Buying a GM, what will happen.....

Jstas

Well, you got it all figured out.

tonyb

sounds like you should be a union leader.......

Face

Yes, it all makes sense now, let's cut their pay. That would do wonders for quality control.

In all seriousness, do they pay into their benefits at all? Maybe start off by having them pay a small percentage into to their benefits while working would be a good start to taking the load off GM.

tonyb

I am sure they do so thru union dues,which incorporates a portion going to healthcare.
Curious as to the knucklehead that negotiated lifetime benefits for retiree's though.

Face

Union dues has nothing to do with paying into benefits.

tonyb

Face wrote: »

Union dues has nothing to do with paying into benefits.

Sure does my man,at least with the construction industry it does.Those union dues that are taken out of your check,then you cough up another 1000-1200 yearly that you pay.All besides what the employer contributes.Portions are identified in yearly statements send to your home on where your dues are going.So yes,at least here in Illinois,we chip in.

Face

Ok, it's different here.

Jstas

tonyb wrote: »

Sure does my man,at least with the construction industry it does.Those union dues that are taken out of your check,then you cough up another 1000-1200 yearly that you pay.All besides what the employer contributes.Portions are identified in yearly statements send to your home on where your dues are going.So yes,at least here in Illinois,we chip in.

That's because your employer doesn't furnish the benefits 'cause you qualify as a contractor. Your dues pay the benefits as well as the fees that the employer pays to the union to get your **** on site.

My union dues don't pay any benefits. They are solely to run the union and the are about $6.50 a week.

tonyb

Dude, it's different here.Maybe we should send the buisness model to other unions.Who knows,Employers and employee's contribute,thats the only way to keep outstanding benefits and great pay.If one or the other didn't contribute....enter the auto industry.

[Deleted User]

My previous post stated unions I should have clairified United Auto Workers Union.........
Hey guys, Please don't hate me I am just commenting to stir the pot, for some fun. No harm ment here. It seems that I should not, and will not, in the future, comment on such a highly charged subject if someone believes that it reflects negitively on my employer.

As previously stated I mean NO harm, I am just having fun with it.

Len

tonyb

Jstas wrote: »

That's because your employer doesn't furnish the benefits 'cause you qualify as a contractor. Your dues pay the benefits as well as the fees that the employer pays to the union to get your **** on site.

My union dues don't pay any benefits. They are solely to run the union and the are about $6.50 a week.

Yes,those dues taken out of your check are to run the union's day to day operation.But don't you pay additionaly say,roughly another 1000 bucks a year?

tonyb

Len wrote: »

Hey guys, Please don't hate me I am just commenting to stir the pot, for some fun. No harm ment here. It seems that I should not, and will not, in the future, comment on such a highly charged subject if someone believes that it reflects negitively on my employer.

As previously stated I mean NO harm, I am just having fun with it.

Len

Who said anything negative about Polk? I made an analogy but didn't say negative things about Polk Audio.Unions are a charged subject around here and I surely see the differences between the east coast and midwest states.Just having good back and forth so don't sweat it man.It is possible to talk about things without name calling.....you ****!!:D j/k

Jstas

tonyb wrote: »

Yes,those dues taken out of your check are to run the union's day to day operation.But don't you pay additionaly say,roughly another 1000 bucks a year?

No champ. My benefits come out of my paycheck and my employer and I contribute to my benefits. The union is only an organization of workers here that bargain with the company to get a deal that works out for both sides, us and the company. If anything, other unions should be model their business plan after ours.

We even lobby in Congress for our company. How's that for an "evil" union?




Len, this is a hot topic here. There are many sides and there are too many exceptions for any one person's over-exuberant opinions to be taken as gospel. For every bad union out there, I can find a good union. The problem is that so much has led up to the problems that this whole country is having, not just the Big 3, that we can't pin it on any one entity. But everyone seems to have "the answer" as to what went wrong and all these arguments start when no one is willing to see another point of view let alone step back and look at the larger picture. No, we can't do that. We prefer to hang on to decades old stereotypes and blame "personal experience" to guide our decisions in a vast marketplace that has honestly changed in the last 5 years as much as it has changed in the last 25 years.

Please don't be discouraged from participating here. It is a joy to have the Polk Audio employees participating and I know Al and Paul, before he defected, encouraged participation here. We all have our disagreements and provided people don't go to far and ignore common courtesy and decency, the heated furor usually dies down and everybody is hunky-dory again at some point.

exalted512

Len wrote: »

My previous post stated unions I should have clairified United Auto Workers Union.........
Hey guys, Please don't hate me I am just commenting to stir the pot, for some fun. No harm ment here. It seems that I should not, and will not, in the future, comment on such a highly charged subject if someone believes that it reflects negitively on my employer.

As previously stated I mean NO harm, I am just having fun with it.

Len

Too late! I'm never buying Polk again!:p:p
-Cody

bigaudiofanatic

Jstas wrote: »

Subarus, in my experience, are stone cold reliable. They actually have the reliability that everybody thinks Honda and Toyota have. Maybe that is why Toyota keeps increasing it's stake in Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent company to Subaru.

Subaru Trans I have heard go more often than a mitsubishi's tran:eek:. I would never buy one anyway with its pancake engine. I will and always will stick with the best name out there HONDA.:D

Jstas

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

Subaru Trans I have heard go more often than a mitsubishi's tran:eek:. I would never buy one anyway with its pancake engine. I will and always will stick with the best name out there HONDA.:D

Your loss.

petrym

That would be: "Your loss" actually.

bobman1235

I thought he was calling him a loss. "You are loss."

Makes sense

[Deleted User]

The heck with it I'm going to pick up a Yugo and hope for the best....:D

Jstas

Len wrote: »

The heck with it I'm going to pick up a Yugo and hope for the best....:D

Just make sure you put it back down at some point. They are small but heavy.

doggie750

madmax wrote: »

Are you kidding? Any company of any type no matter what their present position may be out of business tomorrow.

GM has more chance of being in business tomorrow than most companies.

In my opinion (as a GM owner for the last 30 years) GM sucks in a lot of ways. Go with a Toyota.
madmax

Likewise here....

LessisNevermore

Jstas wrote: »

No champ. My benefits come out of my paycheck and my employer and I contribute to my benefits. The union is only an organization of workers here that bargain with the company to get a deal that works out for both sides, us and the company. If anything, other unions should be model their business plan after ours.

We even lobby in Congress for our company. How's that for an "evil" union?

I work union as well, and have a different scenario than has been mentioned. I don't work exclusively for one company,(as such, I don't always work year-round) thus all my benefits are paid by whatever contractor I work for at the time. I do have to pay for any dependent's insurance. ~half of those benefits go towards a real pension plan, vs. a 401k. (or similar) Just curious, is your company, or union paying into a pension, or a "k" plan?

All of the benefits are agreed upon by the contractors, or we would not have a contract, so no strong-arming going on here. In fact, part of our territory extends to about half of Iowa, which is a right to work state. The union contractors have some very stiff competition (non-union) when bidding jobs, yet we still make a profit for these companies.

My pension contributions are based on hours worked, and no limits are imposed. The more I work now, the better I'll have it later. (though taking the last 2 summers off was niiice:D)


Addressing the tiered pay scales for unions: They already exist, 4 years of apprenticeship. Guys who buy their cards are frowned upon mightily in my trade.

shack

Unions Suck!

Face

Yep, job security is a terrible thing.

Jstas

LessisNevermore wrote: »

Just curious, is your company, or union paying into a pension, or a "k" plan?

I actually have both. I have a pension, I was vested at the ripe old age of 27 and it matured just this past February. But I also have a 401K that is based on company stock or I can take as much as 70% of it and invest it elsewhere to improve my returns. The company will also match up to 8% of my pay for 401K investments.

Systems

sucks2beme wrote: »

So, before we finish kicking the dead horse around, you gonna buy
it or what? Support for GM stuff is going to be around awhile, even
if it does file. The problem as I see it that you live too far away from
other brands to make it work. Just go do your homework between the big
three in small trucks. Good luck with your hunt.

Yes, they are getting in an 09 here in a few weeks and I told the salesman, use to be my insurance guy, that I would take it. The one I test drove was an 08 with that radiant orange color, wasn't really my color, the one they are getting in is a Silver Birch Metallic. Not too much change in the 08 to the 09, mainly the stabilatrac and traction control, few other little things.....

shack

Face wrote:

Yep, job security is a terrible thing.

It's working out well for those auto workers, steel workers and truckers...:rolleyes:

LessisNevermore

shack wrote: »

It's working out well for those auto workers, steel workers and truckers...:rolleyes:

And union jobs are the only ones lost, or in jeopardy.....right?:rolleyes:

It's pretty obvious that the UAW, Teamsters, and Steel Workers, are your only impressions of unions. The rest of us don't have protected jobs. If you don't perform, you're gone. If the contractor loses money, they likely won't hire you back.

Another thing, do you really want a cut-throat, competitive, non-union company taking shortcuts, and not placing a great priority on safety, working on, and maintaining your local nuclear plant? Your welcome.:p

I realize we (union polk folk) are in the minority, we likely won't change any minds. Just realize that the bad apples are the exception, rather than the rule. We like making a living, not just an existence.

shack

LessisNevermore wrote:

And union jobs are the only ones lost, or in jeopardy.....right?:rolleyes:

No but the unions were/are key factors in the decline of those industries.

LessisNevermore wrote:

It's pretty obvious that the UAW, Teamsters, and Steel Workers, are your only impressions of unions.

I am very familiar with unions over and above the ones I mentioned. They are however some of the worst.

LessisNevermore wrote:

Another thing, do you really want a cut-throat, competitive, non-union company taking shortcuts, and not placing a great priority on safety, working on, and maintaining your local nuclear plant? Your welcome.

I'm perfectly fine with non-union nuclear workers and in fact I prefer them. I find competetive firms do not take any more shortcuts and provide better service overall than union shops. Unions as a whole foster mediocracy IMO and are socialistic by their very nature.

I would NEVER join a labor union under ANY circumstance.

I stand by my opinion of unions as stated.

LessisNevermore

Jstas wrote: »

I actually have both. I have a pension, I was vested at the ripe old age of 27 and it matured just this past February. But I also have a 401K that is based on company stock or I can take as much as 70% of it and invest it elsewhere to improve my returns. The company will also match up to 8% of my pay for 401K investments.

That is rare. Kudos.