Biden says striking UAW workers deserve 'fair share' of record auto maker profits - ABC News
By: ABC News
Well there you go.........the liberal magic mantra.............
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Joe Biden on Friday offered support to United Auto Workers union members amid their strike against the Big 3 U.S. automakers.
"Record corporate profits, which they have, should be shared by record contracts for the UAW," Biden said in brief remarks at the White House, adding "workers deserve a fair share of the benefits they helped create for an enterprise."
The United Auto Workers or UAW, started a strike early Friday morning against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. Nearly 13,000 workers walked out of three auto plants in Michigan, Missouri and Ohio.
MORE: UAW launches strike against Big 3 automakers
The strike will be a political test for Biden, who says he's the most pro-union president in history, and his economic agenda heading into 2024.
"It's my hope that the parties can return to the negotiation table to forge a win-win agreement," Biden said on Friday.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the contract negotiations between the United Auto Workers and auto companies in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, Sept. 15, 2023.Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Biden spoke with UAW president Shawn Fain and leaders of the auto companies on Thursday to discuss ongoing negotiations hours before the midnight deadline.
But by 10 p.m., Fain said workers were prepared to strike if a deal wasn't reached. Sticking points in negotiations were wage increases and the length of the workweek.
MORE: Strike against automakers could slow US economy, trigger job losses
The president is deploying acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and White House senior adviser Gene Sperling to Detroit to offer their support for the parties in reaching an agreement.
"The bottom line is that auto workers who create America's middle class, they deserve a contract that sustains them in the middle class," Biden said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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And the password is "FAIR SHARE".
Get to the basement.......................
"workers deserve a fair share of the benefits they helped create for an enterprise."
I see nothing wrong with this statement. As I’ve said elsewhere, there needs to be better, more reasonable policing of both sides of this spectrum. The non-union private sector successfully engages with profit sharing, and in return makes reasonable demands of its labor force. Giving the guy with multiple neck tattoos the option of rehab for ODing on the line from his fentanyl addiction in order to keep his job is a bridge too far.
I dont think we can base wide spread conclusions on anecdotes. Counting active and retired the UAW has almost a million members.
It’s not really an anecdote, it’s a rampant problem in the automotive manufacturing plants. Of course not everyone is guilty of it, but it’s common knowledge amongst the work force that the only deterrent to using drugs is not that you will lose your job, but that you will have to endure the hassle of rehab. That is a ridiculous concession. You will not find that in other countries. It is entirely fair to expect your work force to fear losing their job if they get caught using hard drugs, or being high on company time.
Which feeds a narrative that unions have outlived their usefulness? Perhaps?
It was a life changing event when my dad was hired for a union job back in the 70s. Dad spent 35 years there .. but by the late 90s / early 2000s the younger union members were tearing the company apart .. The company could not meet the demands of the union - older drivers took their pensions and the company shut its doors. Missoula Cartage was a family owed business for something like 70 years that treated their employees with respect. It was hard to watch happen!
My dad experienced issues with unionization as well. He was a very dedicated professor at a state university, and took merit bonuses very seriously. He was so dedicated to research and obtaining grant work that I barely ever saw him because he spent Saturdays in the lab. The union did away with merit pay but forced him to pay union dues. I wouldn’t say that unions have outlived their usefulness, but I would say they sometimes have fucked up priorities.
Agreed that the priorities are fucked up! ... but as for usefulness I think I question that, finally law enforcement is take measures to terminate the out of whack officers .. but that union also protects the good and the bad, which makes it difficult to clean up a department - sort of goes back to the 'do we send them to rehab' for their tendencies...? (just as an example - I am not bashing)
Is there some law against these folks buying stock in these companies?
Buying it? With what? Their excess income?
And why should they have to buy it when the executives just get it added on to their compensation?
Yes. The same way everybody else does. Including school teachers. It's not like they make minimum wage.
Why aren't they negotiating to have it added to their compensation?
The point is executive compensation is rising faster than the rank and file, which made many concessions in 2008 to help the company survive.
I’m not suggesting the rank and file need raises, but I see no reason why executives should get them first or in greater degree.
Executive comp is actually down from last year.
The CEO of Ford gets about 80% of his pay in stocks and options. Another 15% comes in the form of performance incentives.
Of course rank and file employees need raises. That's expected. But 40% over 4 years when Ford has lost money 2 of the last 4 years seems a bit crazy.
If they're really upset that they're not getting their share of the profits, why aren't they demanding a higher percentage of the profits rather than hourly wages?
Well... if everybody's pay is tied to company performance... you don't really need the union anymore.
From last year? Just the one year, huh?
According this source , Autoworker pay has declined 28% since 2008. Meanwhile, CEO pay has increased 40% over the last decade.
Profits at the Big 3 automakers have increased 92% in the last decade.
I don’t know. I’d be guessing. I would think any arrangement that seemed like a fair share would be acceptable. Does it make a difference what form it comes in?
These executives make several hundred times what the rank and file workers make. I don’t know how anyone justifies that.
It fluctuates from year to year, based on performance.
To be clear, that source is actually:
So since we know the source is biased, we should probably check their numbers.
When you click EPI's link, their own data contradicts that assertion. When you actually check their numbers, it gets much worse.
The problem these think tanks run into is that financial data on publicly traded companies is public, and their math is easy to check.
EPI's claims about "combined profits" are problematic, at best. For example, they claim that combined Big 3 profits in 2019 were $22billion. The actual number is less than $10billion. GM made $6.73b, Ford made less than $50 million (with an 'm'), and Stellantis made $3.2b. Where does the other $12 billion come from?
When we look further at the actual numbers for GM (for example), we see that according to their 2011 SEC 10-K filing , net income was 9.287 billion. According to their 2021 filing, net income was 9.945 billion . In fact, net income has been all over the place over the last decade, while investors have made a very crappy 1.88% annualized return on their money. Ford investors have lost money over the last decade.
So I'm not sure there is actually a lot of mathematical support for EPI's idea that the poor little autoworkers have been left behind while the greedy investors are getting rich.
Their own publication says that figure is "inflation adjusted", and given how bad they are with their other numbers, I'm not inclined to believe them on this, either.
I think so.
If their complaint is really about "the company is making vast profits and we're not getting a fair share", then tying compensation to profits solves that problem.
Personally, I think that whole complaint is a ruse. They just want more money. I don't blame anybody for wanting more money, but everything has a limit. At some point, they price themselves out of a job.
More money is nice, and from what I've heard the automakers are willing to give a bugetable amount, but I think the issue that is gumming things up is long term health care.
That's interesting. I hadn't read anything about that, but it certainly would not be a surprise.
Hmmm .... a politician pandering to a portion of his/her base ... I'm shocked!
Exactly, fortunately for me, Biden is advocating for another federal worker pay raise of 5.2 percent in FY 24.
Awww, c'mon man! "Amtrak Joe" told us he had conversations with Angelo Negri (the conductor) on the train 2 decades after Negri retired and even a year after he died. He also keeps telling us that he drove a tractor trailer back in the day.
I'm sure the same is true about the UAW and "fair share".
What's not to believe?
People think new cars are expensive now? There won't be a car under $75,000 by 2030 if this happened
According to the Census Bureau, the current average American's income is approximately $70-75K. The current average EV price tag is approximately $60-65K. It doesn't take a math genius to figure out that without taking on a huge car loan, the average American cannot possibly afford an EV and live on $10-15K/year without accruing further debt.
... and the first flat screen tvs ran between 12,000$ and 15,000$, these days everyone has 2 on average. Find another genius to consult.
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Indeed, that was the point ...
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some of these people would be better off remaining silent.
Meh. NAFTA will prevail.
NAFTA? What does the agreement between Mexico and Canada have to do with auto prices- I realize there are plants in both countries .. it is surprising the number of luxury vehicles that are made in Canada .. but how does that bring down pricing?
NAFTA enables automakers (correction... HAS enabled automakers) to move production to Mexico where they can take advantage of significant labor cost savings without paying huge tariffs to import their products.
There are about 20 auto plants in Mexico, mostly exporting vehicles or parts to the US. That business is up about 500% since the implementation of NAFTA.
So as these negotiations are happening, part of the math going on in the background involves what would production costs be if they just moved all this shit to Mexico where they could get a 60% labor cost savings instead of a 40% increase.
Thanks for the information, Jack .. I did find some articles over the weekend, that speculate more aspects of auto manufacturing moving to Mexico is just around the corner. Layoffs have already begun for nonunion workers.
I think there will be a lot of cars made in "right-to-work" states. The auto workers have seen wages increase dramatically in certain other sectors and they know it takes a lot less workers to build electric cars, so this is not a total shock.
Joe Biden needs every vote and his words cost nothing.
The UAW president, Shawn Fain, has called Ford and GM offers of 20% pay increase over 4 1/2 years as inadequate after years of sharp inflation.
Shawn must not read NT with frequent Biden economy assessments pointing to rapidly declining inflation.
Since this worthless fucker was part of the administration that screwed over bond holders, it's no surprise he thinks workers should get the stockholders share now. Biden and democrats buying votes with other peoples money.
That’s the most affordable way to buy votes.
Socialism Joe or at least his puppet masters are.
When asked directly if she thought the difference in pay was fair, she refused to answer and said only that they had a “compelling offer on the table.” She knows it’s not fair.
This requires more skill than anything a UAW worker does. Tick Tock bitches!
Bathroom cleaning robot
I see so many issues with that thing. Did you see how much industrial strength disinfectant it lays down? That’s how superbug resistance is developed. It doesn’t replace the janitorial staff, it only allows them to not have to clean the bathrooms by themselves. Why would anyone want to pay more to have their staff do less?
I’m not defending unions, I’m just pointing out some obvious oversights with this contraption.
Unfortunately, the President didn't have enough time to describe how much equals a fair share or the formula to determine it.
Hey, Prez Dumfuq, the reason profits are at record highs is because the price of vehicles is high. Shifting where those profits go within the company won't lower the price of vehicles. Consumers are still going to be screwed.
If the automakers lowered prices on ICE vehicles (and made less profit) then they couldn't sell EVs that are priced even higher. Prez Dumfuq is the reason those profits are so high.