Biden backs 40% UAW pay raise in Michigan strike visit

Biden would be happy to see the US cease car production?

A 40% pay rise?

Biden has list the plot

The Chinese are just waiting to flood theUS with their cars!

Biden has list the plot

Yet the CEO's 30%+ pay raise is what? Acceptable? Fair? Deserved?

Since 1978, the average CEO salary has risen 1,460% so I don't want to hear whining about how unreasonable a 40% raise is over 4 years. https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-in-2021/

The American worker will know know which leader is on their side and which wannabe “fluffer” is a fair weather fabulist.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday joined a picket line with striking autoworkers in Michigan, backing their call for a 40% pay raise and telling them they deserve a "lot more" than they are getting.

I know it is a blatantly political move, but after decades of both sides enacting "neo-liberal reforms" attacking unions with Orwellian "right to work" laws, deregulation of corporations and anti-labor policies, it is good to see Biden come out strongly on the side of labor.

He's built up a head of steam, he shouldn't lose it now and support the other unions and more broadly labor fighting for fairer distribution of the fruits of their labors.

Biden would be happy to see the US cease car production?

A 40% pay rise?

Wage expenses rose 6%. The cost of cars rise 35% on average.

Workers in a two-tier wage system make the same wage they made 8 years ago.

It’s 40% over 4 years and that’s the demand, not what they will actually agree to.

GM's CEO makes 362 times the median wage of a GM employee.

I thought those fat cats believed in trickle-down economics.

The Chinese are just waiting to flood theUS with their cars!

So, don’t buy them.

Biden is playing to his base. What company has he ever run in his life? He's been a govt employee since the 1970s and is clueless.

A 40% pay rise?

Biden has list the plot

UAWs old leadership made major wage and benefit concessions including lower pay and benefits for new hires back in 2007 "to keep the US auto industry competitive". Turned out that old UAW leadership was corrupt to the core. It was only a year ago that the UAW, in the aftermath of a big corruption scandal, allowed the rank and file to vote in their own leadership. That is how Mr. Fain came to be the current UAW President. Back in 2007 he was the only factory level UAW leader, at Chrysler before they were bought by Fiat and renamed Stellantis, to publicly oppose those wage and benefit concessions. He has never backed down since and fought the old guard UAW leadership for years until they were vanquished by their own greed. Now with those very same auto companies more than competitive and highly profitable he wants those concessions undone and especially so when the auto company CEOs are paid (notice I didn't say earn) upwards of 300 times what their production line workers are paid.

I'd say Mr. Biden is on the money and you need to do a little more research into the background behind these wage and benefit demands.

Biden is playing to his base. What company has he ever run in his life? He's been a govt employee since the 1970s and is clueless.

lol No. I'd say the clueless ones are the people who think workers should be subsidizing the profits of the companies they work. The clueless ones are the ones who think workers should just settle for whatever table scraps are offered to them.

Biden is playing to his base. What company has he ever run in his life? He's been a govt employee since the 1970s.

In comparison to the "business genius" that has bankrupted six companies (to date)...

https://philadelphiabankruptcylawyers.com/how-often-has-donald-trump-declared-bankruptcy/

Biden is playing to his base. What company has he ever run in his life? He's been a govt employee since the 1970s and is clueless.

Right on! We should elect a savvy business leader who has built so many "self-made" businesses that ended in bankruptcy, a supposed billionaire who wrote bigly business primers and has been too smart to pay taxes.

How did that work out?

Biden would be happy to see the US cease car production?

Absolutely

Biden has list the plot

The Chinese are just waiting to flood theUS with their cars!

Exploding EV batteries.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/10/success/electric-car-vehicle-battery-fires/index.html

Yes, they do deserve more, but the consequent rise in prices will kill the transition to EVs. The US market won't be flooded by imports - as with the EU, huge duties will be levied on imports to keep them out. If you thought inflation was plateauing, wait till you see what the next couple of years have in store, when protectionism and import blocks really kick in. Brexit for everyone incoming.

Well its clear that Biden's mouth is with the autoworkers.

But I am not so sure about his writing hand.

if you thought inflation was plateauing, wait till you see what the next couple of years have in store, when protectionism and import blocks really kick in. Brexit for everyone incoming.

Inflation has indeed declined significantly to 3.7% and the long term trends, based on trends in money supply and velocity of money are deflationary.

Biden would be happy to see the US cease car production?

Absolutely

BS and you know it.

A 40% pay raise that would put a big dent in GM's pivot to EVs is just pie in the sky perhaps suggesting that Biden's ulterior motive to becoming the first sitting president to show up on a picket line is his desperate attempt to claw back some of the MAGA base that the Dems after decades of feathering their own nests gifted to Trump. Also a no brainer to appease the workforce would be if the CEO and the top execs led by example and slashed their own bloated salaries by 40% to make a symbolic gesture showing they are all "in the same boat" to keep the company afloat.

Sorry but this will just make US autos less competitive. It’s nice to get a 40% pay raise but you’re going to end up paying for this and the company will have to “pay” for this as well.

Sorry but this will just make US autos less competitive. It’s nice to get a 40% pay raise but you’re going to end up paying for this and the company will have to “pay” for this as well.

Sorry, why is it okay for the CEO to get a 40% raise but not the workers? This is nonsense.

Trump also did this. Talk big in favor of the ordinary working stiff, then scrape them off his shoe like dog droppings.

America had its chance with Bernie Sanders. We may never see his like again.

I think there should be no limit on how much a CMO can make as an absolute number, but it cannot be more than X-times the average salary in the company. This will require CEOs to bump up average salaries if they want to increase their own pay.

MAGA supporters claimed the GOP is the party of the workers. Will Trump be on the picket line tomorrow?

40 percent pay raise from $17 per hour. The company executives already get 40 percent increases on hundreds of millions of dollars per years.

Way to go, Joe!

CEO pay is set by the Board. The CEO is supposed to be rewarded for running a tight ship, unless you want him/her to leave. A large multi-national company needs the perceived "steady hand" at the helm.

I never said anything about what sort of raise the workers should or should not get. I just said that Biden is saying what his normal, union-loving, constituents, would like to hear him say.

I also pointed out that Biden has never run a company. He isn't qualified to make any statements about what is or isn't "fair" in these negotiations. Neither is anyone here.

Biden has been “in public service” his whole life post Cornpop. Living off the taxpayer isall he knows.

Living off the taxpayer isall he knows.

Living for the taxpayer.

Of course what Biden did was political, he's a politician, that's what they ALL do. But Biden meant what he was saying, that's the big difference. He has over his very long political made bad decisions, but then again, which one has not. Trump's one and only success in office (apart from scamming) was giving the super rich and wealthy $1.5 trillion in tax cuts. So yes, he really is a man of the people /s. But I very much doubt these workers will get anything near a 40% raise, unlike their hypocrite bosses, but maybe they will get a good one.

@Bob Fosse & Cards Fan

Make no mistake

Biden has already made the decision to go ‘green’

The Chinese are already gearing up (BYD) to flood the US with better and cheaper cars.

After decades in Japan, I am still surprised when I see a new American car even though it is relatively common to see German cars.

Why aren’t American car companies interested in export markets?

Let the US workers have their higher salaries but watch their companies fold as their uncompetitive highly priced cars will just be sitting on the lots.

Make no mistake

No. No. What does any of this tirade have to do with autoworkers not deserving a raise? If the CEO can get a 35%+ raise, so can the workers. Cry me a river about "competitiveness." The CEOs weren't too worried about "competitiveness" when they gave themslves 35% raises.

Also, autoworkers gave up their COLAs during the financial crisis to save their jobs. It's high time they get them back.

How much is 40% of the CEO's salary, what is 40% of the the workforce salary costs, and why are they being equated?

CEO pay is set by the Board. The CEO is supposed to be rewarded for running a tight ship, unless you want him/her to leave. A large multi-national company needs the perceived "steady hand" at the helm.

So that is the reason for those high CEO pay packages and those cocaine and vodka lunches with financiers .

Got to get that "steady hand".

I also pointed out that Biden has never run a company. He isn't qualified to make any statements about what is or isn't "fair" in these negotiations. Neither is anyone here.

Carlyle said economics are a dismal science, pretending to have scientific rigor and to be a skill.

The workers do the work, management and shareholders pretend to. The workers should get a far larger proportion of the fruits of their labors than in the last few decades of late stage capitalism.

Full stop.

CEO pay is set by the Board. The CEO is supposed to be rewarded for running a tight ship, unless you want him/her to leave. A large multi-national company needs the perceived "steady hand" at the helm.

lol Yes. Steady hands whose compensation outstrips shareholder returns. Give me a break.

I don't care what the board says. If it's wrong for workers to get a 40% raise, it should be wrong for the CEO as well.

I never said anything about what sort of raise the workers should or should not get. I just said that Biden is saying what his normal, union-loving, constituents, would like to hear him say.

You say that like unions are bad. Unions are good. They're what get average workers raises and better working conditions.

I also pointed out that Biden has never run a company. He isn't qualified to make any statements about what is or isn't "fair" in these negotiations. Neither is anyone here.

This is a garbage talking point. So what? No one should be allowed to comment? Only CEOs and executives should be allowed to comment?

I dont agree with Joe,s foreign policy but agree with him this time.

Living off the taxpayer isall he knows.

*Living for the taxpayer.*

for taxpayer?.this sounds like too much Dems melodrama.... tissue?

You say that like unions are bad. Unions are good. They're what get average workers raises and better working conditions.

I was in a union. It sucked. They negotiated a 3% pay raise every 18 months. At the time, inflation was 3%/yr, so I was losing money every year I worked there, in the union. I understand that many unions do a better job with negotiations, but to say that unions are good is flat out wrong. They aren't.

I was in a union. It sucked. They negotiated a 3% pay raise every 18 months. At the time, inflation was 3%/yr, so I was losing money every year I worked there, in the union.

Then it sounds like you know good and well why autoworkers are pretty unhappy with the massive backsliding in real wages.

 I understand that many unions do a better job with negotiations, but to say that unions are good is flat out wrong.

Ah yes, because you're experience is universal. I was in a union too, and I got raises that I wouldn't have got if it weren't for the union.

EFDToday  07:13 am JST

The American worker will know know which leader is on their side and which wannabe “fluffer” is a fair weather fabulist.

"fluffer"..... "fair weather fabulist".... love it!!!!!! (´ ▽｀).。ｏ♡

I dont agree with Joe,s foreign policy but agree with him this time.

Good for you...

Living for the taxpayer.

Like this taxpayer who was found liable for tax fraud for the past 10 years?

A New York judge has found Donald Trump and his adult sons liable for fraud and canceled the Trump Organization’s business certification, saying the Trumps provided false financial statements for roughly a decade.

for taxpayer?.this sounds like too much Dems melodrama....

Didn't know Trump was a Dem - when did he flip?

tissue?

Yes, he, Don Jr, and Eric will need them - lots of them....

This is why manufacturing went offshore and to China. Greedy workers wanting 40% pay raises and 4 day work weeks making companies less competitive.

If you want to bring jobs back, you need to work harder, for more hours, work for less and for your company and not against your company.

Biden and his government’s inflation is what’s making people poor. How much is gas in your area? Wouldn’t you want the government to work to lower gas prices and inflation or would you rather work more hours to pay for the increase in gas prices and inflation?

Neither I’ll just demand higher pay, 40%, and fewer work hours. That’s what’s wrong.

quercetumToday 04:40 pm JST

This is why manufacturing went offshore and to China. Greedy workers wanting 40% pay raises and 4 day work weeks making companies less competitive.

If you want to bring jobs back, you need to work harder, for more hours, work for less and for your company and not against your company.

I bet very soon the Chinese will stop eating bitterness and instead eat the CCP that encourages them to do that in the first place.

If you want to bring jobs back, you need to work harder, for more hours, work for less and for your company and not against your company.

About the kindest thing I can say is that you are sadly deluded or a corporate shill.

Basically factually wrong.

https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/

Productivity has grown with the weakening of unions and neo liberal plans but the gains have almost all gone to the investor class , with stagnant wages.

Fact.

Corporate greed has made the working poor.

@Bob Fosse & Cards Fan

Make no mistake

Biden has already made the decision to go ‘green’

The Chinese are already gearing up (BYD) to flood the US with better and cheaper cars.

And who is forcing you to buy one? You’re whining about having a choice.

Greedy workers wanting 40% pay raises and 4 day work weeks making companies less competitive.

Greedy workers? lmao Try greedy companies. What a joke. If you're a CEO and you get a 35% pay hike, it's deserved. If you're a worker and you want the same, you're greedy.

If a CEO 3,4, or 5x stock value in 4 years, they're a genius. When workers demand a 40% raise over the same period and they're greedy. It's ridiculous, and only flies because a lot subservient boot-lickers will just take whatever scraps they're given. Man up already.

If you want to bring jobs back, you need to work harder, for more hours, work for less and for your company and not against your company.

I think people want to bring those jobs back, it's because they were good paying and allowed even middle class people to live a decent, respectful life. I don't think anyone wants to bring factory jobs back if it means mickey mouse wages. Seriously, how out of touch does one need to be to type this out?

Biden and his government’s inflation is what’s making people poor. 

Ah, that'd be record profits, my friend. : NPR Not the "government." https://www.epi.org/blog/corporate-profits-have-contributed-disproportionately-to-inflation-how-should-policymakers-respond/

lmao Guess what? if input prices go down, companies are just going to keep the profits and stiff workers.

Neither I’ll just demand higher pay, 40%, and fewer work hours. That’s what’s wrong.

Ah, yes, but you're okay with the CEO does the same. "That's what's wrong." Pathetic.

Cards fan Today 01:49 pm JST I was in a union. It sucked. They negotiated a 3% pay raise every 18 months. At the time, inflation was 3%/yr, so I was losing money every year I worked there, in the union. Then it sounds like you know good and well why autoworkers are pretty unhappy with the massive backsliding in real wages.

Definitely. You seem to be completely missing the point. You are biased in your view and it shows. I never said that a pay raise isn't desirable. I just said that Biden has no experience on either side and his statements are pure politics without any facts.

I understand that many unions do a better job with negotiations, but to say that unions are good is flat out wrong.

Ah yes, because you're experience is universal. I was in a union too, and I got raises that I wouldn't have got if it weren't for the union.

Again, I never said that ALL unions were bad or that ALL unions were good. Your bias is showing. When I changed jobs to a non-union location, my raises were huge for many years. IME, unions hide the substandard workers. Those who cannot do better than their peers. Most companies have about 10% of workers who shouldn't be employed. They are just doing their time and strive to hide in the masses. Unions make that possible. Compensation should be based on merit, not negotiated by a 3rd party 2-10 yrs earlier.

Biden has been a better President than the last guy, by far. I have no doubt that his heart means well and that any times he lies, it is due to incorrect data or someone much more partisan feeding him that junk ... or a simple human mistake. If you spent your days speaking, it would be easy to have a few factual mistakes daily.

Biden has been a politician since 1970, though not a "full time" politician until 1973. That's a long time without a real job.

Anyway, by now I've made my point. Agree to disagree if you like. I really don't like posting more than a few times per thread here.

I respect your nuanced opinion TheFu. It's refreshing to read a right-wing opinion that, while I don't necessarily agree with, is a difference in opinion on how things should maybe be run, rather than a fundamental difference in the opinion of the value of democracy and the law.

dagonSep. 27  07:15 am JST

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday joined a picket line with striking autoworkers in Michigan, backing their call for a 40% pay raise and telling them they deserve a "lot more" than they are getting.

I know it is a blatantly political move, but after decades of both sides enacting "neo-liberal reforms" attacking unions with Orwellian "right to work" laws, deregulation of corpora

GOOD. Joe is sticking up for the middle laboring class. Cars have always been a major staple of the US economy and beyond. For instance, Canada doesn't have any motor companies of their own at all. Their 'Motor City' of Oshawa has plants by GM, Ford, VW, Honda, etc. All 'foreign' car companies.

OTOT, Joe is doing his JOB as a negotiator and he knows how important the auto industry is to America. His previous boss Obama bailed out the 'Big 3' during his first POTUS term. When the GM plant in Lordstown in my home state (where my 2014 blue Malibu was built) went belly up, Traitor Don just sassed off his big yap about it and refused to do a thing to assist them at all.

And now Joe is sticking up for the laborers who sweat and toil in the industry and those desk jockey fat cats can afford to better their conditions, benefits and wages. They need to get with it. Joe knows.

Joe may be the oldest POTUS yet but he's not a dummy and his 8 years of experiences as Mr. O's right hand man has done him so good, given him some cred.

This is why manufacturing went offshore and to China. Greedy workers wanting 40% pay raises and 4 day work weeks making companies less competitive.

You are missing the underlying cause and thus coming to the wrong conclusions. As usual.

The underlying problem is a lack of real competition in too many major markets. According to Adam Smith and David Ricardo, in a fully competitive market firms should earn no more than the risk adjusted market rate of return on investment and no more. Prices should fall to that point where firms only earn the market rate of return. If firms are earning more than this then it should attract competitors who drive prices and profits down to that lowest possible level. The market as Smith and Ricardo imagined would consist of so many buyers and sellers that no one party to the market could do anything to affect market price. All participants would be "price takers" and the "invisible hand" of supply and demand would determine the output of good and services and their price.

But what happens when you don't have enough sellers to have true competition? Hmmm. In the US most major consumer markets and some pretty important producer suppliers are oligopolies or even monopolies. FedEx vs UPS is a great example but so are Pepsico vs Coke or the US retail gasoline industry. Only three auto companies is not enough either.Over a century of econometric research says very clearly there needs to be at least six firms with roughly equal market share to gain the notional benefits of a competitive market. When you have a monopoly or even oligopoly (2-4 firms dominating a market) those firms can raise price and reduce output thus maximizing profit beyond what can be earned in a competitive market. That added profit represents a wealth transfer from consumers to producers and explains why US corporations can pay their C-Suites such ridiculous salaries and still sit on something like $4 Trillion in unspent cash balances. Yes, US corporation are sitting on almost 20% of the US GDP, just cash sitting their idle.

If markets were competitive firms would have to lower prices, increase output, hire more workers and pay them better because greater demand for workers would raise wages. That is what should happen but for a multitude of political reasons it probably won't.

You are biased in your view and it shows.

Of course I'm biased, and so are you. Calling the president clueless because he's never run a company clearly demonstrates that.

I never said that a pay raise isn't desirable. I just said that Biden has no experience on either side and his statements are pure politics without any facts.

That's not what you said, though. What you said was,

What company has he ever run in his life? He's been a govt employee since the 1970s and is clueless.

That's not the same thing. Based on your own words, it seems only those who've run a company have a clue.

Again, I never said that ALL unions were bad or that ALL unions were good. Your bias is showing.

Then why on earth would you me saying "unions are good" trigger that sort of reaction from you? Good grief. Your anti-union bias is showing.

When I changed jobs to a non-union location, my raises were huge for many years.

Sorry, but my BS meter is going up here. Maybe you made more money changing to a non-union job, but that's not representative of most workers' experience. Autoworkers at non-union factories make considerably less.

www.newsnationnow.com/business/difference-unionized-non-unionized-automakers/amp/?bshm=rimc/2

Corporations have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders. They spend millions, if not billions, every year trying to prevent their companies from unionizing, and it ain't because unionizing would result in lower pay for workers!