plants. All that is left is the Windsor Assembly Plant. In Canada the only other assembly plant is Brampton Assembly Plant which just lost a shift. The way the minivan market is shrinking either St. Louis South will close or WAP will lose another shift. Buzz has absolutely no leverage and seems incapable of grasping the truth. The days of the union dictating the contract are long gone and Buzz will learn this next contract, since he seems to thick to figure it out himself.
If bullshit were music Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union boss Buzz Hargrove would be a one man band! He is grandstanding for his naive dues paying members.
Notwithstanding Canada substantially lowered corporate taxes Hargrove is screaming for more taxpayer handouts for the Diminishing-3 so they can continue pumping out unsellable product to shoehorn into dealer storage compounds.
Buzz says the Japanese and Koreans are not buying their fair share of Chrysler Pacificas and Dodge Magnums. He wants their auto exports embargoed. If North Americans won’t buy the crap issuing from CAW factories, why would foreigners?
The domestic brands’ woes are wholly self-inflicted. They produced abysmal vehicles and abused customers for decades squandering a 100-percent market share. They are in a death spiral and the ground is coming up fast.
Life would be much simpler in North America if we could add some Canadian colour to the greenback and call it NA Dollar. It would sure make internet shopping much easier.
Frank, I love the picture you put with this article. No soup for you!
Cavendel:
There is already talk of monetarily uniting Mexico, the USA, and Canada under something called the Amero. Kind of like the Euro. I don’t know how much traction it has picked up, but I heard about it a few months ago in a doomsday conspiracy email my dad sent me.
Life would be much simpler in North America if we could add some Canadian colour to the greenback and call it NA Dollar.
No, actually that would be an immensely expensive boondoggle that would have no meaningful benefit.
There is already talk of monetarily uniting Mexico, the USA, and Canada under something called the Amero.
The only “talk” is from ignorant people passing around an urban legend on the Internet. There is no official interest from any party. North America is nothing like Europe in that regard. 20 countries of equal size jammed together in a small area might benefit from a single currency. But the U.S. is 85% of the North American economy. The U.S. has nothing at all to gain from a unified currency, so it will not happen.
“The entire foul smelling putrid mess should be sticking to the Republicans like the shit smell from a rendering plant.”
Calm down. Take a pill. Chrysler is going bye-bye and it has nothing to do with US domestic politics, even the closure of the Canadian plants. It has everything to do with the confederacy of dunces that is the domestic automobile industry. Clueless managers, crooked dealers, delusional marketroids, and drug-addled unionists, all in the same sinking boat.
It’s going away and it ain’t coming back and there is nothing that you, nor I, nor anyone else can do it about it.
If it makes you feel any better we could give the villains fair trials and then shoot them. But, in the interest of economy I would suggest we not do that, why enrich the lawyers.
Buzz claims the trade relationship between the “domestic” auto industry (his word not mine; last time I checked no automakers are headquartered in Canada) and the Japanese is unfair because the Japanese don’t permit US imports. How accurate is this statement? What exactly is the official policy in Japan for importing US manufactured vehicles? Anyone?
“What exactly is the official policy in Japan for importing US manufactured vehicles? Anyone? ”
Excellent question. I would also like to know what they are.
Kevin:
I didn’t say it had government traction, but there are theories. I don’t buy into them personally and I certainly don’t think it is a good idea.
Ok today’s super tough quiz question is: If there is only one winner in the auto sweepstakes it is?
1. GM executives
2. Ford exectuives
3. Chrysler executives
4. All of the above.
“What exactly is the official policy in Japan for importing US manufactured vehicles? Anyone? ”
Excellent question. I would also like to know what they are.”
I think there is a 25% tariff or something like that. The same is true in China I believe. It’s not real easy to find by googling I found.
Everyone in America knows the Wall Street types would sell out the United States in a heartbeat if it put one more dollar in their own pocket.
They’ll call it free trade, international business, etc. to try to sooth their soul, but deep down inside they know is it nothing but short sighted greed.
I’m a professional white collar conservative Republican, but the Rockefeller wing of the party has turned the party into a characature of the stereotype of old Republicans – Robber Barons and exploiters of labor. The older I get, the more sypathetic I get towards organized labor.
Even white collar and professional employees know the score – Corporate America will move your job overseas in a heartbeat if they could.
Due to exchange rates the days of building cars (or anything else for that matter) in Canada are coming to an end.
At this moment right now about 155 plus cars and trucks an hour are rolling off the line at the GM Oshawa plants.Just shut that off for about a month or so, and see what impact it has on Ontario’s economy.
Just think, where do all them parts come from?1200+ tractor trailer loads a day!
The Americans went on strike for a day and a half.If you counted the media around the plant,you’d of thought it was an assination.
Yeah Buzz can be a blowhard bag of wind. Unless you want to see us turn into a third world country,you might want to pay attention.
RLJ676-Japan has a zero percent import tariff on foreign built automobiles (unlike the US, which is 25% on pickups, 2.5% on everything else, excluding Mexican and Canadian built vehicles).
That’s not to say there aren’t non-tariff barriers thrown up by the Japanese government, but the main reason US vehicles sold there usually fail because they are too damned big for Japanese roads and have the steering wheel on the wrong fucking side of the car. Basically, they offer the Japanese consumer nothing that a domestic product doesn’t do at least as well if not better. The opposite is not true (Japanese vehicles did offer American consumers something lacking from domestic vehicles).
I wished Buzz would just shut up. I’ve had to listen to him for years. Buzz, stop bitching about the government doing ‘something’. What are they supposed to do for Chryco…straight up cash payments? Or maybe buy a vast quantity of slow selling vehicles? Or how about instead of giving us the tax cuts he so bitterly resents, spend it on Canadian built Dodge Magnums…you could have a lottery, buy 100,000 of them and give them away! (By the way Buzz, tax breaks are not a ‘bribe’. It is letting me keep more of the money that I earned. Big difference.)
Idiot. IDIOT!
Far enough nick, 10,000 auto workers making 75k pay 25k a year in provincial and fed. tax dump em eh?Take another 20,000 and replace em with 14$ an hour guys.
Do you see a drop in tax revenue?
Think your gonna get any more tax breaks?
I’m the first to agree that Buzz is out in left field.Yes indeed you gotta love tax breaks.Somebody pays for our social programs.Is it the guy making 14$ an hour?How about the middle class pulling down 80 k?I think you know the answer.
Buzz has brainwashed many in the union. Regarding the Brampton shit cutback, one employee was complaining that the “imports” have an unfair advantage because trade barriers preven the big 2.8 from exporting their product. Pathetic brainwashing.
Most of the 2.8’s issues are not due to assembly but to overall cost cutting especially in design, engineering and marketing.
If the unions were smart they would include design/engineering product requirements in their contract to ensure their long term viability.,
As a Canadian in all seriousness, where did the CAW get this clown ? Whenever this guy speaks every toilet in Ontario simultaneously flushes.
Poor Buzz, He purchased a “Jeep” last year and from what I hear has regreted it ever since ie from a Sedan Car to a Jeep lol. Buzz gets re elected every time he has to run for his office, someone must like him, met him once at Tim Hortons, great experience!
Mikey, I agree, in the grand scheme of things one doesn’t want high paying jobs, regardless of what they are doing, to disappear. What I resent is that the UAW seems to believe that they deserve some kind of special government treatment. When Nortel tanked, vast numbers of highly educated people lost their jobs. As they were all in the same community, they had a hell of a time competing with one another for the same jobs. In fact, when I went car shopping, one of the salesmen was a former Nortel engineer with a masters. No one was screaming for the government to save their jobs. Why is the government somehow ‘obligated’ to save UAW jobs?
BTW, I grew up in a town with a huge Ford plant, and I know plenty of people who worked at Ford. I have lots of stories about the workers at Ford. If half of them are true…the UAW is even less deserving of sympathy than people realize.
In 2002 the CAD$ only traded at .63USD$
Auto mfgs. could make huge profits on the exchange. The quality of the vehicle was secondary on both sides of the border so it didn’t matter who made what particular model.
Now the CAD$ is at $1.07USD and heading UP.
The Bush war machine has steadily sucked billions of those eroding USD$ out of the USA and now this once powerful currency is on shaky ground. Without a gold standard the value of any currency is only a reflection of the worlds perception of that countries worth.
Buzz Hargrove is a toothless old dog with nothing to do but bark at anyone who will listen. Dark clouds are forming over the NA auto industry and Canadian workers will not be immune to the pain that is heading this way.
If I was a CAW auto worker right now I would be very worried. Does Buzz honestly believe that the Canadian auto workers will be treated any differently then their US counterparts? And also does he really believe that anyone in Japan would buy a hemi powered Dodge Magnum or a 300 series behemoth? Where would they park it??? How would they afford the gasoline to go in it???
He has been singing the same old tune for so long that he doesn’t realize how ridiculous or irrevelant that his arguments are.
Buzz should get together with Bush….maybe these two great minds could figure out what went wrong???