Day 45 Letter and the UAW Strike and Updates

[JKauf55]

The BS engines come from Spain, but the transmissions are from the U.S., probably Ford's Livonia, Michigan transmission plant.

Ok. Good to know. I was only giving some examples and not specific ones. I probably could’ve worded it better!

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[RushMan]

{stuff deleted for clarity}

How will it bite us in the a$$? Either they get what they're asking for or they lose their jobs.

[Other stuff deleted]

Nope, it's not that black and white.
Negotiations for compromise on both sides are the norm. But if the demands aren't changed to be acceptable to both parties, then let the axe swing.
IMO, the one demand that is unbelievable/unrealistic is the reduction to a 32 hour work week.
There are a couple of ways to look at that. Ford would lose 20 % of production capacity?
That's not going to happen...unless

Ford would need to add more union employees to retain production capacity. It would also require odd shift changes. How do you add employees to a production line which is already fully manned? Odd shift lengths with odd shift changes. I worked in a 24 hour production work environment once, and shift changes were almost always disruptive to continuity. How do you add back that 8 hours? More overtime? One of the demands of the union is to reduce the forced overtime.
I believe that the ultimate goal of this specific demand, 32 hour work week, is to increase union membership, as I described above, or to increase overtime pay.
I don't think that this was well thought out by the union reps who scripted this demand.
But that's just my opinion.
Meeting this challenge will necessitate raising the price of new vehicles, making the union's argument that they currently can't afford to buy the cars they manufacture a moot point. They won't be able to afford the new car price increases necessitated by meeting the new contract demands.
But like many politicians, they don't consider the longer term ramifications.

 

[RushMan]

Ok. Good to know. I was only giving some examples and not specific ones. I probably could’ve worded it better!

You worded it just fine. I was just adding specific detail in regards to the Bronco Sport.

 

[Bronclahoma]

With Mexico and robots, the UAW will be as irrelevant as telephone operators.

Could be. You never want to kill the goose that lays the golden egg. UAW demands are excessive, but if Ford hadn't caved in to the Biden Admn. on electrics they would have $4.5B to put into the pockets of employees and stockholders. I'm not a fan of Jim Farley or Mary Barra.

 

[Bronclahoma]

Nope, it's not that black and white.
Negotiations for compromise on both sides are the norm. But if the demands aren't changed to be acceptable to both parties, then let the axe swing.
IMO, the one demand that is unbelievable/unrealistic is the reduction to a 32 hour work week.
There are a couple of ways to look at that. Ford would lose 20 % of production capacity?
That's not going to happen...unless

Ford would need to add more union employees to retain production capacity. It would also require odd shift changes. How do you add employees to a production line which is already fully manned? Odd shift lengths with odd shift changes. I worked in a 24 hour production work environment once, and shift changes were almost always disruptive to continuity. How do you add back that 8 hours? More overtime? One of the demands of the union is to reduce the forced overtime.
I believe that the ultimate goal of this specific demand, 32 hour work week, is to increase union membership, as I described above, or to increase overtime pay.
I don't think that this was well thought out by the union reps who scripted this demand.
But that's just my opinion.
Meeting this challenge will necessitate raising the price of new vehicles, making the union's argument that they currently can't afford to buy the cars they manufacture a moot point. They won't be able to afford the new car price increases necessitated by meeting the new contract demands.
But like many politicians, they don't consider the longer term ramifications.

I think you're spot on!

 

[Bill G]

Where I was trying to go was:
If the union gets its demands, and the workers stay on the job, cars -- in fact many things, will go up in price to cover the added costs, putting them beyond what many can/will pay (including the union members). No company will survive cutting profit to the point that stockholders sell off and cut the money supply.
If the companies cut the union jobs the unemployed workers will then end up being paid by the government (what politician could resist that temptation?). I doubt they could find jobs paying what they've been getting -- I know I never got that much per hour in my life.
This stuff, in my experience, leads us on into either high inflation or recession/depression.

 

[Mark S.]

Nope, it's not that black and white.

Well, we disagree. BTW, when I said either they get what they want or they lose their jobs, I was including the notion that there would be compromise. Perhaps to be more accurate I should've said either they can negotiate an agreement they can accept or they lose their jobs. I don't see how it affects us either way. It's not as if no one will ever manufacture cars again if the union drives Ford (or Chevy, or any other manufacturer) out of business. Our society is dependent in large part on personal transportation, so someone will still be making cars. Meanwhile, potential employees will see what happened to the union and think twice about joining one; potential capital investors will see what happened to a manufacturer that was unwilling to negotiate an agreement with labor and think twice about investing in a company that doesn't have robust worker pay, benefits, and protections.

This is the way the free market has worked since it was first dreamed into existence. Successful businesses are emulated and failed businesses provide instructional material. No matter what, someone will always be around to satisfy consumer demand--there's too much money at stake not to.

 

[Bucko]

Well, we disagree. BTW, when I said either they get what they want or they lose their jobs, I was including the notion that there would be compromise. Perhaps to be more accurate I should've said either they can negotiate an agreement they can accept or they lose their jobs. I don't see how it affects us either way. It's not as if no one will ever manufacture cars again if the union drives Ford (or Chevy, or any other manufacturer) out of business. Our society is dependent in large part on personal transportation, so someone will still be making cars. Meanwhile, potential employees will see what happened to the union and think twice about joining one; potential capital investors will see what happened to a manufacturer that was unwilling to negotiate an agreement with labor and think twice about investing in a company that doesn't have robust worker pay, benefits, and protections.

This is the way the free market has worked since it was first dreamed into existence. Successful businesses are emulated and failed businesses provide instructional material. No matter what, someone will always be around to satisfy consumer demand--there's too much money at stake not to.

Ford or GM is not going to fold or close their doors. Personally, I'd like to see this union crash. I'm tired of unions striking for unreasonable requests, and think they can damage a manufacturer if they don't get their way.

Back in the day, unions were a great way to fight child labor laws and unsafe work places. Now however, there are federal laws to protect a worker. Now unions feel they can be greedy and ask for ridiculous wages and/or less work hours. Bring on the robots and A.I. A union will have a hard time representing either of these two.

Guess who will be forced to pay that if they get their way in the way of higher sticker prices?

 

[NMhunter]

We live in an entitlement society. Everyone thinks they deserve whateve they want. They don't. I watched the unions in AZ put the copper mine out of business.

 

[Bucko]

We live in an entitlement society. Everyone thinks they deserve whateve they want. They don't. I watched the unions in AZ put the copper mine out of business.

And the employees lost their jobs. The towns and small business suffered. Was the union proud of that strike?

 

[BravoAlpha]

Could be. You never want to kill the goose that lays the golden egg. UAW demands are excessive, but if Ford hadn't caved in to the Biden Admn. on electrics they would have $4.5B to put into the pockets of employees and stockholders. I'm not a fan of Jim Farley or Mary Barra.

this. They’ve all bet on electric and lost.

 

[GJarrett]

Well I had an original build date of 10/16 and just checked.... they've kicked it to next week 10/23. I wonder if this is related, and I'll get a projected build date next week for the week after that? And the week after that etc, until this ends.

 

[RushMan]

Well I had an original build date of 10/16 and just checked.... they've kicked it to next week 10/23. I wonder if this is related, and I'll get a projected build date next week for the week after that? And the week after that etc, until this ends.

While Ford Authority quoted that production of the '24 Bronco Sport would start on Oct 16, Long McArthur's Tim Bartz was reporting that the start date was pushed back a few days until Oct 19.
No reasons known, but one can guess that although the UAW strike is not directly affecting the Hermosillo plant, there may be indirect consequences.
Media is reporting that OEM contractors to the Big 3 U.S. auto makers are being affected. They have had to shut down production for parts that the automakers cannot accept to the auto plants that are shut down by the strikes. That restricts the OEM's revenue and their ability to produce on schedule, and the OEM parts producers have had to furlough or lay off workers.
That may be causing delays in producing and shipping parts for those vehicles that are still in production.

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