Could the Ford battery joint venture there be next?
Here is the Detroit news article.
Quite a lively comments section there, 456 and counting
19 replies (most recent on top)
This may be hard for you to understand or to accept - but you do not have a 'right' to have a family. And you certainly do not have a 'right' to 'support' a family.
The market will dictate who gets what. If you have a valuable skill then you will have a job and get paid well.
If you do not, then you will have to relocate until you find a job. Think about The Grapes of Wrath. People today would never survive those times. Those people had to move their entire household to follow the work wherever it went. People to day are so entitled.
@3auh+1s8X38xE Maybe is not easy to move with the family, but it is not impossible. When you ask someone what would they do if they win the lottery, most of them say "travel". Even having a family. So why not move for a better job?
The main reason is we get too attached to places, even more than to people. We sought the comfort of knowing our way around, forgetting the adventure of exploring new places. Then most of us use the excuse of family and friends to stay put, while we remodel our homes.
I learned to have fewer possessions since I was a kid. I had already lived in 4 different places when I was 14 years old. Probably a dozen more places since then. I learned to create attachment to people, not to things. I am always willing to move if it represents a better job.
When I was young, I had to walk or drive around the area, talk to people, discover where the best places were. Now is much easier to know your way around the new places: cellphones with maps, Internet, online reviews, etc. Communications are even better, so people can keep in touch with their friends and family using text, calls and video. However, the population mobility in America is at an all time low. Go figure!
@3auh+1s8X38xE I do support what @3ocf+1s8X38xE is saying. A Union reduces the competitiveness of a company. Sure, if the company have a monopoly, it can pay the Union by raising the prices. Good examples of this are utilities companies, some rural hospitals, and government. No competition means customers have to deal with these cr-ppy services supported by lazy unionized workers, and paying whatever crazy amounts.
However, for everything else, there is a fierce competition. What business doesn't want to make millions or billions in profits? All companies are willing to destroy the competition. Having a "handicap", A.K.A Union, with higher costs and lower quality makes a company less competitive, and forces it to raise the prices of its products. Remove the truck series, and everyone would tell you that japanese cars are better made and cheaper than any of the 3. That's why, little by little, the American brands have declined, being replaced by the union-free competition.
I would give you this. Having the threat of a Union, companies in the south tend to give better salaries and benefits to their workers, just to keep them happy. So, in a way, Unions are good in the short term for the workers, bad in the long run.
@3ocf+1s8X38xE, what a naive person, wait until you get kids and family to care. Even your skill is in demand, it is not always easy to move across the country for another job like you just graduate from college. Detroit/Michigan can only absorb so much jobs, that is why employers treat employees like s***.
@3prh+1s8X38xE If I may add to your comment, the main reason the unskilled jobs were highly paid was that WWII destroyed all the factories that could compete with American workers. After the war, most of Europe had to be rebuilt, meaning a demand for American goods since they were the only ones still in business. The 50's and 60's saw an erosion of these unskilled jobs as Europe and Japan recovered enough to be world players again.
Then the 70's brought "cheaper labor" with the push to move jobs overseas to China. As more factories moved to China and other 3rd World countries, our cities started to clean: smog, trash, and diseases started to appear in those countries, while dissappeared in ours.
As technology advanced, globalization became a reality. As you said, we are competing against the world. Unions are not cutting it anymore, since the main idea behind unions is the monopoly of the work force, and that is not happening anymore. Any company can go to any other country, particularly if avoiding Unions.
Ol' Henry was clear about Unions and their bad impact on companies. The issue is not the workers being highly compensated. The issue is the low quality of the job, the co--y workforce, the many regulations for workers having an excuse not to work, and/or keeping an overinflated payroll. Dealing with Unions is a PITA. Dealings with Unionized workers more PITA. Plus Unions tend to attract the lazy, while keeping the good workers away. And if a good worker starts in a Union, the other workers will pressure him/her to stop being a good worker.
Therefore, many companies would prefer leaving the States than dealing with Unions, and many others don't want to bring jobs back to America. That is causing issues here, since we still need unskilled jobs because not everyone can be a rocket scientist. I believe that the States having favorable views on Unions will lose more jobs, while the States not supporting Unions will see more jobs coming.
The bottom line is that any person who works for a publicly traded company is vulnerable, regardless of skill level or education. Including the CEO. It’s all about the shareholders and/or the activist investors.
Imo folks are obsessed with bringing back low skill / high paying jobs because people saw prior generations live this lifestyle and don’t fully understand why these jobs aren’t available like they once were. I grew up in a rural area east of Flint, MI and still remember as a young child over 80% of the residents worked in a GM plant at that time. By the time I graduated college most had lost their jobs and the area had deteriorated. Homes, yards etc weren’t cared for and schools closed. Folks need to be realistic imo and pursue career paths that are in demand. The old days of high pay for unskilled manual labor are gone. Those jobs were available prior to global business, technologies that made worldwide production, commerce, transportation, communication, etc easy. You gotta compete not with only John down the road for work but other folks in Mexico/China/Vietnam who ask for a fraction of the pay.
As a salary employee I don’t need a union imo. The labor market forces set pay as well as your benefits. If you feel you aren’t being compensated fairly for your work imo there are a few options 1) have a candid chat with your boss, 2) look for other opportunities that will compensate accordingly or 3) it’s possible you need to up your performance. Don’t think this would work in a union environment but to each their own.
@2lmf
Please do some research.
Ford plants in Mexico are represented by unions.
@2lmf, why are all you Americans obsessed with repatriating low skilled, over priced, manufacturing jobs? A base F-150 would cost about $150k if all the parts and manufacturing was done at union shop in the US, is that really what you want? This is why China is passing you by.
@2rk Mexico doesn’t want to be unionized. The only reason they build cars in Mexico is due to low labor costs. They understand that if they unionized it would be game over. The gov should add a 50% tariff to all vehicles manufactured outside of the US and use the proceeds to subsidize the purchase of American-made cars if they really cared about supporting American manufacturing
VW is doomed. Sorry to hear this bad news.
What union should do is unionize Mexico!! It's time to set the bar on pay for all workers. Everything is about stock price and investors - companies if managed correctly can offer their works good pay, reduced layoffs.
What is the product, volume and profitability of VW Tennessee plant? Can that production easily be moved?
The acceleration of the move to Mexico is well under way!
VW has plants south of the border. I wouldn’t be surprised if they close the TN plant. VW has no skin in the US political game
Eat the rich baby. Record profits = record contracts.
I expect more non-union auto factories will be unionized. Even white collar employees may want to unionize if current layoff trends continue and employers treat employees like s***.
Oops here is the article.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2024/04/19/uaw-wins-organizing-election-at-vw-tennessee-plant/73387426007/