I’ve been actively trying to avoid politics. I’ve overdosed on it and it’s really starting to depress me. I figure I’ve got enough on my plate and seeing the same regurgitated outrage over and over again just doesn’t help any of that. So I’ve found other things to keep me entertained.
But two days ago the Obama administration announced that they would help the Big Three automakers with a “bailout” only after more concessions were made. One of those concessions was that GM CEO Rick Wagoner step down. I don’t give a flying fuck about Wagoner, because he sucks and he’s going to be taken care of no matter what happens. What I care about is that one of the other concessions was that all of the autoworkers were going to be expected to make sacrifices. Specifically I’m talking about this:
It will require unions and workers who have already made painful concessions to make even more. [...]
And so I’d like to speak directly to all those men and women who work in the auto industry or live in the countless communities that depend on it. Many of you have been going through tough times for longer than you’d care to remember. And I will not pretend the tough times are over. I cannot promise you there isn’t more pain to come.[...]
There are jobs that cannot be saved. There are plants that will not reopen. And there is little I can say that can subdue the anger or ease the frustration of all whose livelihoods hang in the balance because of failures that weren’t theirs.[...]
That is why today, I am designating a new Director of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers to cut through red tape and ensure that the full resources of our federal government are leveraged to assist the workers, communities, and regions that rely on our auto industry.
But don’t worry:
if you buy a car from Chrysler or General Motors, you will be able to get your car serviced and repaired, just like always. Your warrantee will be safe. In fact, it will be safer than it’s ever been. Because starting today, the United States government will stand behind your warrantee [sic].[..]
Third, the IRS is today launching a campaign to alert consumers of a new tax benefit for auto purchases made between February 16th and the end of this year – if you buy a car anytime this year, you may be able to deduct the cost of any sales and excise taxes. This provision could save families hundreds of dollars and lead to as many as 100,000 new car sales.
You warranty is safe, but the people that built that car are fucked two ways from Sunday. And the people that earned their retirement money, pensions and health care in their old age? Fuck them, too. You see, the contracts are only legally binding if it’s the AIG execs who are getting the millions of dollars in bonuses from their bailout money. They’re the “smart ones” and the brains and blah blah blah. Their contracts matter. The union guys and gals who signed contracts and were due their retirement benefits? They don’t matter.
I was sick over this the other day. Disen-fucking-chanted, even. My blood boiled. There are more concessions due from the workers on the plant floor and too bad-so sad if they have contracts. They’re blue collar working class folk. They don’t have high flautin’ degrees and high-priced tiny assed condos. They work hard doing physical labor and therefore their homes, families and health don’t matter. At least that’s the message I’ve been seeing.
Don’t worry, though. They’ll finally qualify for food stamps and they can get Medicare for their kids. Thank the gods SCHIP passed, huh?
The hypocrisy here is unbelievable. Yes, I know the auto industry needed to revamp a long time ago. Blah fucking blah. I’m talking about the fact that officially nothing can be done about AIG bonus pay outs, but the retired autoworker in Florida– who lives off his pension– is going to find himself without that fucking pension, because everyone has to make concessions. Lazy bastards should have gone to school and insisted that they’re employers go green so long ago. And why the hell didn’t the dumb motherfuckers vote Democratic all these years?
These are some of the messages I’ve been seeing from the “Progressive” community. Instead of wondering why the low-man on the totem pole is getting the shaft1 and why those people have to make more concessions2 they are blaming these people for staying in these jobs, for not being smart enough to get a higher education and, OMG! getting paid a decent wage when other people– who are way smarter — aren’t making that kind of money.
This is just one example of “Progressive” empathy for the screwing the blue collar workers have to endure:
Not going along with this (1+ / 1-)
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happy camperI’m all for Unions, but 30-40 per hour in the midwest with just a high school diploma is a joke.
The average teacher in NY with 6 years of college education starts at a 50K/year salary and wont dream of owning a home until 10+ years into their career if they’re lucky (or if they have supplemental income).
The average UAW worker is making about 40 dollars an hour with no further education and pulling down around 70-80k a year.
It’s no wonder our education system is a joke, meanwhile we have to listen to the boohooing about the unions conceding oh so much. Spare me.
by PooNani on Tue Mar 31, 2009 at 11:27:28 AM EDT
Now, I’ll go on to say that most of the other comments in that thread are telling this particular person to shut the fuck up. But there are plenty of other comments that say something similar (though probably not so heavy handed and no, I’m not going to copy them all). What pissed me off is that so many “Progressives” are blaming the workers for this shit. They’re telling them to “buck up” and deal. To “retrain”. How the fuck does a 45 year-old person, who’s worked in the same plant for 20 years, retrain? And what happens to their homes and families in the meantime?
SACRIFICE!! But not if you’re working on Wall Street. Get used to a lower quality of life! But not if you’re uber-smart with numbers and can make yourself a millionaire at someone else’s expense.
These folks– and, indeed, the people that are in their sphere of influence who will also “feel the pain”– have probably lost their life savings3 and have given up many of their benefits that people who aren’t in unions seem so jealous of. They’ve taken voluntary pay cuts. They haven’t stopped working just as hard as they were working before.
And let me tell you something: Working in a fucking factory is hard goddamned work. It’s not standing around with a fucking broom waiting for someone to give you specific instructions on how to sweep it. That’s rightwing propaganda and I’m not hearing that shit. 10-12 hour days of back breaking fucking work is worth what these folks were getting. They were the lucky ones. They got decent pay for the crap they put up with, because they were union. And they deserve their benefits, their retirement and the homes they bought with their hard-earned savings. They don’t deserve to lose it while their execs– and AIG execs — get to walk away with their nice houses and pretty savings portfolios. Hypocrisy.
In Ohio we value the hard work the guys on the floor do. Maybe we should push harder for a fancy-schmancy college education4 but many people in this area (and in Michigan) are content to work with their hands and in these positions. There is nothing wrong with that. But “progressive” wisdom is that they brought this on themselves because they chose that work5 and because they just aren’t that smart. Fuck them and their contracts.
I’m not even sure if I would have been as god-awful pissed as I was (and am again) if I hadn’t seen Progressives standing behind Obama to such an extent as to tell their fellow Progressives6 to buck up and shut up. Quit whining when you’re watching your world fall out from under you? Fuck that noise.
When these folks lose their livelihood, it’s not going to just be the plants that are affected. It’s going to be the neighborhood stores and restaurants, the tax base, the entire. That unemployment and poverty is going to stretch further than just 42,000 people (or so). The few remaining local businesses are going to see a drastic decline in revenue, the cities are going to lose tax money, homes are going to go into foreclosure and that many more people are going to become dependent on government assistance. There will be no other jobs to find when this happens.
But, hey! Those of us living here in the Rust Belt will just buck up and become innovative. After we lose our incomes, our homes and our healthcare. No, we have no reason to be whining and gnashing our teeth. We have no reason to be angry. We were prosperous while stupid, dontcha know. Our potholes aren’t getting filled, our food pantries aren’t getting filled and our cost of living is going through the roof. But hey! We brought it on ourselves. Right?78
FUCK that noise.
Popularity: 43% [?]
Sphere: Related Content- Wagoner is leaving with a lovely severance package– part of his contract [↩]
- Why didn’t Wagoner have to leave without his goddamned bonus? [↩]
- If they did the “smart” thing and invested [↩]
- Full disclosure: I’m a computer programmer in training at the local university. [↩]
- As if there was ever a lot of choices inside of our states. [↩]
- Those of us who live in the Rust Belt and who will be directly affected by these “concessions” [↩]
- My family is lucky for now. I have no idea what our situation will be in a few months. We’re not union. But we empathize with those that are immediately affected. [↩]
- Who cares about the working class as long as we can still get cheap shit from China, anyway? [↩]
8 Comments
Ok, I’m going to dial it down cause I’m in a pissy mood today and not looking to pick a fight with you. Both my parents are blue collar union workers. My dad retired from GM. So I can fully appreciate their side.
However.
The Auto Union’s unwillingness to face reality is part of the reason auto workers are in the situation they’re in. Yes, I know working in a factory is back breaking labor. I’ve done it. I know it sucks. However, when every non-union worker in the country is not getting the kind of pay and benefits as union workers and these additional costs are then pushed to the consumer, do you wonder why people don’t by the products? Again, this has nothing to do with the workers themselves, but thier union.
I remember distinctly a few years ago that the UAW posted their 7 goals as an organization. One of their “non-negotiable” positions was that 100% of American cars get built with 100% American parts. That goal was so far from reality it isn’t even funny. Yet they persisted. Now this inflexibility of union leadership to truly take care of their people has resulted in these people being too expensive a resource for the auto companies to keep to be competitive.
I can give you plenty of other examples of unions being detrimental to the competitive advantage of US companies in the name of protecting their membership. It used to be unions looked after the interests of its membership to prevent management abuses. Those days are long over.
I really do feel for those blue collar people and their families. It’s terrible what’s happened to them. But they should look to their own lack of good leadership as part of the problem.
My original rant was actually directed at the Progressives who are laughing at those that will lose their jobs, paychecks, houses and health insurance because they think these folks should’ve chosen better careers. Progressives dancing on the graves of people’s livelihoods. WTF?
P.S.
See the rest of my reply below.
I’m not really disenchanted on this issue cuz I never had high expectations of Obama especially WRT to the middle class (he and his wife are Ivy League lawyers after all), but I do feel kinda worried about how O is taking on everything all at once and spending money like mad, though perhaps he has no choice. As far as unions, well, we do disagree on this, JJ. I don’t think they’re looking at the big picture here, which is that Americans are not buying American cars the way they used to and the money is simply not there to pay those salary and benefit packages, no matter how deserving those workers may be. The obscenely huge salaries of the few guys at the top of all these failing institutions should be slashed severely and I do not get the logic of “we need to attract the best and brightest” when these are THE GUYS WHO CAUSED THE MESSES. Fucksake, hire new grads at $100K each straight outta business school! Couldn’t do much worse here, hello.
Actually, there are more Toyotas and Hondas built in the U.S. than GM cars. But the issue, for me, is the competitive wage/benefits issue. Without the unions there are no competitive wages for the working class (those who just can’t learn in a structured environment, for instance, like my husband and brother). Then the corporations may begin doing things the Wal-Mart way. That scares the shit out of me, because I worked for Wal-Mart and I know how they treat people.
I’m lucky to be able to go to college now. But it’ll be another 3-4 years before I graduate. That means I’m stuck at manual labor (re: waiting tables) until I get that degree. I can’t physically do real manual labor (my FMS) so as a tipped employee I’m screwed. I don’t want to be stuck at a dead-end job with no benefits for ever. I certainly don’t wish this on anyone else. Why deny Joe Blow up the street his good paying union job even though he didn’t go to college? He’s making better money than me, but maybe he’s not suited for college. Maybe he’s best at line work. Why deny him that?
Fuck people who think that a person who’s worked 25 years for the same company shouldn’t get some kind of good wage and benefits for their loyalty and hard work. They want a good work ethic, but treat people like shit. Pfft.
So, I’m taking my time getting back to you fine folks. I’m sorry about that. So much happening outside of my brain– which has ultimately caused my brain to turn to mush.
I have a big problem with people blaming the guys/women on the floor for the problems of their companies. First off, they have no control of the design of the vehicles they build. They build them proudly and buy them because they’ve done the work on them. The execs working in cahoots with the oil industry are a huge issue and that should definitely be addressed. But those people placing the blame on the people who are making their money honestly and trying to live their boring lives without buying fleets of jets can seriously fuck off.
As far as unions are concerned, they have benefited our workforce greatly, whether your profession utilizes unions or not. You can thank the unions for a lot of the things we all take for granted– safe work environments, vacations, weekends off (theoretically) and most of all competitive wages. Do you think that American Toyota and Honda plants would offer the wages and benefits they do if there were no unions in American made (ha!) factories? Of course not. They offer these things to keep the workforce they need to build the cars here. Otherwise their people might actually unionize.
Once the unions are gone, look for more behavior similar to that of the great Devil, Wal-Mart. They close entire stores because they are so against unions. Why are they against unions? Because unions would prevent them from firing 75% of their full time employees– and offering them their jobs back at starting wage with no benefits and NO full time status. Wal-Mart, by the way, isn’t the only company to do that. Circuit City did that too (before they went the way of the do do).
CEOs and other highly paid company execs don’t give a flying fuck about the lowly worker. They’re a dime a dozen. Once again I’ll point to Wal-Mart as an example. Wal-Mart is forcing long-time employees (people that have worked there a decade or more) into wage freezes, the above firing/rehiring cycle and generally taking a huge dump on them. Regardless of the propaganda of turnovers, it’s cheaper for bigger corporations to bring in new hires at base rate than it is to pay the higher wages and benefits to long-time, loyal employees. Wal-Mart’s prosperity at the expense of their workforce (and a lot of the manufacturing in my state) is a goal that many companies strive toward.
Now, you say “Well, that’s Wal-Mart. It’s different.” No, The Big Box Devil is a leader of industry. Without those pesky unions that insist on benefits and higher wages for their members, more companies would go that way. We’d see workers getting minimum wage, working longer hours, killing themselves for squat. While the corporations would reap even more dollars at their expense.
Not everyone is cut out for a higher education. Some people are better at manual labor and actually thrive at it. So these people should suffer because someone else was able to score higher on the SAT and got into college? That college educated person most likely isn’t going to want to do the manual, back-breaking labor that I’ve seen a lot of progressives disparage lately. They most certainly won’t want to “waste” their hard earned degree on something as menial as working a mig welder or press. That’s fine. But there are people cut out for that work and they shouldn’t have to live in poverty because they chose that profession.
Yet, without unions, these same people would be exploited and then thrown away. Like before. Because people are fucking greedy and once they’ve lived in that 6 bedroom, 7,ooo sq. ft. house they’re going to want more. And they certainly aren’t going to be concerned with the guy/woman living in a two bedroom ranch trying to get health benefits.
And, Vince, Goddess bless you, but I’m keeping your dad in my prayers if he’s relying at all on his pension. He’s likely going to lose that with these new concessions.
But hey! GM lost the CEO who got them in this mess and who originally agreed to take $1 a year salary– along with his $23 mil golden parachute. Now they’ve got someone who is going to be making $30 mil a year. While the people on the floor are taking yet another pay cut. Lovely, huh?
girl, the thing I love about you is that you put up an intellecutal argument. I’d love to go on about this if I had time. As it is, I have to pull myself away from the PC and get back to your blog later when I have time to fully digest what you’ve had to say.
You rock.
Take your time, my darlink. I have to do the same thing (but only because sometimes my brain refuses to work properly).
Just keep in mind that it’s not the union management that I approve of. It’s what the unions have accomplished and the fact that they are, in a way, keeping the past at bay.
Peace and love, m’dear.
Then we totally agree on that. I firmly beleive that union management is the real problem. For example, there’s the practice (used at GM and elsewhere) of having job categories (over 200 at GM) and stating that only someone in a job category can do the job. So if there’s too much work for people in category X to complete, but there’s no work for people in category Y, category Y people cannot help category X people because they’re “stealing their overtime”. So now you have the company paying some employees a lot of money to stand around doing nothing (who would otherwise probably be more than happy to help out) and other employees getting paid a ton of money in overtime. And people wonder why the cost of the product is so high.
My mom worked in a union shop where if you had no work to do, you could be required to do any other job you were qualified to do as long as they paid you your regular wage. Sounds fair to me.