Posts Tagged ‘Anti-Union’
GM/Chrysler Get BILLION$. Workers MUST Give Up A Living Wage.
Globe and Mail: Canadian workers at the two crippled Detroit-based auto makers must agree to slash wages and benefits by as much as $19 an hour to prevent their employers from filing for bankruptcy protection, Industry Minister Tony Clement says.
In an interview Wednesday, Mr. Clement said Fiat SpA has committed to follow through with Canadian investment promised by Chrysler LLC, if the ailing car maker can slash its labour costs and can conclude a strategic alliance with the Italian car company.
But the minister said the Canadian Auto Workers union will have to reach new deals at both Chrysler and General Motors of Canada Ltd. before the government will provide long-term loans to keep the companies afloat.
Why is it that government’s ability to innovate reasonable solutions seems to end at the hourly worker?
How is it that banks, investment firms and insurance companies can get swift unquestioned action worth 100’s of BILLION$ but when it comes to making it work on the shop floor it always comes down to the hourly worker? Or more importantly what the hourly worker must give up in order to stay employed?
If this last financial implosion has taught us anything it is that our governments have failed us beyond measure.
Of course any sane individual knew it was only a matter of time before this lop-sided mule fell over but the unfortunate reality is that governments including Mr. Clement’s on again off again government allowed these companies to grow so massive and have become so deeply embeded in our economy that they have become economic weapons of mass destruction.
Surely it must be clear to every single taxpayer in North America that our governments have selected which side of the equation they favour and are willing to through their citizens into working poverty without so much as taking back one single executive airplane.
Where are the HUGE and MASSIVE concessions in the executive offices across North America? Hell, most if not all of the individuals who contributed to this mess have been hand picked by world leaders to “fix” their own problem. Man, when they say “fix” they aren’t kidding. The fix has been in since they pulled their economic weapons of mass destruction out and pointed them at the head’s of our glorious leaders nearly six months ago.
If these companies are NOT viable paying their workers a reasonable wage then there is no real point to pumping BILLION$ into them and keeping them on life support while we wait for the world governments to suck up all the toxic debt these companies created only to start this march of stupidity all over again. If so, I’ll see you in a decade. Same place, three times the price!
This bailout madness has got to stop. It’s time for governments, executives, workers and citizens alike to take it EQUALLY on the chin and let these companies fail and reorganize into smaller, stronger on more nimble operations. Simply pumping BILLION$ of litres of blood into a corpse hoping it’s going to get up and run let alone walk is foolishness in the extreme.
Rich Contracts Unbreakable. Working Class… What Contracts!?
How is it that we didn’t hear but a mumble from Tony Clements until well after this financial apocalypse was well underway? And now that Mr. Clements has been awakened he speaks those tried and true Tory words that have fixed recessions for eons. Concessions.
Mr. Clement must have been snoozing when CAW workers just finished negotiating a new contract just a few short months ago. He also seems to have forgotten that that contract along with the contract negotiated by Chrysler workers included significant concessions above and beyond what was originally demanded.
So how is it that it’s the front line, shop floor workers that are once again being forced to make excessively deep concessions in order to ensure the viability of companies that have been driven into the ground by management?
How is it that President Rainbows and Unicorns demands similar deep concessions from American workers yet in the same breath claims that “contracts ” with the rich and ruling class banking, investment and insurance establishments are unbreakable.
Yes, the contracts that will see the very companies that contributed the most to the global financial meltdown will have to be honoured because America is a country of laws, according to new AIG CEO Edward Liddy – who’s company has recieved 100’s of BILLION$ of dollars in taxpayer bailout money. A compensation scheme that will see million$ paid out in bonues and newly renamed retention payments.
Yet American unionized workers are being asked to take HUGE concessions including massive wage cuts, benefit roll backs and pension deferrals in order to get their employers a few billion dollar$ in bailout loans.
And now We see those f@#*in’ useless media bobbleheads have started chirping about not demonizing the bankers and profiteers because in President Rainbows and Unicorns’ words, “We need these people to fix our broken system”. Huh!?
While some may say the autoworkers have done this to themselves and deserve what they get, I would ask each and every one of you to think about how many times you have been asked in your career to take substantial wages cuts, benefit roll backs and pension payment deferrals in your careers? Well? My guess is that not many of us have had EVER had to take a fraction of the cuts that autoworkers have been taking since the mid 70’s with world governments allowed a small Arab nation in the Middle East to hold the world hostage for oil.
The G-20 leaders will be meeting soon and we can all HOPE that they have a clear understanding of the depth and level of anger that has been building in the common class for decades as we have watched these episodic adventures of boom and bust play out on hte backs and wallets of us workin’ folk!
Mr. Obama was elected solely on a platform of CHANGE and HOPE. “Yes we can.” was the mantra. It’s time for Mr. Obama to start living up to his simple and direct promise of CHANGE in the politics of the day and HOPE for average workers around the world. Like many of his well oiled speeches, he has become very adept at rephrasing his promises to fit his slow but inevitable move back to the center and away for the very people that elected him.
Obama: Autoworkers Must Make HUGE Sacrifices But We Have To Honour Wall Street Contracts. WTF!
New York Times: If sufficient sacrifices are made in board rooms, showrooms and factory floors, the president said, “then we will look back and say that this was the moment when America’s auto industry shed its old ways, marched into the future and remade itself, once more, into an engine of opportunity and prosperity.”
Isn’t funny how that labour must always make such huge sacrifices while the banks, investment firms and insurance companies that burned our economy to the ground are somehow exempt from such drastic measures. Of course Congress is flinging it’s legislative arms wildly in an incredibly obvious attempt to cover their asses but it’s too little to late.
In fact, many of the CEOs and executives that contributed to the financial meltdown are now being invited by the Obama administration to implement his “recovery” and “bailout” plan.
Sounds to me like Obama is inviting the arsonists to the bonfire hoping they can put it out. Meanwhile the American blue collar worker must again take it on the chin, wallet and in the savings account while the rich and ruling class walk away virtually untouched by their own greed – as usual.
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