Non-union, salaried workers shafted in U.S. deal with GM

[WillowTree]

After reading your article on Ron Bloom and his great accomplishment of saving GM and Chrysler from bankruptcy (“Manufacturing czar likely to have more sway,” Sept. 8), I think the American people should know the whole story. Mr. Bloom, the new manufacturing czar and head of the auto recovery task force, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and President Barack Obama do not want the American people to understand the unfair and unequal treatment of salaried autoworkers.

The Delphi Corp. workers who worked for decades for GM have been segregated — some represented (union workers) and some non-represented (salaried worker-engineers, accountants and clerks). The task force and Treasury decided that the union workers’ healthcare and pensions would be saved, but not the salaried workers’.










Non-union, salaried workers shafted in U.S. deal with GM - TheHill.com

 

[WillowTree]

so I guess it's pretty clear, if you are not union this administration really doesn't give a shit if you live or die huh?

 

[bodecea]

so I guess it's pretty clear, if you are not union this administration really doesn't give a shit if you live or die huh?

Actually, it's pretty clear that if you don't unionize to protect yourself from management, you're screwed.

 

[WillowTree]

so I guess it's pretty clear, if you are not union this administration really doesn't give a shit if you live or die huh?

Actually, it's pretty clear that if you don't unionize to protect yourself from management, you're screwed.

management is us.. we the people, the us government.. we own gm and chrysler,, we are discriminatory.. huh?

 

[WillowTree]

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) stated Delphi salaried workers got a raw deal and asked the GM head to reverse the decision to exclude them from the pension deal and to treat them equitably. Rep. Chris Lee (R-N.Y.) has led an effort to get a bipartisan group of 46 congressional members to jointly request a hearing to understand this issue, and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) agreed to hold a hearing. To date President Obama, Secretary Geithner, Mr. Bloom and GM CEO Fritz Henderson have not responded to any requests or objections regarding the unfair treatment of this non-represented class of worker.

New York






so this administration is just fine with discriminatory practice in regards to pensions and health care just another reason not to trust a word they say.

 

[Diuretic]

White collar workers should organise, as bodecea has pointed out, they're pretty much screwed if they don't. If they're not organised then of course they're going to be taken advantage of. Or do you think altruism governs labour relations?

I would think that there are unions in the US that would be able to organise white collar workers. If not then there's a useful model I know about that they might want to have a look at.

APESMA - The Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists & Managers, Australia

I studied with some of the APESMA reps, I really like their model for representing salaried professionals.

 

[RodISHI]

Great either join us and our organization or suffer the loss of what you rightfully earned. Typical crap from thugs.

 

[WillowTree]

Great either join us and our organization or suffer the loss of what you rightfully earned. Typical crap from thugs.

that's basically what it amounts to, and they do it in the name of "we the people"

 

[Diuretic]

Great either join us and our organization or suffer the loss of what you rightfully earned. Typical crap from thugs.

You want someone to benefit from something they haven't paid for?

 

[PeterS]

After reading your article on Ron Bloom and his great accomplishment of saving GM and Chrysler from bankruptcy (“Manufacturing czar likely to have more sway,” Sept. 8), I think the American people should know the whole story. Mr. Bloom, the new manufacturing czar and head of the auto recovery task force, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and President Barack Obama do not want the American people to understand the unfair and unequal treatment of salaried autoworkers.

The Delphi Corp. workers who worked for decades for GM have been segregated — some represented (union workers) and some non-represented (salaried worker-engineers, accountants and clerks). The task force and Treasury decided that the union workers’ healthcare and pensions would be saved, but not the salaried workers’.

Non-union, salaried workers shafted in U.S. deal with GM - TheHill.com

I am not sure I see the problem. Salaried workers chose to represent themselves and this is the consequence. It happens everyday in business and I have never seen a conservative shed a tear and you wouldn't today save for the fact you found something you could attach Obama's name to. If you really cared about workers getting shafted you should have spoken up long ago...

 

[RodISHI]

Great either join us and our organization or suffer the loss of what you rightfully earned. Typical crap from thugs.

You want someone to benefit from something they haven't paid for?

Are you saying that these workers should have to pay for protection to keep the government from stepping in and reducing their pensions? I'm sorry I do not agree with the techniques of thuggery the mob hands out in any form whether it be by the government czars appointed by this president or any other president. That is no better than small business owners that had to pay mobsters for protection against the mobsters thugs that terrorized small business if they did not pay up.

 

[PeterS]

Great either join us and our organization or suffer the loss of what you rightfully earned. Typical crap from thugs.

Huh? Unions didn't cause them to lose anything. Why are you trying to hold them accountable for someone else bad decision?

 

[PeterS]

Great either join us and our organization or suffer the loss of what you rightfully earned. Typical crap from thugs.

You want someone to benefit from something they haven't paid for?

Are you saying that these workers should have to pay for protection to keep the government from stepping in and reducing their pensions? I'm sorry I do not agree with the techniques of thuggery the mob hands out in any form whether it be by the government czars appointed by this president or any other president. That is no better than small business owners that had to pay mobsters for protection against the mobsters thugs that terrorized small business if they did not pay up.

God you are so full of it. When Burlington Northern took over Santa Fe my salaried father-in-law lost his SF pension. Had he been in the union he wouldn't have. Is this 'thuggery' or simply what happens when when businesses are bought out or shut down? Business has done this for decades. Why are you bitching now that government does the same thing?

 

[PeterS]

so I guess it's pretty clear, if you are not union this administration really doesn't give a shit if you live or die huh?

Actually, it's pretty clear that if you don't unionize to protect yourself from management, you're screwed.

management is us.. we the people, the us government.. we own gm and chrysler,, we are discriminatory.. huh?

Isn't this the basis of business? Why would a government run business be any different?

 

[RodISHI]

You want someone to benefit from something they haven't paid for?

Are you saying that these workers should have to pay for protection to keep the government from stepping in and reducing their pensions? I'm sorry I do not agree with the techniques of thuggery the mob hands out in any form whether it be by the government czars appointed by this president or any other president. That is no better than small business owners that had to pay mobsters for protection against the mobsters thugs that terrorized small business if they did not pay up.

God you are so full of it. When Burlington Northern took over Santa Fe my salaried father-in-law lost his SF pension. Had he been in the union he wouldn't have. Is this 'thuggery' or simply what happens when when businesses are bought out or shut down? Business has done this for decades. Why are you bitching now that government does the same thing?

Who said I approve of BN taking your father-in-laws pensions? YOU!

You are "so full of it" people have been fighting for each others rights in this country for years and years. It is absolute thuggery when the government official takes away or reduces any man's or woman's pension when that person worked for it. No one said it is or has been right for any company or corporation to take away anyone's pensions that they worked for. It is not a requirement to belong to a union to expect equal protection under the law. Those people worked for those pensions. I do not have to sell a portion of my business to a large company to expect to be protected equally by the law, nor will I. They may and can take illegal actions to force me out of business but I sure do not have to take it lying down or say it is right. Forcing people into a union or they do not have equal protection from our government is wrong in every sense of freedom and liberty this country is purported to stand for.

 

[PeterS]

Are you saying that these workers should have to pay for protection to keep the government from stepping in and reducing their pensions? I'm sorry I do not agree with the techniques of thuggery the mob hands out in any form whether it be by the government czars appointed by this president or any other president. That is no better than small business owners that had to pay mobsters for protection against the mobsters thugs that terrorized small business if they did not pay up.

God you are so full of it. When Burlington Northern took over Santa Fe my salaried father-in-law lost his SF pension. Had he been in the union he wouldn't have. Is this 'thuggery' or simply what happens when when businesses are bought out or shut down? Business has done this for decades. Why are you bitching now that government does the same thing?

Who said I approve of BN taking your father-in-laws pensions? YOU!

No you. Pension busting was all part of deregualtion

You are "so full of it" people have been fighting for each others rights in this country for years and years. It is absolute thuggery when the government official takes away or reduces any man's or woman's pension when that person worked for it. No one said it is or has been right for any company or corporation to take away anyone's pensions that they worked for. It is not a requirement to belong to a union to expect equal protection under the law. Those people worked for those pensions. I do not have to sell a portion of my business to a large company to expect to be protected equally by the law, nor will I. They may and can take illegal actions to force me out of business but I sure do not have to take it lying down or say it is right. Forcing people into a union or they do not have equal protection from our government is wrong in every sense of freedom and liberty this country is purported to stand for.

Equal protection? They aren't equal contracts so why would there be equal protection. Part of the UAW contract was for GM to pay into the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Salaried workers didn't. Why should salaried workers receive what they never asked for?

 

[RodISHI]

Equal protection? They aren't equal contracts so why would there be equal protection. Part of the UAW contract was for GM to pay into the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Salaried workers didn't. Why should salaried workers receive what they never asked for?

Employees and retirees are not required by law to have contracts to receive equal protection under the law. Nor should they be. Again it falls under the thuggery mob style concepts to force someone to pay for protection to insure that their pensions and/or labor is protected equally.

From Den Black, interim president, Delphi Salaried Retirees Association

In the process of the GM “deal,” over 15,000 salaried retirees of GM’s spun-off components and systems unit — Delphi Corp. — were thrown under the bus. While the auto recovery task force, GM, and Delphi agreed to default the pension plans for all classes of Delphi employees to the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC), only the pensions for GM-Delphi salaried retirees were singled out for discrimination.

While Delphi retirees represented by the United Auto Workers union and the International Union of Electrical Workers-Communications Workers of America will have their pensions topped off to the levels they would have received directly from GM-Delphi, GM-Delphi salaried retirees will receive very significantly reduced pensions under PBGC limits set by Congress.

Mr. President and members of Congress, now is the time for you to stand in the shoes of GM-Delphi salaried retirees, against whom fortune has turned, largely at the hand of our government — the auto task force.

 

[Diuretic]

Great either join us and our organization or suffer the loss of what you rightfully earned. Typical crap from thugs.

Actually there's no moral context in labour relations. You get what you can bargain for. No-one "rightfully" earns anything, they earn what they bargain for. If they fail to bargain a decent rate then that's their problem.

 

[Diuretic]

Great either join us and our organization or suffer the loss of what you rightfully earned. Typical crap from thugs.

You want someone to benefit from something they haven't paid for?

Are you saying that these workers should have to pay for protection to keep the government from stepping in and reducing their pensions? I'm sorry I do not agree with the techniques of thuggery the mob hands out in any form whether it be by the government czars appointed by this president or any other president. That is no better than small business owners that had to pay mobsters for protection against the mobsters thugs that terrorized small business if they did not pay up.

If they don't get organised to protect their interests then they have to accept the results. That's not illegal activity by their opponents, so the comparison with extortion practices is not accurate. It's why people unionise, so that they can have some form of protection and an bargain effectively.

 

[PeterS]

Equal protection? They aren't equal contracts so why would there be equal protection. Part of the UAW contract was for GM to pay into the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Salaried workers didn't. Why should salaried workers receive what they never asked for?

Employees and retirees are not required by law to have contracts to receive equal protection under the law. Nor should they be. Again it falls under the thuggery mob style concepts to force someone to pay for protection to insure that their pensions and/or labor is protected equally.

From Den Black, interim president, Delphi Salaried Retirees Association

In the process of the GM “deal,” over 15,000 salaried retirees of GM’s spun-off components and systems unit — Delphi Corp. — were thrown under the bus. While the auto recovery task force, GM, and Delphi agreed to default the pension plans for all classes of Delphi employees to the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC), only the pensions for GM-Delphi salaried retirees were singled out for discrimination.

While Delphi retirees represented by the United Auto Workers union and the International Union of Electrical Workers-Communications Workers of America will have their pensions topped off to the levels they would have received directly from GM-Delphi, GM-Delphi salaried retirees will receive very significantly reduced pensions under PBGC limits set by Congress.

Mr. President and members of Congress, now is the time for you to stand in the shoes of GM-Delphi salaried retirees, against whom fortune has turned, largely at the hand of our government — the auto task force.

GM salaried workers were given contracts and in those contracts were funding waivers. You are asking that they be paid for something they didn't ask for. PBGC is pension insurance and GM salaried worker are getting exactly what they paid for.