“Workers Control the Means of Production.”

Where have I heard that before.

It seems to me that management negotiated away all value of the business to the unions. Really the stockholders should have no expectation of getting anything out of the company. The remaining ones should get what they can get out of it.

As Sweet said, it’s time for the unions to put up or shut up. They own the company and the failure rests on them.

Pfeh said:

I hope Ford is taking note – if they handle themselves correctly, they will absolutely dominate GM and Chrysler in the coming years.

Absolute domination. Who wants to bet that the Ford workers are better off than the GM/Chrysler workers?

jimmypop said:

they can move EVERYTHING BACK to the usa in a year or so and build the cheapest, best cars in the world. frankly, i hope it works.

Me too, I really do. But for that to happen the union’s primary focus will have to be growing the company which means increasing profit and cutting costs. In other words, they’ll have to be businesspeople.

They have shown no inclination towards Chrysler in the past to work with the company to grow the business and increase profits for all to benefit (workers as well as shareholders). Their focus has been getting union employment as high as possible and to get as big a cut of the pie for the blue collar workers be darned.

Understand, I agree with this; that’s the union’s job generally. I don’t get the suicide mentality of the union, the ‘we’d rather the company go bankrupt than give up the fight’, but that’s a matter of degree.

The problem is that for a company to grow, the shareholders have to be satisfied. Long term it may be that Chrysler will be totally worker-owned. If that happens, will the management let the workers form a union to represent their interests? After all, the old union will now be management and it wouldn’t be fair to expect the workers to just trust management to look out for them, right?

they can move EVERYTHING BACK to the usa in a year or so and build the cheapest, best cars in the world

Are you joking ? You really think making every single part, nut, bolt, rivet, and supply material American made will do anything but DOUBLE the cost of a Chrysler vehicle ?

And the idea that the very people that are to blame for the current quality of their vehicles are going IMPROVE it ? Let alone the impact on the management side of the company as the A-holes in the UAW exert control on the company. Sorry, but this move will only seal the fate of Chrysler

Which is to say nothing of the fact that there has been no deal whatsoever with the banks that hold the $7 Billion in Chrysler debt.

Hopefully the UAW dies along with the car companies it runs into the ground. They were killing these companies already, now they’ll just be able to finish the job.

The upside is that either the new union overlords will either start running the company more efficiently, cutting costs and labor where necessary, reducing hours and benefits or the company will continue its spiral towards bankruptcy.

In other words, they’ll either turn into the very thing they’ve been fighting or they’ll perish.

Most likely, the union leaders will eat up as much value as they can and leave the workers jobless.

Maybe this will get the unions to start being something closer to even handed and dare I hope honest.

Unions as they exist today have one goal – artificial inflation of the cost of labor by obtaining a local monopoly. They’re not about competitive advantage. They’re not altruistic or given to “honest” tendencies.

I hope Ford is taking note – if they handle themselves correctly, they will absolutely dominate GM and Chrysler in the coming years.

Also – with a Democrat controlled government, I don’t think GM or Chrysler will ever be allowed to fail. They will continue to get bailout after bailout (and possibly a few favorable laws) until the citizens of the USA, finally enraged by the flagrant abuse they’ll suffer for the sake of the unions, will vote a sea change in Congress.

Here is another step towards Marxism and there will be no way to stop it. Until the next election.

Shocker: The UAW Is Now The Majority Stockholder In Chrysler

Union thugs take over ownership of the very corps. they demonize and now they pay the salaries they confiscate a portion of? This ought to be fun.

In no way the taxpayers should pay anymore to support these guys.

I’m not buying their cars either.

Kinda gives new meaning to the ‘company store’, eh?

In no way the taxpayers should pay anymore to support these guys.
I’m not buying their cars either.

If we allow more taxpayer money to go to these crooks shame on us. And you might have to if Chrysler becomes the Lada of the USA. And if that happens, we are all so screwed!

Chrysler is doomed. Unions don’t have the professional business knowledge to run a company

You mean to “ruin” a company, like their predecessors.

Chrysler is doomed. Unions don’t have the professional business knowledge to run a company. Oh well, Chrysler vehicles sucked anyway.

GM is next – heard a couple of reports saying that the government and the union would become the majority stockholders in them under their restructuring plans. In GM’s case though I think there is a provision for the government to get common stock in exchange for “loans”. Which just makes us all stockholders in GM now, whether we would want to be or not. In fairness, I also heard that Obama hasn’t accepted the plan yet so it’s not a done deal, but given the news here with Chrysler I can’t imagine it’s far off.

I wonder if this makes the union folks at Chrysler self-employed now – you know, subject to the double payroll taxes that independent business owners pay!

Move along. Nothing to see here.

That’s so true… quite nice finish

sure this is bad, but only for the share holders (and yes, we tax payers, but these guys were not going under no matter what).

anyway, this is their chance to show the world how its done. they have a union owned and union run corporation that builds cars. they can move EVERYTHING BACK to the usa in a year or so and build the cheapest, best cars in the world. frankly, i hope it works. it would be great. yes, im being serious. and no, there is not a chance in the world its going to work, but it will be great fodder for any conservative when they fail to do what they wanted everyone else to do (bring every job back to the usa, pay the line people more than anyone, have bigger benefit packages, blah, blah, blah)

Pfeh:

Unions as they exist today have one goal – artificial inflation of the cost of labor by obtaining a local monopoly. They’re not about competitive advantage. They’re not altruistic or given to “honest” tendencies.

That’s a luxury they have as external adversary to an opponent more a matter of their created image. They put out the idea that the management has massive money they unfairly aren’t sharing, that there’s hidden profits, that there’s more than enough money to give better benefits… Now they will see right up front the difference between creating a false image for sociopolitical purposes and actually walking the walk of “if only I was in charge”.

This has the added benefit of dragging the union leadership and rank and file apart. They will have to come clean and the rank and file aren’t going to like it. The truth is there’s no free ponies and ice cream. No new car keys under the chair. They’ve been paid way more than the business should if it wants to be profitable, prosperous and forward moving. They spent years construing fairness to mean a right to make as much as they demanded, and without the slightest nod to economic reality: the money is not there.

Most likely, the union leaders will eat up as much value as they can and leave the workers jobless.

If I were a union member, I’d be ticked right now. Suddenly my representatives in negotiating with my employer are now my employers?

Conflict of interest?