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UAW Workers Taking Strike Vote Over Having Too Much Work To Do

By: LaborUnionReport (Diary)  |  November 14th, 2009 at 12:02 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

With tens of thousands of members unemployed, after helping to drive General Motors and Chrysler into bankruptcy, the Union of Ailing Workplaces (aka the UAW) is taking a strike vote over a disagreement on workloads at Ford.

As unbelievable as this may seem, the UAW workers in Kansas City, Missouri seem upset over being asked to become more effcient.

According to the Detroit News,

The dispute began during the company’s annual “rebalancing” talks with the union, which are aimed at increasing the plant’s efficiency.

According to people familiar with the situation, the United Auto Workers feels that some of the proposed changes would give some workers too many tasks to perform. A strike vote is typically taken in such cases as a way of increasing pressure on the company, though these rarely result in actual work stoppages.

However, the situation at the Kansas City plant, which produces the Ford F-150 and Escape, the Mercury Mariner and the Mazda Tribute, remains volatile after 92 percent of UAW members there rejected a recent agreement on concessions between the union and Ford.

With a national unemployment rate of 10.2% (and likely to rise further), the UAW seems to be working hard to hardly work. Perhaps, if the UAW does strike Ford, the company could find some workers who are willing to work.

COMMENTS

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  • http://hillbillypolitics.com Steph C

    remind me of nothing more than becoming the thing they originally used to fight. At one time, I suppose they had some usefulness but these days they’re worse than the thing they organized against.

  • Karina

    there are plenty of other Americans who will be more than happy to take their places. How difficult would it be to get rid of the union at Ford all together? With things the way they are concerning unemployment, how do the unions still have so much power at these companies. Is there a way to weaken their hold?

  • Leopard1996

    And the reason why the auto industry is in the death spiral that it is. Only workers in pool X and go task Y, and can never get cross trained on task Z. I don’t think there is any other work place other than union shops where this s*&t flies

  • makemyday

    have seen the writing on the wall and put a speedbump in place to prevent this from happening to them. Here in Michigan, the unions et al have a preponderous amount of power over the government, industry and education. This in spite the dismal economic conditions that exist in this state. The economy is run in the state using rules from the “UAW School of Economics” which basically states “we will determine how profitable you are”. The UAW hates shareholders even though the individual members themselves may be shareholders. They have the insane attitude that “they” own their jobs and the company cannot dictate terms to them. They firmly believe that because they have worked at building autos in plants that the various auto companies have provided they have somehow achieved a ownership status because “they work there”.

    Simple story from Alpena, MI, a automotive supplier (largest employer in area outside the government) was a UAW shop. The UAW local decided they needed more and was rebuffed by the supplier. The supplier opened its books to the local, met with strikers on the line to explain that the supposed pile of cash they imagined did not exist. The strikers stayed out on strike with their demands, so the supplier closed its doors. GM came in and moved their dies out to another supplier out of state. While the plant was closing down for good and these several hundred jobs disappeared from the area, the UAW strikers manned their picket line in spite of what was happening to them.

    What are you going to do?

  • http://www.laborunionreport.blogspot.com LaborUnionReport

    they’ll blame everyone else but themselves for their own demise.