G.M. Seeks to Cut UAW Workers' Wages in Half at U.S. Plant:

[amborin]

GM Seeks to Cut Wages in Half at Indianapolis Stamping Plant

Jane Slaughter | July 17, 2010

GM stamping plant workers in Indianapolis have told the company they won’t cut their wages in half, even when threatened with a shutdown. A prospective buyer of the 650-worker factory has indicated he wants United Auto Workers members to drop from $29 an hour to $14.65.

http://www.labornotes.org/2010/07/gm-seeks-cut-wages-half-indianapolis-stamping-plant

(and, just in case anyone missed it: the U.S. takeover of G.M., and the "new" G.M. was all about busting the UAW)

GM’s “Northern Strategy”: Go Non-Union

by Al Benchich | Mon, 02/22/2010 - 7:16pm


Green Battery Plant Opens Non-Union
The “reinvention” of the “New GM” has begun with the opening of a lithium-ion battery plant in Brownstown, Michigan, near Detroit. The event was remarkable not only because the Brownstown plant signals GM’s return to the production of an electric vehicle but also because, for the first time in about 30 years, GM has opened a non-union plant in the U.S.

The new plant is funded in part by taxpayer dollars, and GM is not rehiring any of the thousands of UAW members who were laid off when their plants closed—despite union promises that workers’ concessions on pay, benefits, and speed of work would save GM and were their only chance for job security.

The plant, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors, opened on January 7 and currently employs 25 hourly workers. Last year former GM CEO Fritz Henderson said GM planned to hire new workers to fill 100 hourly jobs at second-tier wages of about $14 an hour. (Henderson, who was fired by GM, is now being paid $60,000 a month as a “consultant” to work 20 hours a month—$3,000 an hour.)
Speaking at the battery plant’s opening, new GM Chairman Ed Whitacre spoke of the company’s opportunities in the transformation to “green” products and jobs. Apparently, GM’s transformation doesn’t include UAW representation....

snip

http://www.labornotes.org/blogs/2010/02/gm%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cnorthern-strategy%E2%80%9D-go-non-union

[msongs]

1. so new car price will be slashed to reflect lower labor costs right? right? lol nt

[Hannah Bell]

7. labor cost hasn't been a big portion of the price for years anyway.

direct & indirect labor combined are less than 25% of the cost.

the rest is capitalists charging each other rents. they can't squeeze each other so they keep squeezing labor/

The Indirect Issue

Although direct labor contributes about 15% to the price of a vehicle, it isn't simply the direct labor that the "Harbour Report" assesses in its calculation of the labor cost per vehicle. Indirect labor—including skilled trades—are also included in the figuring, which brings the labor contribution to cost to just above 20%, to about 22 to 23%.

http://www.autofieldguide.com/articles/089705.html.

[amborin]

10. yes,

although they do squeeze each other to some extent, in the sense that the big three, moreso than the japanese, use cost as a principal criterion for choosing suppliers; so the suppliers are perpetually squeezed

[knitter4democracy]

2. So, it's keep your job at a pay rate you can get elsewhere or . . .

That's freakin' ridiculous!

[Hawkowl]

3. Oh this will help the economy

If this goes through we can expect the Great Depression II to continue at an accelerated pace. Shit, it is readily apparent that the Great Depression II is already accelerating and this is just adding gasoline to the fire.

The ruling class and conservatives won't be happy until we are all slaves.

[EC]

4. I thought that UAW had an agreement that all new hires

would be at the 14.00 rate? So why non-union? Can't the employees decide to join a union down the line and make the factory a closed shop?

[Ganja Ninja]

5. And now we see what free trade is really all about. n/t

[NoNothing]

6. I'm surprised Obama would allow this

It seems contrary to wider economic aims.

[Hannah Bell]

8. the admin facilitated it. they gave gm cover to declare bankruptcy.

which it wanted to do to discharge obligations & force new agreements.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/03/obama-pushing-quick-surgical-big-auto.html

gm was only in bad shape in the us -- by design.

and pension costs weren't the problem, nor health care costs -- most of which they'd already offloaded onto employees.

[Donnachaidh]

9. Shock Doctrine baby! Welcome to the Third World!

:grr: