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Labor costs to skyrocket for American cars as unions


Posted: Nov 23, 2015

a 9% rate hike. The unions give aid to the Democrats. This is why we buy Japan cars. They are still make here. My Camry was made in Kentucky and had a higher U.S. content than a Chrysler. We started buying Toyota and Nissan products. They in no form or fashion make crappy cars. Both Toyota's we owned had almost 300,000 miles on them with just general maintenance and a few timing belts. Then, my husband bought a new one. ;

Plus cadillac healthcare and cushy pensions. Unions are - excempt from Obamacare.

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Our Corolla is 12 years old. They will run for 200,000 miles.

I wish I had an MT union. Probably would not be - Minimum wage

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and paid health insurance would be just great. Go unions!

Yes, better the workers get it than the CEOs - NM

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That's true only if people buy the high priced cars. At some - point they might be overpriced.
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It's not only the CEO's making huge profits but the UAW labor leaders make obscene profits as well.

A hundred million likes! - I would love a union too

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Unions are good. Republicans used to also agree with that. They haven't had a pro-working man policy for years, though. Eisenhower was the last Republican who was for the working man. They are only for corporations and billionaires now.
Unfortunately, workers must be prepared to - fight for a union. MTs just
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don't have any fight in them. It's why they're in the dire financial straits they're in today.
I think the lack of "fight" is not the problem - credentialing/AHDI is the problem
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I have never bothered to get credentialed, although I did want to at one stage. Then I started making so little money and MTSOs stopped offering decent incentives, so never mind.

From what I understand, this organization used to be a boon to us MTs and they actually sponsored schools and informed MTSOs and worked on our behalf.

I think ever since they actually assisted with the offshoring of our jobs they have actually been working at odds with MT professional goals and instead with the MTSOs/their own pockets.

Not that AHDI have ever been a union, but I think perhaps MTs got lulled into thinking they were professionals and when we used to get decent pay it did not seem necessary to get a union too.

Well, big mistake I think. If you read on these boards though, so many have been poisoned against unions that even if a viable prospect turned up, I believe many would opt out because they think unions are the devil (thanks, right wing propaganda).

Perfect they are not, but definitely we would have been a lot better off now had we had the union RATHER than the credentialing agency.

So if you mean they don't have any fight in them because they are misinformed and think unions are no good, well that I agree with, but on the whole it's just a big fat mess and the key would have been to not allowing the offshoring from the start all those years ago.

I cannot believe MTSOs are supposed to be service organizations - does that mean they get tax breaks too, like churches? Obviously, I know little to nothing about the history of AHDI/credentialing, such as where they started going wrong, etc., but if anyone else can enlighten us, please do.
I hate to say it, but MTs make so little that they - SM
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cannot afford to be in a union. Teachers and police make enough that they can actually go on strike (and other people actually care and will support them) that a strike is effective. We MTs cannot miss one paycheck and we are in big trouble because we cannot even afford to save for retirement, much less a strike. Truly slave wages -- our only choice is to actually leave the profession. I suggest electrician, plumbing, nursing or some other hands-on business where it cannot be outsourced.
It is such a joke that conservatives - seem to think
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that real MTs are concerned about someone else making good union salaries and benefits when we are just envious of those workers and wish them well. After all, who can afford to go out and buy a new car on a Mt salary? Those posters who are always whining about unions, "people on welfare", and Obamacare are obviously wealthy, probably MTSO owners--if indeed they actually have anything to do with the transcription business.

60 bucks an hour to make sure a robotic arm isn't putting a - cup holdre in the wrong place???

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Sounds ridiculous to me.

I've never bought a new car, American or foreign, and will never do so. I'm not interested in funding some union that will turn right around and donate to Democrats.

Japanese cars - Wnatever

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I'm on my second new Honda, I had the other one for 20 years and now someone else is driving it. Honda manufactures more cars in the US than any other foreign name plate, my new car was assembled in Ohio but that does not mean the parts weren't manufactured overseas, the transmission was imported from a Honda plant in Japan. Honda, Nissan and Toyota hate labor unions, I don't know if that's a good thing. There are good "American" cars out there and many of them are manufactured overseas so the 9% rate hike does not necessarily mean more money for the union. Imports incur costs of their own and prices go up every year on those as well. I'm sure Camrys are lovely cars, but they sure have a lot of recalls. Labor unions have Republican members too.

Labor unions donate to Democrats, regardless of the politics of thei - members, and it's the dues paid

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by the union members regardless of their political party. Same with teachers unions, too.

Perhaps - You are probably right

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I bet if you researched that, you'd probably find that they accept donations from Republicans too and that their money is spread across the board. You might want to look and see how union dues are actually spent, it might surprise you. Nurses, plumbers, construction labor, auto mechanics to name a few all have unions and pay dues, it is not just teachers and auto workers.
I have, it's on opensecrets.org - NM
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xx

Well if Republicans want to get union votes - get some pro labor policies

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Of course unions (and any labor organization) will prefer Democrats. The Republicans are NOT for us workers, their policies are exclusively pro corporation and pro the very wealthy.

Republicans have been responsible for almost complete deregulation of the workplace, they are against the EPA and OSHA health and safety standards. They are so close to big oil some idiot republican - Joe Barton - actually apologized to the head of BP after the oil spill. This is BAD for labor - we need jobs in new energy not old.

If they had their way, many Republicans say there should be NO minimum wage or certainly no decent minimum wage. Despite employers being able to cut our wages whenever they feel like it (witness MT salary halving for no apparent reason but tough on us) and hence leaving many dependent on food stamps and Medicaid even though they work 40 hours, Republicans then try to cut social programs as well!

If Republicans would ever be FOR workers and not try to give ridiculous convoluted reasons why the minimum wage is no good and the money will trickle down somehow (has it ever trickled down, no it has never), they would get votes.

As an MT and low paid worker, the Republican party offers me nothing. Except maybe the ability to look down on others and hate outsiders. That just does not interest me at all. As the descendant of Polish and Irish immigrants, I know they had tough times and discrimination as well. I cannot fathom why you would want to do that to others. Unless your family came over on the Mayflower I guess, and even then why?

Hate and fear seems to be what they're selling and many are buying, but ultimately how will our jobs and lives get better, by shutting out refugees/immigrants and privatizing Social Security, raising the retirement age? Those policies are NOT desirable to me at all, so I only wish I could join a union, but no such luck.

Remember when Obama bailed out the auto industry? - It basically was a UAW bailout for labor

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unions (huge Democrat backers).

I had a 1967 Ford truck, built by union workers, - that I bought for the Blue Book - sm

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price of $50.75 off a used car lot. Other than tires and maybe a water pump, I drove that truck until it had 350,000 miles on it. It still ran great, and after I drove it for 12 years, I sold it to a friend who continued to drive it for years afterwards, well past the half-million mile mark.

That cost gets passed on to consumers. That's why American - cars are so expensive. Get ready for price

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hike. No wonder 2/3 of the cars I am seeing on the road were made by either Nissan or Hyundai.

Not only that, but a person making say $15 an hour - costs the employer about $30

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by the time you add in worker's comp, payroll taxes, uniforms, insurance, and other benefits.

American cars are inexpensive compared to - Toyotas. The resale value

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on Toyota trucks and SUVs is unreal. And the miles they can be driven with no repairs needed at all is even more amazing. It justifies the price tag. Yes, I'll have to pay a mechanic union wages to keep my Toyota in good running order, but that's money well spent when the result is a car that's paid-for, and that I can drive for the rest of my life.

FYI - To each their own

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The Toyota Tacoma does have the highest resale value of mid sized trucks according to Kelley Blue Book but right behind it is a Chevy and a GMC. I just purchased a new Honda Civic but I also considered cars from American manufacturers. American cars are not more expensive. The 2 crappiest cars I ever owned were foreign. I had a Toyota Corolla years ago. It ran forever but it was a tin can, scary cheap. I also had a Mazda that blew a transmission at 70K. There are lemons across the board and the price of foreign cars increases just as the price of American cars does. I actually think that Hondas hold their value better than Toyotas. I'll never drive another Toyota, which by the way uses parts manufactured by GM. Many cars these days can last up to 200K and more if they are given proper care, foreign and domestic.

Interesting you should post this. Something along the same line, - "Union Time on Taxpayer's Dime"

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Just before recessing for a two-week Thanksgiving break, the Michigan Senate passed a pair of bills to prohibit two particular schemes that require taxpayers to pay for work done on behalf of teacher and government employee unions.

Senate Bill 279 would outlaw pension spiking of the type that allowed Michigan Education Association President Steve Cook to use a $201,613 union salary to pad his taxpayer-funded pension.

Earlier this year, Michigan Capitol Confidential broke the story about how Cook took advantage of a special deal between the Lansing School District and the Michigan Education Association that permitted him to be considered a school employee for purposes of accruing a higher payout from a state-run school pension system while working full time for the MEA. The pension system currently has $26 billion in unfunded liabilities on its books.

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