Why I think the UAW is right

[mgescuro]

Originally Posted by fp115

I never said I didn't agree with you, but will people look beyond the headlines?

Since when have people EVER looked beyond the headlines?
America no longer breeds a critical thinking populace.

Originally Posted by fp115

They see headlines, then are told when they come into work that they need to make cuts. How do you think the average UAW would feel to that?

If news reported "Ford is in bad shape and if something is not done about the company, they will fail soon", you will see a huge majority voting for the agreements.

So what will happen is that UAW will tell ford to submit to a 3rd party evaluator... and that 3rd party evaluator will concur with every single analyst on the planet. "Ford is not healthy, so you must make cuts."

It's a political maneuver by the union to show its members it is fighting for them, when in reality, the union (should) knows (sic) that Ford isn't healthy at all.

[AMERICA 123]

Originally Posted by Dr. Show-Me

Ford is damaged relative to GM by having a more costly labor agreement.

NOPE. Not one bit so far and under any number of likely future scenerios as well - which is why no one will post any analysis to that effect and we now have three decent industry opinions stating just the opposite.

Whether this is significant in the long run depends upon how successful they will be in selling their new product lines in the future.

Yep - which depends heavily on a bunch of stuff outside of both Ford's and the UAW's control - or 'performance'.

The UAW is right to contest Fords's drive for lower costs, and Ford is right in pursuing them.

Yeah, but Ford management showed little class in how they handled this and very clearly are out of touch with the rank and file as is the UAW Leadership.

Little too much input from certain sections of NYC would be a decent guess as to why - it has that tinge of non reality thinking and no feel for working people.

"BB" as is typical made a very insightful post further back that covers much -

Originally Posted by Barry Badrinath

It goes back to perception.

Ford has done a great job manipulating it's perceived (not accounting) financial position to the general public over the past 12 months.

So much so that the average American who doesn't bother reading the financials, or review forward looking statements, believe their strength as fact.

Then again, FoMoCo has been extremely proactive over the past 30 months, and have navigated this recession remarkably well.

I don't see their posturing on this particular subject as being any different. Simple as "you don't ask, you don't get".

As for the rest of it, well, these financials are only a point in time.

Mulally and Co. clearly have a direction and quarterly results only verify their past actions.

What happens with this contract in 2011, or their current debt load going forward, or the state of the economy, or new equity offering: it's all linear conjecturing.

And a best guess about a date in the future is just that, a guess.

Ford shareholders have trust in Mulally and Co. will continue to make the correct decisions.


I think Buick is right, the Union should tell Ford to pound sand.

I also think Ford was smart to ask for this now.

Ford has the next move...

Sigma caught a big part of the essential flavor as well.

Originally Posted by sigma

Someone better have a good reason why their CEO is making $30 million a year and gets a private jet, the company posts a $1 Billion profit and management still comes to the unions looking for concessions.

These guys have seen half their friends and neighbors laid off.

They've seen their pay cut in half.

They've seen their work rules trashed to save the company.

And you wonder why they are resistant to another round of concessions while management is raking in the dough and the company is rolling in profits.

[jry]

Originally Posted by wescoent

Because if Alan Mulally, Mark Fields, Derrick Kuzak, and Jim Farley were not hired when they were, EVERYONE would have been laid off because the company would have gone bankrupt and been liquidated.

Period.

There are a handful of corporate executives I'd say truly earned every penny with NO questions asked, and those four are among them.

And..... there is NO ONE at the UAW with the skills and talent that could have pulled this off. NO ONE. They have no business griping about the salaries of these guys. If they have someone around there that is capable of the job, bring him or her on. These guys at Ford have all of the pressure and responsibility to keep the company in business and these ingrates working.
In this country, you reward this effort with money. Thats how it works.

[syr74]

Originally Posted by Buick61

Oh, and you already moved your bread and butter cars to Mexico for production. How is that for a slap in the American workers' faces? Threatening to move more products there as a coercive bargaining tool will only make you look worse.

While I would prefer that Ford assemble every Ford badged vehicle sold in the United States within the borders of the same, I can't fault them for anything they try to pull over on the UAW. When Ford moved those jobs to Mexico who would have imagined that Mexican facility would be the most productive Ford facility in North America and build the highest quality product too? The fact that a facility in a third world country can outpace anything the UAW has to offer says all that I need to hear, the UAW is a leech that accomplishes nothing worthwhile and the sooner that organization is gone the better.