GM drops demand for shorter work breaks but job security still at issue: CAW

[delco583]

TORONTO (CP) - General Motors of Canada has withdrawn a demand for shorter work breaks at its assembly complex in Oshawa but job security at other Ontario plants remains at issue, the Canadian Auto Workers said Tuesday.

The union had hoped to make an announcement at a late-morning media briefing, but that session was postponed, tentatively until early afternoon. CAW president Buzz Hargrove told reporters that one of two issues he had described Monday as potential "show-stoppers" had been settled.

But GM still faced a strike deadline of midnight Tuesday night by 17,000 union members. GM has removed from the table a proposal to trim two minutes from the daily work-break time of assembly workers at its two car plants and one truck plant in Oshawa, east of Toronto.

Rest of story:
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/business/050927/b092756.html

[delco583]

I think GM Canada will cave in and give the CAW what they want. A strike would just look really bad at this point. Especially after Ford and Chrysler both settled so quickly. It should be interesting.

[tgagneguam]

So what demand has the CAW ceded in return?

[paul8488]

Originally Posted by delco583

TORONTO (CP) - General Motors of Canada has withdrawn a demand for shorter work breaks at its assembly complex in Oshawa but job security at other Ontario plants remains at issue, the Canadian Auto Workers said Tuesday.

I can be fired tomorrow... as can most of you, I'm sure... no sympathy here.

[delco583]

Originally Posted by paul8488

I can be fired tomorrow... as can most of you, I'm sure... no sympathy here.

Agreed. Right now I'm playing the worlds smallest violin.

[doh]

Not looking good

AP
Strike Looms for Canadian Auto Workers
Tuesday September 27, 5:15 pm ET
By Beth Duff-Brown, Associated Press Writer
Possible Strike by 17,000 GM Workers in Canada Looms As Both Sides Remain Deadlocked

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050927/canad...alks.html?.v=5

[hunchman]

Originally Posted by paul8488

I can be fired tomorrow... as can most of you, I'm sure... no sympathy here.

.............when you are on the outside looking in that attitude is typical..........if given the chance you would join in a minute...........what unions have done for us blue collar workers in general no one will ever notice..........I guess we should give up on all unions and all companies would be so generous then.........or we can bash them and work our way to the bottom

[Slack]

I don't think that GM should cave in to the CAW. If any other company in the world were in the financial situation that GM is in, they would at lest consider cutting part of their employee pay/benefit packages. They would be stupid not to. Just like it is stupid to bash GM for standing up (although timidly) to their unions. The union workers should be lucky they have a job, just like everyone else.

[VivienM]

Originally Posted by Slack

I don't think that GM should cave in to the CAW. If any other company in the world were in the financial situation that GM is in, they would at lest consider cutting part of their employee pay/benefit packages. They would be stupid not to. Just like it is stupid to bash GM for standing up (although timidly) to their unions. The union workers should be lucky they have a job, just like everyone else.

GM of Canada is not, as far as anyone knows (they don't publish separate financial results, I don't think), in a bad financial situation...

The head office is, but...

What is it with this "you should be lucky to have a job" attitude? You sound like a parent. If people thought like you a hundred years ago, they would have told car inventors that they should consider themselves lucky to have a horse and to stop stirring up trouble with their funky creations!

Anybody who thinks they should be lucky to have the status quo is someone who is not going to do the slightest thing to make the world a better place.

Shameful, shameful attitude.

[kool_zx3]

If anyone has a chevy impala or anything on order you might be in for long wait

[VivienM]

Originally Posted by kool_zx3

If anyone has a chevy impala or anything on order you might be in for long wait

Wait until midnight.

IIRC, they did the same thing with F*rd... 48 hours before the deadline, went in front of the media to say no deal was near. 24 hours before, there were a few sticking points... and then something like 1 hour before, they signed a deal.

[517]

Originally Posted by hunchman

.............when you are on the outside looking in that attitude is typical..........if given the chance you would join in a minute...........what unions have done for us blue collar workers in general no one will ever notice..........I guess we should give up on all unions and all companies would be so generous then.........or we can bash them and work our way to the bottom

Gimme a break. Unions like the UAW are remnants of a bygone era; this isn't the 19th century. I ask: What have they done? Besides driven up prices, held companies like GM by the throat until they get their demands met, and given unskilled workers overpaid jobs, that is.

Funny, companies like WalMart and Target get by just fine without unions. They have low prices and their employees do just fine without. I worked for the latter years ago when I was in college and was treated great. I got raises, got breaks, got insurance, etc. and didn't have to pay dues to some monolith that only helps preserve the jobs of the incompetent.

[roushcrew]

Originally Posted by hunchman

.............when you are on the outside looking in that attitude is typical..........if given the chance you would join in a minute...........what unions have done for us blue collar workers in general no one will ever notice..........I guess we should give up on all unions and all companies would be so generous then.........or we can bash them and work our way to the bottom

What's that old saying? "Unions are for mama's boys who can't find a job on their own"?

[kool_zx3]

Originally Posted by 517

Gimme a break. Unions like the UAW are remnants of a bygone era; this isn't the 19th century. I ask: What have they done? Besides driven up prices, held companies like GM by the throat until they get their demands met, and given unskilled workers overpaid jobs, that is.

Funny, companies like WalMart and Target get by just fine without unions. They have low prices and their employees do just fine without. I worked for the latter years ago when I was in college and was treated great. I got raises, got breaks, got insurance, etc. and didn't have to pay dues to some monolith that only helps preserve the jobs of the incompetent.

Must be why walmart employees are underpaid and 70 percent libe below the poverty line i know i worked there for extra cash

[McG]

Originally Posted by hunchman

.............what unions have done for us blue collar workers in general no one will ever notice.....

I've noticed.


In particular I've noticed that because of the Unions (and some poor Management decisions) GM is not barely solvent.

The UAW/ CAW as they are, are going away. Whether it happens quickly or slowly is up to the them.