Auto workers union head questions VW subsidies

If any US automaker wants to build a billion dollar plant and bring in non-union jobs, which are the only viable jobs in the auto industry, I'm sure Tennessee officials would also listen to them.

The UAW official is also comparing apples to oranges.

It is the UAW leadership that does not, has not, and will not help our automobile industry but instead puts our companies at a disadvantage with foreign companies. Seventy-four dollars an hour to start, indeed. My dentist doesn't make that much. No wonder unions have destroyed our strongest industry.

That is what happens when the golden-egg laying goose is gutted in the name of greed. The golden eggs now come from other countries... The union leadership made this mess of a bed and now they can sleep in it.

Our auto industry NEEDS foreign companies to allow us to remain viable; we need experienced workers here, not burger-flippers/yardboys.

Any attempt by our state legislature to knuckle under to union demands will not be tolerated. New Republicans state legislators -- take the hint and grow a pair. We expect much of you.

Finally, those of us paying taxes in Chattanooga have no complaint whatsoever with giving incentives to major foreign companies locating here. All those new jobs sounds pretty good to me. Our money will be returned many times over.

Compare THAT use of our taxes to provide new jobs with what the UAW demands -- yes, DEMANDS, as if we owe them something other than disgust. As my mother used to say, they would cut their own noses off to spite their face. The taxpayers here are paying for JOBS, not union leadership featherbedding.

As an employee of the non-union side of the automotive industry, my job and the jobs of my co-workers are in danger because the union expects so much for themselves. I'm pretty sure down here, we make about half if not less than that than the people who do the same jobs as part of UAW. Just because of our location and not being part of the union, it's not right that we make so much less when we do our jobs just as good as they do theirs and no one has to worry if we will strike to cry about wanting more money. There are non-union employees that haven't seen a raise in their income or not one that makes much difference in quite a while.

If the president of the UAW is concerned with the state of the US automakers why is he not willing to talk concessions? People seem to not recognize that unions are a buisness in & of themselves & are making a very nice profit at the expense of industry. If the unions start loosing money what do you think they are going to do; perhaps tell the local chapters to increase rates & in turn increase membership dues? If my employer is economically challenged I'm willing to make concessions in order to help my employer continue to operate & thereby allowing me to remain employed; what are my alternatives?. There is plenty of blame to go around in regards to the plight of the US auto industry but I do not understand why the media turns a blind eye toward the part the unions have & are playing in the troubles. Unions are as much if not more at fault as anyone.

Jobs are jobs. The UAW is dead meat and has been losing clout for a decade. Once the dust settles with bailing out Detroit, the UAW will be nothing. They foolishly agreed to take over retiree benefits for the automakers, and now the union will go broke like Detroit and the workers will be left with absolutely nothing.

Ron needs to start looking for a new job, maybe on the 3rd shift at VW in Chattanooga. Assuming VW doesn't fail in Chatt, the state and county investments will be paid back many times over. It would be nice if incentives and inducements were not standard operating procedure for luring businesses to various areas (everywhere, not just TN or Chatt), but it is a tough call as to whether denying the tax breaks is worth turning away future jobs and tax revenue.

There seems to be a contradiction between the previous posters. You say it is okay if Tennesse brings in only nonunion jobs. Yet some clain that UAW jobs pay more. If UAW jobs pay more than nonunion jobs then why shouldn't Tennesse want the higher paying jobs?
Secondly, the problem with low pay nonunion jobs is that you eventually find yourself in a race to the bottom with Mexico and other third world countries. For year the South used cheap labor to attract the textile industry. That industry eventually moved to South America where labor was still cheaper. Finally, the reason the plants in Tennesse, Alabama, and South Carolina pay better than the minimum wage is because they UAW is only an election away. If the UAW were not threatening those plants would be paying minimum wage and no benefits. Finally, the UAW is right about Corker. If Ford or GM had a plants in Tennesse he would be screaming for a "bailout" however he must now sing the tune and dance the dance of his Japanese and German puppetmasters.

I've never driven an American car having watched my parents regret their decesion over and over. They now drive Toyotas and Nissans. I've been a dedicated Volkswagen driver since my first car. I have a 2000 GTI and just bought an 08 GTI about three weeks ago.
I got a $500.00 discount for VW loyalty and 0% financing. If "the big three" are in their pathetic situation, it's because they produce a bad product and have bad management...really bad. Remember that horrible, "Never pay over 2.99 for gas!"...Huh!!! Good-on for Chattanooga and all their hardwork on landing the Volkswagen plant. I'll drive Volkswagens until the day I die. I'll ride with Stefan Jacoby any day. No private jet required...afterall why fly when you can drive a Volkswagen?

The person who said uaw wouldn't talk concessions is misinformed. They did agree to concessions. Then the last draw was the repub. senators wanted salaries cut to what foreign workers made. Imagine that! US senators wanting American workers to have their wages cut to foreign levels. And the uaw agreed to do that when the current contract expires in 2011, but the repub senators wanted it only now. check the news.

The starting salary for hourly uaw workers is now $14 an hour. This is from the ap: "Hourly wages for UAW workers at GM factories already are about equal to those paid by Toyota Motor Corp. at its older U.S. factories, according to the companies. GM says the average UAW laborer makes $29.78 per hour, while Toyota -- generally viewed as the main competitor of the Detroit Three -- says it pays about $30 per hour. But the unionized factories have far higher benefit costs."

what the big 3 has the foreigns don't is years worth of retirees. Americans who worked and paid their taxes. The Japanese gov. pays for their workers healthcare, and funded development of the hybrids. And the trade difference means it costs more to buy a US car in Germany than a german car in the US.

Do the math. 577 million for 2,000 vw jobs in chattanooga is $288,700 tax payers dollars going to germans for every job. A LOAN of 14 billion for 3 million jobs is $7000 per job. Those vw jobs will send all the profit back home to your German bosses, not build American infrastructure.

Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Hyanda all posted quarter losses over 30%. The sweedish government just bailed out saab. Read the news, there is a credit crises and people are scared to buy and can't get loans.

These repub. senators are using this to bust the unions. Thank the unions for 5 day work week, 40 hour week, minimum wage, child labor laws, etc. These senators hate American workers and hate American middle class. Their vision is to return to robber baron days, with a large poor working class, and a small class of very rich elites. And the Hooverian policies are pushing us closer to a 2nd depression.

But think about it. Let the big 3 go under. some things that will happen:

1. 3 million more unemployed will put the unemployment rate over 10%. you think there is a "credit crisis" now? Wait until those Americans with good paying jobs lose them.

2. All those retirees that people complain about the union because they have pensions and healthcare. Dump tgat healthcare and what happens to medicaid/medicare? You think there is a health care crisis now?

1. the auto parts suppliers will shut down. the koreans and japanese and germans will have to lay off those non-union southern workers because they don't have suppliers.

2. without union jobs out there, what do you think the foriegners are going to pay American workers? Chattanooga is paying millions of tax dollars for the honor of being Germany's Mexico.

3. if gm goes bankrupt, it will be bought off by chinese companies. Who is going to buy those chattanooga vw's when there are $5,000 chinese chevies flooding the market?

There are a lot of Americans who the only thing they buy made in the USA is food, and that was picked by illegal immigrants. But they drive their honda down to walmart and charge a bunch of cheap junk from china on their credit xards and wonder why the economy is down. If there are no us manufacturing jobs, or only foreign jobs where the profit goes to other countries, no one will have income to support those white collar service jobs. poof. These republicans are trying to turn working people against each other. This is America, we are supposed to help each other out in times of need, not work against each other. For example, in 2007 Michigan paid $10 billion more in federal taxes than it got back in federal funds, Tennessee got back $9 billion more in federal funds than it paid in federal taxes.

These same senators gave walstreet 750 billion – 2 trillion dollars with no oversight. And Americans can’t loan American companies 14 billion dollars to save 3 million American jobs? Talk about class warfare.

I feel for anyone who has lost their job and/or their home. I guess the ultimate sad part though is that most of these people had nothing to do with losing their job. It was their company "leaders" with their ridiculous salaries and bonuses combined with their poor "management" decisions. They are the ones to blame. Not Bob Corker. Gulp...I'm a true blue democrat, so trust me, that wasn't easy for me to say, but the truth is truth. The company I work for is owned by Australians. Smart and intelligent people. I wouldn't work for anyone except them..well, except for Volkswagen. America's greedy roosters have come home to roost and it "ain't pretty."

Nationalize Big Auto! Economic Democracy! One Big Union! Solidarity Forever!

Bob Corker is a real corker...

Non-union jobs are the only ones viable in Tennessee? How about non-union slavery? Or is it just the word "union" that pierces the hearts of Ye Olde Bushwhacker types...?

Humphrey and tomh have nailed it. Rip Van Corker finally wakes up and gains notice and for what? Americans that actually work (vs Americans that invest and speculate) are making too much money! Poor kid Corker becomes Haslam's college roommate and, Voila-he's an uber-millionaire. Me thinks it's not what you know, but who you know. His campaign was as shameful as Saxby Chambliss's and so has been his tenure so far. Plutocrat Frist replaced with plutocrat Corker. Historically, that's not Tennessee values.

Wow, it is disgusting listening to you anti-american losers turn on millions of real working Americans to defend Japanese and German companies. It is a good thing you weren't around in 1941 or we surely would have lost WWII on both fronts. You would have sabotaged all those millions of union workers building guns, ships and tanks faster than has ever been recorded in human history before or since. You would have argued "Well the Germans use slave labor and that is cheaper so it must be better" You are a disgrace to your country. If you like Honda and VW so much I suggest you move to Japan or Germany. On the other hand maybe you should move to China where they pay their people $1.47 an hour on average and pollution is in the water, air and food without any of that terrible government intervention. Since Chinese workers only make 10% of what the Honda workers make in the secessionist south it must be better right? You are all traitors to your country, You should leave.

Tennessee gave incentives to VW to build a Plant in their State. The big three didnt build in Tenn. I suspect Tennessee would give the big 3 incentives if they decided to build in their state.

Comparing tax incentives and bailouts is not honest

Wow. there is a lot of need for Econ 101. GOP SUCKS stated that unions saved America during WWII. NOT! American Soldiers and workers saved America. Once the US won the war and the US auto industry had a virtual world monopoly on car manufacturing, the UAW forced the big 3 into untenable contracts that are now obsolete. This level of benefit cannot continue. If the UAW workers who now believe their incomes should be subsidized by the US taxpayer don't change their way of thinking, the companies will certainly go bankrupt. And deservedly so.

It is not that Tennessee wants the higher wages (which I am sure they would take from a viable employer, which the big 3 are not), but the plants in Tennessee pay realistic and competitive wages, not the over-inflated wages agreed to when the US had a monopoly on world wide auto manufacturing.

I may be missing the point entirely but how in this world, except by making the UAW assumption that jobs will somehow be saved by loaning billions of dollars to companies making products that millions of people won't buy will loans benefit the average taxpayer?? I was raised on GM cars but left them in the 1970's for Toyotas. In the 1960's Japan subsidized their car companies, principally Toyota and Honda in order to establish their position in this country (USA) I have had more than 30 Toyotas over the years in almost every variety and except for a short stint in the middle 1970's have been very pleased with the quality, price and longevity of the vehicles. This message is directed to our Congress Gentlemen, (and I use this losely) instead of giving billions to the auto industry, how about giving a $2,000-$3,000 tax credit to the CONSUMER to buy Fords,Chevys or Chrysler? Housing? Give a $20K or $25K tax credit to persons buying a used or new home...it's the economy stupid NOT the UAW that needs bailing out! I support Bob Corker and his hard stand on bailout issues. As a Tennessean, this state is creating opportunity for our people, 50,000 or more who moved here over the past 2 years. The UAW wants it's payback for promises made to them for support of the donkey ticket. I for one got tired of bait and switch by US car dealers, built in faults that seem to kick in around 3 years (36 month notes) and later 60 months (60 month notes). I have had Toyotas that have ran for more than 10 years, hundreds of thousands of miles and some still running after years and years. This economy needs a kick in the trousers and it will not improve by bowing and scraping to the UAW tune....Has anyone ever considered what kind of car company Barney Frank could head up if he gets his way? Maybe a McDonald's hotdog mobile? We say Merry Christmas and to all others, enjoy YOUR holiday, whatever that may be..........

It is pretty funny to call people defending the free market system unamerican. Tax breaks are available in any state nowadays for new businesses it is the way of the world. I am pretty sure GM is getting a deal in Michigan if they are going to build a new plant. The bottom line is that they make a inferior product for a lot of reasons as well as not being cost competitive. This is not Russia in this country if your company is not viable you go out of business. We never should have approved the 700 billion and we should not approve this.

When is the American Media finally going to admitt, and publish on the front page, that the Unions ( espesially the UAW ) are killing the American economy. Too many things cost way to much because of Unions. Unions were a good thing when they were started, but they have gotten way out of hand. We now have tons of laws to protect people at work. We don't need Unions, especially in their present form. I want to commend Sen. Corker for his stand. If the House and Senate can do away with Earmarks, Pork, and Unions. We might be able to get the economy back on track and compete with the world markets.

My oppinion is, that unions in general are important since they are the best means to secure the interests of employees against corporative management.

Usually it is in the interest of a union not to ruin the business where the union members are employed. This requires a certain willingness to get along with international competition (among unions). In a globalized world unions are only strong if they can maintain international standards. Otherwise corporations can easily out source labor to regions with weaker union standards. So sometimes unions need to lower their standards to be competitive.

Currently foreign car manufacturers in the US have temporary advantages over domestic car manufacturers that cannot be denied. For example they do not have such a huge retiree fraction yet. Now I read arguments, that these manufacturers had the general advantage of being basically state subsidized in their home countries. E.g. the german car makers in the form of a national health care system and a national retirement system. The question here is, if this is really a subsidization. The money for the german national health care system and the national retirement system is not made from thin air. Both employee and employer have to pay a certain percentage based on the employees wage. So the claim of hidden subsidization is just window-dressing. Multinational corporations like VW have to adapt to different domestic regulations in different countries. And they will use advantages if there are any. Production in the USA allows to a certain extent for delaying costs such as retirement programs until employees actually reached the age to be retired. This is the actual problem. These costs start to kick in one or two generations later. In the meantime this system allows for especially cheap products. But that is sort of borrowed wealth that has to be paid back one day. The domestic car makers are in the unpleasent situation of being several generations further down the road and therefore not very competitive now. Maybe changing the system helps?

"And the trade difference means it costs more to buy a US car in Germany than a german car in the US."

This is not totally wrong but delusive. Because almost every car is far more expensive in Germany compared to prizes in the USA. A US made car is still cheaper than a size-wise comparable VW, BMW, Audi, Mercedes in Germany, the assumed market advantage is not existent.

on a side note Patriotism is a good thing when it does not become blind nationalism. Reading some of the comments imparts the impression that domestic problems are blamed on foreign countries.

I think Americans love to play politics above wanting the best for your fellow citizens. In Germany we knew that it wouldn't be long before the Foreign auto makers also asked vor subsidize, and we knew that the Republicans and those non-union workers would argue that it's for different reasons and not the same.

The real reason there is a crises is not because the wages are high or the quality is lacking, it's that the Americans love to buy more expensive foreign (albeit made in the USofA) auto's The Ford Focus is one of the greatest values in terms of capital costs, economy, maintenance costs and driveability. Yet you slam Detroit for made up problems like wages. The problem is not costs but reduced sales due to a weakening economy. Even a doughboy neophyte cub reporter could report that properly...at least in most countries.

The other problem that will rear it's ugly head, especially if you continue to slam the higher wages of someone else, is that those within your State that do not earn 23 - 32 an hour will now complain about your higher wages and drag you down. I think Tenn. average manufacturing labour wage is $11 an hour compared to $32 for their auto sector. Don't forget, if you can undermine the union worker, the next guy wanting your job has no hesitation in undercutting your wage.

In Germany if the worker in another factory gets a better benefit we all celebrate his fortune. In the US you celebrate the worker who makes the lowest, and thus contributes less to the local economy. You get mad because someone has a benefit that youyourself wouldn't refuse.

The argument about 72 dollar an hour auto worker are only talking points for those that, as you say, are drinking the Kool-aid. No one is making that. Tennessee gives a billion of tax payers funds and property to a company that will pay minimum wages, few benefits and only enhance the paychecks of legislators and a few auto Titans like Magna and others. And you, the underpaid worker turn out in force to sell it as if it were the Holy Grail.

I have never seen a country work so hard to keep itself divided in that workers slaughter each other to get the lower wage. Isn't that what the employer is supposed to do.