funny but true Options

[UNDEAD]

http://msunderestimated.com/SNLBailoutSkit.wmv

SNL did a "Bailout" skit, which has created some rather awkward problems for NBC. They spiked the video and tried to shut it down on the Internet. But aha, there's still some sites that have it.

[Robert]

Ford's most advanced assembly plant is in Brazil... and running as we speak.... type

Watch the video
http://info.detnews.com/video/index.cfm?id=1189

What is amazing is that they cannot build that plant in the US because of the unions.
No sense in being competitive and earning a profit at home... It's all about keeping jobs no matter the cost to the company.....

I guess GM is just trying to catch up with Ford in South America.... At least Ford has not taken any bailout monies.

I've seen that video posted in several discussions about the auto industry. Every time it's brought up, it always pointed out that can't do that here because of the "Unions".
I'll agree the unions share some blame in the current mess the Big 3 find themselves in but only partly and some of it is beyond their control.
Here is another way to look at it.
1) Unions didn't prevent similar Honda and Toyota plants being built here in the US.
2) Something most people are completely unaware of. The Ford plant in Brazil which people claim couldn't be done here because of unions, is actually a unionized plant. You see all those yellow lines painted on the floor in the video? The union made Ford paint those lines as a way to separate the low paid union workers from the even lower paid contract suppliers who work inside the plant.
3) Ford and union bashers spin this Brazilian plant as some type of answer to problems created by the unions. Bullshit, the unionized workers in Brazil aren't much happier with Ford then they are here. Which is why those same Brazilian workers went on strike and shut down the whole plant in 2003
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-27...settled-at.html
4) Of course Ford loved the idea of building a plant in an area which suffered from 25% unemployment.
When people are that desperate, you can get them to line up for jobs that pay less than average an below the poverty line. Which is why those same workers decided to strike when they had the option. They returned to to work after getting an 8% raise which may sound like a lot but it only brought them up to a median wage for the area and type of work. So the real question is who's really greedy, the Unions or the company?
5) Do I even need to bring up the near zero tax rate and lax or nonexistent environmental regulations.
6) Unions have little to do with why this plant was built in Brazil, it was done to protect and supply their Brazilian and South American market. The same way Ford has plants in Europe to supply their Euro markets.
7) Most importantly, the union cost which has devastated the industry has almost zero to do with union wages. The real problem is legacy cost which the companies can no longer afford after continuing to build their business over the last decade+ on a razor thin profit margin. The single biggest reason this plant will be more profitable compared to a US plant is the lack of legacy cost. A tiny fraction of the health care expense when compared to US employees past and present. Then there is difference in cost associated with retirement, which has become a financial black hole for the auto industry.

For the record, I'm a strong union supporter in theory but am the 1st to admit they have done less than good job in the practical application when it comes to collective bargaining.