UAW Has Ford in its Sights
"If they don't restore everything [union workers] gave up, the membership is going to knock it down. The bonuses that were just announced are just ridiculous."
-- Bill Johnson, leader of the United Auto Workers Local 900 at the Ford Focus plant in Wayne, Mich., talking to UPI.
The United Auto Workers now has an ownership stake in two of America’s Big Three automakers, and at union’s meeting in Detroit this week to discuss the pending expiration of the industry-wide contract there is little love being heard for the third member. Ford’s Blue Oval is looking more like a bull’s-eye these days.
The Obama administration inserted no-strike clauses into the labor contracts of GM and Chrysler during the 2009 government takeover and reorganization of the bankrupt carmakers. As part of the bailout package, the unions agreed not to go on strike against the companies when the current contract expires.
But since Ford remained an independent company, it has no such protection.
All three automakers won considerable concessions from the unions when the current contract was negotiated three years ago – shifting bonus payments to cover reducing the starting wage for new workers and freezing wages at the $28-per-hour average for existing employees.
Under those terms and with a series of sales successes like its new Explorer, Ford has roared back to profitability. Despite carrying massive debt that its competitors saw wiped out as part of the Obama-UAW deal, Ford has been a marked success story.
The union, though, is moving this week toward the end of all of the givebacks in the previous contract and the restoration of the wages and benefits deemed unaffordable before. Citing executive pay and growing profits, labor leaders are particularly angry at Ford’s success.
This sets up some interesting questions: Can a union that partially owns two car companies shut down a competitor without violating anti-trust laws? Can a federal government that is in partnership with the union in owning two car companies be trusted to resolve a dispute at a competitor’s operations?
And the biggest question of all: can Ford endure a strike without following its competitors into bankruptcy and federal control?
When will the unions ever learn their lesson and leave a profitable, job producing company alone? They won't be happy until Ford is ruined too and under their thumb. Unbelievable.
"If they don't restore everything [union workers] gave up, the membership is going to knock it down. The bonuses that were just announced are just ridiculous."
-- Bill Johnson, leader of the United Auto Workers Local 900 at the Ford Focus plant in Wayne, Mich., talking to UPI.
The United Auto Workers now has an ownership stake in two of America’s Big Three automakers, and at union’s meeting in Detroit this week to discuss the pending expiration of the industry-wide contract there is little love being heard for the third member. Ford’s Blue Oval is looking more like a bull’s-eye these days.
The Obama administration inserted no-strike clauses into the labor contracts of GM and Chrysler during the 2009 government takeover and reorganization of the bankrupt carmakers. As part of the bailout package, the unions agreed not to go on strike against the companies when the current contract expires.
But since Ford remained an independent company, it has no such protection.
All three automakers won considerable concessions from the unions when the current contract was negotiated three years ago – shifting bonus payments to cover reducing the starting wage for new workers and freezing wages at the $28-per-hour average for existing employees.
Under those terms and with a series of sales successes like its new Explorer, Ford has roared back to profitability. Despite carrying massive debt that its competitors saw wiped out as part of the Obama-UAW deal, Ford has been a marked success story.
The union, though, is moving this week toward the end of all of the givebacks in the previous contract and the restoration of the wages and benefits deemed unaffordable before. Citing executive pay and growing profits, labor leaders are particularly angry at Ford’s success.
This sets up some interesting questions: Can a union that partially owns two car companies shut down a competitor without violating anti-trust laws? Can a federal government that is in partnership with the union in owning two car companies be trusted to resolve a dispute at a competitor’s operations?
And the biggest question of all: can Ford endure a strike without following its competitors into bankruptcy and federal control?
When will the unions ever learn their lesson and leave a profitable, job producing company alone? They won't be happy until Ford is ruined too and under their thumb. Unbelievable.
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