Do you think it matters WHERE your toyota was built?

[acrbill]

Originally Posted by Pavel Olavich

ACRBILL, sorry fellow American, but the guy is right....the Unions have fucked the big 3 domestic auto makers...it is true...Unions are Socialism, and VERY anti American....a true American is not a union member, and it is the unions pensions that are forcing the big 3 to eat sheet....look at Ford....look at GMC,....look at Chysler....only idiots/low achievers work union...may they all go bankrupt and free the big 3 to truly compete against the Japanese...DEATH to UNIONS!!!!

I am not saying that the UAW isn't fucking the big 3. Like I said before, I know how things operate. There is an awful lot of standing around. One guy I am working with now was telling me that his sister worked at Belvedere assembly and her job was to put the fuel line on the Shelby Dodge Omni GLH-S. He said there was a max of 5 GLH-S cars per shift and it took her a few minutes per line to install. That means that she stood around for at least 7 hours per 8 hour shift.

The same guy was telling me how the assemblers had a quota per shift. Say they had to assemble 100 center consoles per shift. They would get done in 2 hours and sleep for 6. I asked why they didn't just keep working and he said that they would be doing the next shifts work.

Ever hear of a job bank? Back in the early 80's when GM was starting to automate the line they made a deal with the UAW that said that there would not be lost time because of the new machines. Basically that means that you still get paid even if they send you home for 6 months.

It goes way beyond even that. I will not refute that the UAW is ruining the big 3.

Saying its the workers fault that the cars are of poor quality is BS though. Beyond that, when you say the cars are poor quality what do you mean? I have owned all sorts of domestic cars and I have never had a major issue with any of them. My 1997 Ford Escort was built about 100x better than my Yaris IMO.

Another thing I don't understand is how someone can attack the UAW for the pension fund. To me that is just poor management of money on the white collar side. Give the Japanese automakers a few decades and they will be in the same predicament.

I generally try to distance myself (in respect to my work) from unions like the UAW.

Some say that unions had their place but now they are worthless. I am in a construction trade. I completed a 5 year apprenticeship where I was intensively trained in my craft. If you're a contractor would you rather have someone who is clueless work for you or would you rather have someone who knows what they are doing? I am not saying all non union guys are worthless but its a real crap shoot. Some people are under the impression that union guys are somehow protected from losing their job. That couldn't be more wrong. I am more at risk from losing my job than my non union counterpart. A non union contractor needs to hang onto poor workers because he has no idea if the next guy will be worse. If I make a mistake or if the job is slowing down for a few weeks they will send me down the road since they know that they can call the hall and get as many qualified guys as they need.

I can be let go if the foreman doesn't like the color of my shirt.

I have done several jobs where I was replacing shoddy work. Its stuff that costs the building owner thousands of dollars a year in wasted energy. Sometimes the installation and design is bad and sometimes the install is great but the design is crappy. The design has nothing to do with the worker directly, but someone who has a good understanding of how things are supposed to work will refuse to install something like that.

When work got slow last year I took a job in another trade. It was a learning experience to say the least. The work that was being done was down right unsafe in some instances.

Another thing people don't think about is what happens when union and non-union contractor bid on the same job. The bids are always very close. The difference is that the non union guys are getting paid far less and probably do not have insurance coverage. Where does that extra money go? Into the contractors pocket.

If all unions where dissolved tomorrow it would be like 1890 all over again.


I get harassed all the time at work about driving a Toyota. Blindly buying a car just because its American is retarded IMO. There needs to be some motivation for the big 3 to put some interesting new cars on the road.
The funny thing is that if I bought an Aveo they wouldn't say a peep even though its basically a rebadged Daewoo. They never said a word about my PT Cruiser that was built in Mexico and Chrysler is owned by the Germans.

Short synopsis:

1: Its not the UAW's fault that the big 3 put out boring crappy cars.
2: The UAW should make concessions to help bring the big 3 back to profitability.
3: While I am in a union it is a very different situation that the UAW
4: Buying American just because its American is not motivating the big 3 to build better stuff.
5: Black Yaris is still a dipshit..... J/K!


I understand what you meant, I just don't agree that they have to dial down the product to turn a profit. Thats a Bullshit way of doing business if that is the case.

I have a feeling that the UAW will ruin all unions across the land unless something is done very quickly.