What Does The UAW Mean To You, And If YOU Were In Charge What Changes Would You Make?

the uaw is useless. if i was in charge, i obviously wouldn't want to break it apart. though if i was some higher entity who had the ability to, i would.

The UAW was created back when it made sense to do so and it was a needed entity. The issue is it has gotten so out of proportion and set in their ways that they have not moved forward with the rest of the economy. Giving a few concessions means little when you are going on strike for MORE benefits or pay that already has you on a scale above many professional levels.

Obviously it cannot just go away (unfortuantely), but with the advent of many other manufacturers opening up shop in the U.S. to produce models they are being pressure from both sides now (economically and internally by their companies) to conform and change. In today's world where the word Defined Benefits (read Pension) is only reserved for people who are mostly retired or about to retire from the workforce, the UAW holds to it's old roots. It is nothing more than a setup for failure.

If the day comes where the manufacturer decides to move all operations overseas or closes down for good, they will have nowhere to go and nobody to blame but themselves. But they have no cares for such things as obtaining government funds and monies to continue to prosper will keep them trucking along.

There is no ambition for them to change as they have gotten to be such a big lobby that to have them on your side politically means votes. Soon it will run out though and my sympathy will be non-existent. They will however still continue to use my tax dollars for their personal benefit.

I wouldn't have a clue on what to change. And neither will %99.99 percent of the readership here.

Aside from dissolving it.

I would allow janitorial tasks to be farmed out to other companies rather than supporting a full income+benefits person to do trivial tasks that don't add value to the product.

Have a 30 year minimum limit to get into the retirement program.

Cover 50-60% of health care costs not 100% (this limits trivial claims)

Allow employees to be fired for negligence.

Stop the worker compensation for being replaced by technology.

I definitely would be the least favorite uaw president that has ever existed, but I would ensure thousands of family's keep their jobs as the company they work for regains its competitive edge in the global market place.

Joe you are a smart guy, but if you did some research you would find that everything you just stated is already in effect. Just as lexsuck said most people would not know what to do frankly because what they think they know of the Union is 20 years old or more.

Could you tell me what isn't already in effect?

because I'm pretty sure the negligence isn't in effect yet.

now you are just reaching Joe. Our sanitation has been out source for over a decade now.

I kind of agree with your comments and I am a supporter of the UAW. I think they have an important function but they have gotten out of hand. Not to mention the upper management of ... well almost every company these days. Need to have shareholder say in exec compensation somehow.. another story...

There isn't a businessman in his right mind who wakes up one day and says "I need to raise product quality; I need to make my business more competitive; I want to delivering superior value to my customers; I want to deliver superior shareholder value... I gotta get this place unionized!"

Unions serve one purpose: To give laborers a higher standard of living than they could otherwise get, based on their own merits, resourcefulness, ingenuity, etc., and they do this without respect to economic conditions, business realities, or keeping their host, whose blood they suck, alive. In other words, unions are parasites.

To my way of thinking, it's mob rule, it's thuggery, it's coersion, it's a grand sense of entitlement: I am entitled to this assembly-line job, and I'll pay thugs to get me a better wage than I could muster anywhere else, and if you, Mr. Employer, don't like it, then we'll stop working until you bleed red ink and die, because you should not be allowed to choose other workers to do my job any better or cost-effectively than me. My job is my right!

Yeah, right!

In the end, it all evens out. We have in or midst former automotive giants that now produce (for the most part) unpopular, uninspiring products, and who require billions of tax-payer dollars to keep them on life-support in a temporary reprieve. Anyone care to step up and present a case for "it would have been worse without the unions"?

And on the flipside you will be hard pressed to find a worker who wants to work for company x because they pay the least and may be around longer.

uaw-lax, First you define "pay the least" and do you even understand "living beyond your means", and "saving for a rainy day."

why is BMW,MB Honda, Audi all unionized and doing well?

Stevie wonder can see how relevant it is you always talk of how bad the unions are and GM's bail out. However you fail to bring up the 10x more tax money wall street received the same year and the fact that other unionized automakers are doing just fine Ford, MB, Audi, BMW, Toyota, Honda, Nissan are all doing fine. The fact is the few non union factories in the south are the minority and not as large as a threat as many think because they make only slightly less than unionized plants.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ad4Gl2Sg1zGU&refer=japan

http://www.aftermarketnews.com/Item/28594/uaw_losing_pay_edge_foreign_automakers_bonuses_boost_wages_in_us_plants_as_detroit_car_companies_struggle.aspx

When CEO's and other "top brass" screw up, they get a golden parachute worth millions...

When a union worker screws up, he gets to keep his job...sounds real fair to me...

If people want fairness with unions, they have to lead from the top down...

I thought "UAW-(EX)LAX" was gone from this sight. He's a turd and will always have his one sided viewpoint about the UAW. Anyone ever notice that the majority of his comments come when it's related to a story about his kronie UAW colleagues. The UAW kronies are a bunch of complainers, always wanting to strike. Why didn't you chime in when Autospies ran that story a month ago, about UAW members smoking pot and drinking on the job.......it's probably because you would find some excuse to say "they had the right to smoke on their lunch hour". Can we please limit UAW-(Ex)LAX post. He's so predicatable and bias, you know what's coming regarding anything to do with the UAW members.

gkearns56 your just desperate and shallow. you have to try to attack me personally because you don't have the intelligence nor the backbone to have a true discussion like the rest of us so go play on Myspace or twitter.

I am all for workers making a decent living. As a former Local myself, that is the American way. Someone asked "why is BMW,MB Honda, Audi all unionized and doing well?" I think a possible answer is that they make a SUPERIOR product. At the end of the day, if a company makes a product (regardless of price, just ask Porsche) that people want to buy (just ask Apple), they will pay those workers who make that product and would be HAPPY to do so. The problem it seems is compounded when nobody wants to buy the crap you are selling and you have been in business long enough to know and DO better. By their own admissions IN ONE AREA, US car companies have admitted that they missed the boat when it came to innovations such as alternative vs gas powered vehicles. Dinosaurs are extinct for a reason. Suicide is frowned upon for a reason.

I agree with you. I am just sick and tired of the all the blame being put on just the workers. We don't design market or sale the cars, we just do our jobs.

Predictable; More excuses from UAW_(EX)LAX. He obviously didn't want to comment on his kronies having their pot smoking lunches and drinking binge. I guess pot smoking and drinking on the job are now part of the new UAW collective bargining agreement your UAW kronies are asking for.

Is that all you got?

were they fired?

UAW-(EX)LAX - Cat got your tonue. I guess you're speechless on your kronies smoking and drinking too.

I will never buy a car built by UAW workers.

They can go hungry!

IMO unions should have been pressured to be bankrupt together with GM and Chrysler last year. Then reneg everything from scratch. Botched opportunity!

Tax payers money kept UAW and their members' lifestyles maintained.