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Let the Unions Run the Big Three: Fire the Execs and Sell Their Private Jets

Submitted by meg on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 12:28pm.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
by Meg White

It's got to be tough to be a Democrat in Congress at this moment. Though they have a majority coming in January, they can't seem to get Republican support for the bailout of the Big Three automakers, GM, Ford and Chrysler. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had to give up his idea to hold a vote on the matter Wednesday, as it became clear the bailout wouldn't pass.

But, it's tough to get sympathy for the devil when he arrives in his own personal jet. Each CEO fueled up his own plane to make it to the hearing, and that fact was not lost on the assembled lawmakers.

"I'm going to ask you to raise your hand if you're planning to sell your jet in place now, and fly back commercial," Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) said to the three CEOs at the hearing. "Let the record show, no hands went up."

If these guys aren't even willing to give up their private jets, how can we trust them to make the big changes needed in the American auto industry? The truth is, these guys have had plenty of chances to change the way America builds cars.  Instead, they killed innovation and stuck with the impractical gas-guzzlers they were comfortable with. This is not behavior that deserves a $25 billion reward.

The thing is, by stiffing the Big Three, the unions get the shaft, which means putting millions of Americans out of work. In an economy such as this one, that would be especially devastating.  

It's clear we need someone else in the driver's seat of the American auto industry. In Congress, lawmakers are shaking things up with committee assignments. House members ousted Rep. John Dingell from his chairmanship of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee Thursday. Dingell, a Michigan lawmaker who has been perhaps the biggest, longest-lasting patsy of the auto industry during his 28 years on the panel, is married to a senior GM executive. In his place comes environmentalist and renowned investigator Rep. Henry Waxman of California.  

So, considering the change in the air, perhaps the unions could do a better job at running Ford, GM and Chrysler. Republicans blame the unions for bankrupting the car companies in the first place, but really, that's mostly the fault of insurance companies charging too much for healthcare.  So, with a universal healthcare plan in the works (as well as possible incentives for developing energy-efficient wheels), maybe the auto industry could hold on for the duration of this bumpy economic ride. But it's clear that car companies are going to need new management.

Tell us what you think: Who would you pick to take over the Big Three?

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT

For more on this subject, see Christine Bowman's insightful analysis titled, "Right Wing Using Bailout Crisis to Push Anti-Union Attitudes -- Their 2008 Hot-Button Issue?"

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I would rather see a bailout for the big three than...

Submitted by gmathol on Mon, 12/01/2008 - 3:12am.
...to see 8 Trillion of taxpayers money spend for Wall Street. But yeah citizens, let the Big Three go under and let the jobs go to China or India.
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STUPID FOLKS ARE IN FOR A DOLLAR, IN FOR A DIME!

Submitted by josephconrad on Sun, 11/23/2008 - 12:42am.
Saving the Big Three with taxpayer funds is akin to letting Bush & now Savior Obama write the BUMB CHECKS! The WEALTHY OLD WHITEBOY 1%-ERS are bending Americans over AGAIN and giving them the GOLF SHOE - SPIKES & ALL - IN THE BUTT. And yes, Americans are and WILL CONTINUE 'liking it'! Sadly, this nation is bound for HELL because its citizens are 24-carat IDIOTS & DUPES! Just look at the last 8yrs.?! First 2 COUPS IN A ROW & NOW 4 MORE YEARS OF LOOTING AMERICA?! Is there just ONE BRAIN left in this DEMENTED nation?! First, the Banks & Wall Street THUGS, LIARS & THIEVES have a GO at SERIAL RAPING taxpayers and now the TRAITORS IN CONGRESS elected 'by the people' are gona let the AUTO MAKERS 'DO the taxpayers' TOO?! As long as the AUTO LIARS & THIEVES own/lease jets and TURN OUT PIECES OF CRAP YEAR AFTER YEAR, THEY CAN DAMN WELL USE THEIR OWN MONEY TO BAIL OUT THEIR DECEITFUL BUTTS! They are as corrupt as BUSH & CO. and deserve to see GOD...TODAY!
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Why not give the billions of

Submitted by Paul Revere on Sat, 11/22/2008 - 11:08pm.
Why not give the billions of $ to the average taxpaying American and stipulate that the $ have to be used to purchase a new car from one of the big 3? That would stimulate the economy from the bottom up and at the same time bailout the big 3!
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Auto crime

Submitted by edpell@bestweb.net on Sat, 11/22/2008 - 8:26pm.

The auto companies did not adequately fund the pension fund. To me that is the crime of fraud (we say "you will have a pension" but we know we have not funded it, so we know you will not collect on the promises we made). Also the union officials who monitor the pension for the union members saw that it was not funded and looked the other way (brides from the companies?). They too should be on trail for fraud.

The auto companies got 25 billion dollars about two months ago. Where did the money go? Now they need 25 billion dollars more. At this rate 25 billion per two months they will need 150 billion dollars annually. Instead let's have the federal government buy all the shares of the three at current market rates and hold complete ownership. Then redirect them to produce wind turbines (and associated infrastructure) so that America can be energy independent. Use the profits from the enterprise to fund social security.

This of course will never be allowed as it cuts out the families of extreme wealth as the recipients of the profit.

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Take over management of the Big Three

Submitted by RDUhrich on Sat, 11/22/2008 - 7:14pm.
I suggest that the Big Three look to JAPAN for their new management. At least then, they'd have a better chance of getting help from Congress.
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Let the workers run the companies

Submitted by rogead on Sat, 11/22/2008 - 1:27pm.
I can't imagine that the employees or the country would be any better off with corporations being run by corrupt business unions. Let the workers themselves run the companies!
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Business unions???

Submitted by neoconned on Sat, 11/22/2008 - 5:39pm.

There you go being Shirley Jesting again! GM and most other companies would LOVE to be in charge of their workers' organizations.

I can tell you from experience that workers don't have any more control over their unions than they do their employers, but for a different reason: they are too damned lazy to get up off their television-watching asses to go to the meetings and see to it that their locals are protecting their interests. This would include keeping a closer eye on their internationals, who don't have much oversight now.

Now if they were able to get that far, I might agree that turning the business over to them might be a viable option. But until they can find the 'off' button on their television remotes, FAUX NOISE will have more control over GM than the UAW will.

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I would like to see the big

Submitted by Paul Revere on Sat, 11/22/2008 - 12:42pm.
I would like to see the big 3 completely reorganize and initiate some kind of profit sharing plan.Instead of the people at the very top flying in jets and making millions of $ for destroying the companies, they and all the employees would either sink or swim based on how their vehicles fared against the competition.
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Unions run the big three?

Submitted by mancityfooty on Sat, 11/22/2008 - 11:19am.
Submitted by bluewhitered on Sat, 11/22/2008 - 12:34am.

"Lee Iacocca turned Chrysler around when it was sinking."

What saved Chrysler was the $1.5 billion in loans it received from the government. That and Iacocca fighting against safety standards for his new product, the minivan. That is what saved Chrysler.

That said, both sides could make some concessions to make the companies run better. Management could concede some of their salary and perks, especially since none of the auto makers are making anything in the way of profits. The unions could relax some of the requirements in their contracts. I have worked at union companies in the UK and in the USA, the big difference between the two was that the UK union didn't have silly requirements in their contracts. For and example: in the USA company, the person to get a job posting was the one with the most seniority, not the one with the most experience for that position.

If the execs of the big three wanted to do something, they could bring over more cars from Europe. Like the new Saturn Astra, which has been sold in Europe for years. Or the Toyota Yaris, which had been sold worldwide for several years before they brought it to the USA. Why not get ready now for the eventual gas price rise rather than have an emergency sometime down the road?

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Union Control

Submitted by sulphurdunn on Sat, 11/22/2008 - 9:08am.
The cost of health care benefits averages $1500 per vehicle for the Big Three. It would be zero under a national health care system. Even so, people would buy their passenger cars if they were of high quality. The same companies that make good trucks do not make good fuel efficient cars. That is certainly no fault of the workers. Management lost their share of that market years ago with cars like the Vega and the Pinto and when it abandoned electric and hybrid vehicles for more profitable SUVs. The UAW doesn't need to run GM. It just needs to be the majority stock holder with a veto proof majority on the board of directors.
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You first, sir.

Submitted by bettysdad on Sat, 11/22/2008 - 4:26am.
Everyone in the auto business management side, VP or better, must provide a certified copy of their assets, and then must throw 75% of it into the bailout package. If they won't do it, and they won't, it tells everyone a great deal.
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A Union Run Big Three + 25 Billion Taxpayer Bucks = Breakthrough

Submitted by crackerjack on Sat, 11/22/2008 - 12:35am.
"Based on?" "Certain strings being attached." "Such as?" "Openness and accountability." "Anything else?" "Yes we can."
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Big Three

Submitted by bluewhitered on Sat, 11/22/2008 - 12:34am.
Lee Iacocca turned Chrysler around when it was sinking. He wrote a very interesting book. An excerpt is......... Iacocca: Where Have All the Leaders Gone? Excerpt: Where Have All the Leaders Gone? By Lee Iacocca with Catherine Whitney Had Enough? Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course." Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out! You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies.Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don't need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for.
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Pain Cannot Be Avoided

Submitted by neoconned on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 9:39pm.
As much as I don't want to see more UAW members lose their jobs, benefits, and pensions, nothing is going to save them. These are as good as lost no matter what happens. As long as the workers are going to go down into poverty anyway, they may as well take down the stupid, arrogant, and greedy morons who think they knew better than the guy on the line. Knowing that they cost the execs millions will be the only satisfaction the workers will get.
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Who should run the big 3?

Submitted by dogbyte on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 9:23pm.
How about turning it into a worker owned company. With any bonus structure in writting and fair for all. Tell the execs where they can park the jet. Maybe E-Bay?
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Let China Take Over

Submitted by ssg13565 on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 8:29pm.
Why not, they make everything else?

Seriously, you can tie the demise of the big three back to the Republicans.

When the UAW got the health care and retirement benefits, the auto makers could have funded the future liability except for one problem. If they put the cash into funding the retirement plan, a corporate raider could have come along and used that cash to fund a hostile takeover. There are plenty of examples of takeovers done this way. Thus, no sane company dared to adequately fund its retirement plans after these examples of takeovers.

The government could have fixed the rules to make it possible for companies to be fiscally responsible.

Without this, the big three automakers were forced into a situation where the future liabilities were so great that they could only survive if they could continue to grow their profits and their workforce to fund their retirees.

The usual route of downsizing during economic downturns only made matters worse because of the unfunded retirement and health plans.

Perhaps the auto companies were forced by this situation to make money any way that they could. What presented itself was making big, expensive SUVs. They may have had no alternative.

Can we blame the executives who had hardly any other choice? Were they supposed to lobby congress to fix the hostile takeover problem?

ssg13565

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Fraud

Submitted by edpell@bestweb.net on Sat, 11/22/2008 - 8:29pm.
If you promise a pension that you know you have not funded adequately that is fraud. It is a crime under U.S. law. The criminals should be prosecuted and if found guilty thrown in jail. The same applies to union officials who were overseeing the pension and looked the other way (bribes from the companies?).
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Let China Take Over

Submitted by ssg13565 on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 8:28pm.
Why not, they make everything else? Seriously, you can tie the demise of the big three back to the Republicans. When the UAW got the health care and retirement benefits, the auto makers could have funded the future liability except for one problem. If they put the cash into funding the retirement plan, a corporate raider could have come along and used that cash to fund a hostile takeover. There are plenty of examples of takeovers done this way. Thus, no sane company dared to adequately fund its retirement plans after these examples of takeovers. The government could have fixed the rules to make it possible for companies to be fiscally responsible. Without this, the big three automakers were forced into a situation where the future liabilities were so great that they could only survive if they could continue to grow their profits and their workforce to fund their retirees. The usual route of downsizing during economic downturns only made matters worse because of the unfunded retirement and health plans. Perhaps the auto companies were forced by this situation to make money any way that they could. What presented itself was making big, expensive SUVs. They may have had no alternative. Can we blame the executives who had hardly any other choice? Were they supposed to lobby congress to fix the hostile takeover problem? ssg13565
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Takeover the Big 3

Submitted by missm on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 8:28pm.
Let Big Oil takeover the Big 3. They recorded record profits again last quarter, and have supported the Big 3's love of gas guzzling cars and trucks for years. Let Big Oil bail them out, and take them over, and see what their greed has enabled.
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Who Should Take Over the Big Three?

Submitted by Dorothy on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 6:38pm.
Anyone but us!
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Argentina did this

Submitted by Freedem (not verified) on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 6:12pm.
When the Argentina economy crashed and burned, many factories just padlocked the doors and the owners walked away. The workers broke in and started making what the factory had been making and brought many of those factories back to profitability. When the original owners showed up and demanded their businesses back, at first the workers refused and later the Argentine government made loans to the worker cooperatives, that paid off the old owners what was decided they were due by a court.

The best I am able to determine all supervisors are elected by the folk they are supervising and nobody is getting extreme income. Because that load of excessively paid folk who do not earn the money is not there the result is surprisingly profitable company.

I would very much like to see the entire GM company broken up so each factory produces what it does, but is free to sell the result to anyone. But in any case this s a perfect time to try a new path, even if the case is a simple buyout for now and the details worked out over the next six months or so.
If the Gang Of Pirates think that the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat, only a fool would think it bipartisan to accommodate them.
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Employee Ownership - Great Idea

Submitted by ERW on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 5:39pm.
And, not that far-fetched. The company my son works for is 45% employee owned. Lowe's is an employee owned business. When employees have a stake in how a company is run, and a stake in making more money when the company makes more money. It's a more consumer/customer friendly company. Why not try it with the auto industry. Couldn't hurt. Might help.
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pensions

Submitted by edpell@bestweb.net on Sat, 11/22/2008 - 8:31pm.
How much will the 25 year old current worker being willing to give to the 75 year old retired worker who did not demand that the company adequately fund his pension?
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GM build - EARTH BALL HOMES and GREENHOUSES

Submitted by RogerARTcom on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 5:17pm.
G.M. - U KNOW - the BIG THREE - get off your butts... build - EARTH BALL HOMES and GREENHOUSES A NEW WAY 2 LIVE, WORK and PLAY on OUR EARTH... A BIG, Thank You, 2 all Earth Citizens Peace, Love & Later, Roger@RogerART.com LINKs 3. www.EarthBall.org - Abode & Greenhouse INDEX & Home All VIDEO - LINKs from... RogerART.com 2008 ( 14 - NEW VIDEOs ) of 67 - coming soon - all - VIDEOs... Go To Serch - www.YouTube.com/user/RogerDrowne
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Let the UAW run the auto companies? Good Idea!

Submitted by ETS on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 5:13pm.

Let the guys and gals on the workroom floor manage what they make.

I seems to me that all the top level executives, whether it is the auto industry or Wall Steet, with their Masters of Business Administration degrees, don't know sh*t from Shinola. And I don't think any of them really care.

The MBA "free market" solution out of this mess is to control labor and legacy costs by busting unions, eliminating medical/health care benefits and trashing pensions. The other evening Mitt Romney was on TV suggesting just that!

I wonder if the Mittster remembers his daddy, George Romney, the so-called savior of American Motors Corp. (AMC), listening to Ronald Reagan's American Medical Assoc. sponsored 33 1/3 LP lambasting Harry S. Truman's national health care plan!

I seems to me that our national economy, not the mention the worldwide economy, is in this mess because of too many CEO's with too many MBA degrees behind the wheel of commerce. Letting the same guys who drove the national car of commerce into the light pole, while stone sober, back into the front seat, this time with a $25 billion bottle of Congressional hooch, just does make sense to me!

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Perhaps the big 3

Submitted by quidam56 on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 4:50pm.
Will eventually catch up with the rest of the world, India runs vehicles on air. I say give 'em the bail out money but they have to have a fossil fuel less car on the road in one year ! They have the technology. Or screw them. www.wisecountyissues.com
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Anarco-Syndicalism arises as the self-evident econ

Submitted by ClassConscious on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 3:49pm.

Funny, I thought it a wild synchronicity that The Mike Malloy show

  • http://mikemalloy.com

    • last night independently arrived at the exact same demand I thought up, upon assessing the situation. And now you too!
    Lipservice maestro Harry Reid bitched and moaned about corporate jets, but will he do due diligence and wind up embracing Trotskyism? I'm not holding my breath.


    Another industrial, ugly morning,
    the factory belches filth into the sky
    ..
    Packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes,
    ..

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    Help the workers to own and

    Submitted by phasthutch on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 3:15pm.
    Help the workers to own and run these companies. They are the real experts and they are most purely motivated to make the best cars. After all, personal ownership in anything increases interest and commitment.
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    an accident waiting to happen

    Submitted by gmpierce on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 2:52pm.
    Pat Oliphant said everything that needs to be said in his Nov 19 cartoon:

    "Management and Unions, An Alliance for Ineptitude".

    (http://www.gocomics.com/patoliphant)

    If we add in politics, we get a three-legged stool with three broken legs.

    Prior to the Kissenger-Nixon opening of relations with China, the auto industry was incompetent but they still had no effective international competition.

    Kissinger was an international genius compared to the rest of the beltway crowd, but in reality he was an incompetent boob with a talent for self-promotion and influence peddling.

    He keep the upcoming recognition of China so secret that he unnecessarily caused the Japanese to lose a vast amount of face.

    The Japanese (and the people they were doing business with around the world) thought they had a special relationship with the US. We proved to them that not only did they not have a special relationship, they counted for almost nothing in our eyes.

    We replaced a valuable alliance with a lip service alliance out of pure arrogance.

    The war on the US automotive industry started shortly thereafter, and if the Japanese hadn't been taken out by their own government stupidity, Detroit would probably have been run out of business twenty years ago.

    And nothing much has changed. Our best and brightest (re: Hillary) still revere Kissinger and they still think he knows something worth learning.

    Perhaps we could let the automotive industry be run by the first 200 people in the Detroit phone book. We couldn't do much worse.
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    Yes, fire the auto execs - and their lavish spending!

    Submitted by independentflor... on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 2:28pm.
    Yes, I think we should fire the auto big-wig execs who are wasting so much money -- and let the unions have a chance to do a better job. I vote yes on that plan. independent florida voter - now registered as a Dem voter
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    Worker-Ownership?

    Submitted by John Reimann on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 9:59pm.
    The idea of the workers,either as individuals or through their union, owning and controlling the Big Three auto companies sounds good as a start, but where would it go from there? Let's get realistic,here. After all, the Big Three do have huge expenses paying for their pensioners' health care. In addition, being unionized, they pay higher wages and pay more for benefits than do the other auto companies in the US. It's true that the short-sighted greed of the present ownership is a large part of the reason that they are facing such a crisis, but this isn't the only reason. Part of it is the overall economic crisis. Another part is the additional labor costs they have. So, if the workers took over the Big Three under these circumstances, and without going further, then what they'd have to end up doing is to cut their own wages and benefits - plus those of the retirees. It seems to me that the only way around this is, first, by a real organizing campaign to bring up the wages of all auto workers to their level. And this couldn't stop at the borders to the US - it would have to be right throughout the entire global auto industry. On top of that, though,they'd still have to cope with capitalism's greatest economic crisis since the '30s - and which may yet top that one. For this, not only would the auto industry have to be taken over by the workers, but also the sources of finance too, and the economy be planned through the collective ownership of this wealth. In other words, I'm talking about the overthrow of capitalism. But it wouldn't have to start there - even just a real, global organizing campaign would be a huge step forward. "Workers of all countries, Unite!" "Workers of all countries, Unite!"
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