Sen. Bob Casey: Autoworkers and Unions being scapegoated
By scarce Friday Dec 05, 2008 2:00pm
During the hearing held yesterday by the Senate Banking Committee into government assistance for the automotive industry Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) commented on the "scapegoating of the men and women of organized labor" in the auto industry. He also called the false claim about autoworkers making $70/hr a deliberate lie being perpetrated on the American people.
He said:
CASEY: I have to say also, with regard to the labor concessions -- Mr. [Ron] Gettelfinger [UAW president], I wanted to review some of those. Because I am stunned by the kind of -- when you hear the talking heads on television and when you read what some people say in this town and across the country about the mythology that's out there about how we're -- how we got to this situation. And, frankly, the scapegoating of the men and women of organized labor, and in particular, autoworkers.
Point number one: In 2005, cuts in wages for active workers and health-care benefits for retirees -- point number one. I'm reading from your testimony. Cuts for new workers, bringing the wage level down to 14 bucks an hour. How many industries are doing that? Reducing the company's liability for retiree health care by 50 percent. And I realize these have been in the record before, but it is very important.
And wages and benefits. You said yourself that they're about 10 percent -- 10 percent of the budget? You would think listening to some of the people talk out there, some of the so-called experts, that wages and benefits were 70 percent of the cost. So there's a lot of mythology, a lot of myth generally that has been put on the record.
In 20-- since 2003, downsizing by the companies has reduced their workforce by 150,000 people. That doesn't get said very often. The labor-cost gap with foreign transplant operations will be largely or completely eliminated. OK? So, it's -- I think it's important to put this information on the record for this hearing. And then we've heard this garbage about 73 bucks an hour. It's a total lie, and some people have perpetrated that deliberately in a calculated way to mislead the American people about what we're doing here. It's a lie, and they know it's a lie.
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"It's a lie, and they know it's a lie". Sort of like the last eight years huh? All a damn lie.
Let's see if I can show my ignorance here. Before these companies get any money, why can't a complete government audit be done on their books to see what they have been doing with the money they had?
What happen with looking at the books with wall street banking firms.
I'm for that too. If you go to a bank for a loan they want to know everything about you finanicially so why should these loans be handled any different.
since they made the rules, all we can do is fork our money no questions asked.
They figured it was easier to right out transfer the wealth from us to them, than wait any longer for their ponzi scheme they had going to suck us dry.
"Why pretend anymore?" I think that what they figured out.
moving as much of their manufacturing capacity as possible to Mexica and in vesting in that country's infrastructure instead of h ours. Let Mexico give 'em the fricking money.
I was watching it on C-Span and he was right. I see the southern senators not wanting to help the big 3. What I see they want to destroy the unions. These senators have car companies building cars in a right to work state. To me this is what it is about. I live in the south. They are scared to death of unions. We need to save our blue color workers. If you help wall street than help main street.
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I couldn't agree more with both of you. Jane from firedoglake also spoke on the multimillion-dollar subsidies Southern states have given FOREIGN car companies, but the US can't help its OWN, domestic auto industry. Everyone's blaming the auto workers. What kind of crazy conspiracy against Hank the Auto Worker is going on here? Is Southern Yankee onto something? This is horrifying. I'm just glad Sen. Casey is my Senator.
they are being scapegoated, in a blatant attempt to destroy the union.
the msm has been complicit in passing on a lot of disinformation on this topic.
nationalize the big 3. fire the CEOs, and upper mgmt.
and stop placing blame on the union and the union workers.
So, why aren't groups like MoveOn and others like UAW putting out a TV ad that says the same thing as the Senator? This is what Dems should be smart at, debunking these myths and lies with the truth.
They can be subsidized. The American companies have to compete with subsidized companies WTF is wrong with this picture?
What I want to know is, why aren't the financial guys that just got almost 1 trillion bucks not using that money to float things like, I dunno, let's say... THE MOTHERF*CKING AUTO COs?
We hear this $70/hour hoax over and over again.
I don't regret at all that the Big Three CEOs were humiliated.
But I cannot tolerate for one minute the double standard of the utterly fantastic amounts the Bankers got.
No public hearings whatsoever before the Fat Cat Financiers walked away with their heist of many hundreds of Billions, going on Trillions.
Barney Frank here talks about the (implicitly financial) bailout being to make the creditors whole.
REALLY MR FRANK, pray tell how that was!
Why doesn't he come out and tell it exactly like it is. The Bankers were all BOOKIES selling Billion Dollar Casino Chips made out of mortgages that an entire stream of 'Professionals' knew were going to implode.
They sold more Casino Chips in the form Credit Default Swaps to anyone who could pony up to the betting window.
The mortgages were going to implode because these 'Professionals' rigged the game.
Teaser interest only ARMS that reset in a couple years into catastrophe. Why would they care, they bundled the mortgages and then sold them up channel.
They knew these mortgages could not be repaid. My hunch is that a number bought billion dollar Casino Chips in the form of Credit Default Swaps betting the other way. That's racketeering. They knew the Government would bail the Bankers out.
"Make the Creditors Whole" he says. It is racketeering.
This is the best Government that Wall Street Money can buy.
And the most galling of all is the humiliation of the autoworkers. New hires are now $14 hr. $70 an hour my ass.
When someone in power pushes back even only a little we will have to cherish it. Even if it is only window dressing.
Until the people at some future date can actually take back their government.
Whenever that might be.
the frank-led bailout was god-terrible economics, shitty politics and blatant corruption.
it was a direct transfer of wealth from the taxpayers to the financial overlords. it did nothing to address the underlying crisis. and it merely rewarded crimes, lies, obfuscation, and the gutting of our productive capabilities.
i lost a ton of respect for frank over that BS.
free market my ass. never has been, never will be. inherently unequal market is much more accurate
from his banker ex-boyfriend.
Because he sure managed to screw the tax payer...
Jeebus, there is a little Toyota plant in the next town to me that has had ads in the local papers basically since it opened that pays that to start. And they aren't even unionized!!!
I said this quite a bit ago. Look to the sources. The Banking Industry with their credit default swaps and all that. The Federal Reserve. The average person can understand the auto industry, we've got to make it so they can understand the next level up. Investigate. Report. Thanks.
Children who have a stay at home parent, even if it is for a few months or a couple of years, do much better in school and excel more later on. In order for this to occur, they must live off one paycheck. What the fuck is wrong with paying one breadwinner a decent wage so this can happen?
Are working families forever doomed to meet like ships passing through the night with latchkey kids left to fend for themselves?
Union jobs are one way to be able, just, to make the American Dream possible.
No company should be given a loan or be bailed out that does not support their workforce 100% and these loans should stipulate worker's rights first and foremost.
we are 2 doctors (PhD and MD), and we can just make it OK for the "privilege" of paying for a 2 bedroom apt in California. We have to take care of my in-laws, so we're not planing on having kids for a while, because we can't afford them. And we are putting so much overtime,that it would not be fair to raise a kid in that manner.
Now, there is something really, really, f*cked up when 2 doctors have 2 pull 2 paychecks to afford a house and a median standard of living (no big investments, and our only luxury is traveling).
I can't even imagine how it must be for people with 1 paycheck or making an average salary, at least here in California.
Every time I read the typical troll telling the workers that their requirement for a decent living standard is the reason why the economy is f*cked, then I weep for this country.
Tyler my son is a nice young man. He was married but they didn't last long. They have one child. He works very hard in a restuart as a cook. He has never asked for a hand out and has been lucky never to be unemployed yet. I honestly don't know how is makes it. We live in a rural town where the biggest employment place is the super wal mart. He has to pay a lot for terrible healthcare benefit for he and his daughter. His co-pay is $30.00. That is alot for a young man that doesn't make a lot of money. Yes I know he chose not to go to college. No everyone is made to go to college or smart enough to go. He can apply for aid but will not. So we help him. It is hard for us. You and your wife are lucky because you got your health and youth. My husband and I are now experience medical problems. Yet I still count my blessings because I see and read on the blogs there are alot of problems people are experiencing. You are lucky to. You have a roof over your head even if its 2 rooms. Hang in there you sound alittle bitter.
i give you the legacy of fiscal conservatism/washington consensus/neoliberalism/reaganomics!!!!
and, are we enjoying the results? *sigh*
oh, remember the days when a single paycheck could support a family of 4, buy a house, a car, or two? i don't, i think it was before my time, but i hear it was swell.
I'm 47 and live in MI, in an area where the cost of living is pretty decent. My father worked a blue-collar job and we could have made it on his paycheck. My mother chose to work because she wanted to work. I didn't know anyone else whose mother worked in our small town. She worked in an office and her secretarial colleagues were all single.
Now my husband and I live in the same town. The cost of living is still OK compared to other areas of the state. Both of us have 2 bachelors degrees and one masters. We both work in our field and also have second jobs. Both of us are salaried workers and I have decent benefits. We have no car payments, student loan payments and we average less than 2k in credit card debt. Our mortgage is secure and at a decent rate. We have one child commuting to a local, inexpensive college. We're lucky - we can pay for utilities, gas, food and our mortgage. Not much is left after that; certainly not enough for investments. We definitely couldn't live on one income and we live modestly.
I don't see how any couple in our area could manage on one income at $10/hour, which is the going rate here after a few years of employment. Starting wage in a factory is $8/hour. Starting hourly rates here haven't increased in at least 5 years.
Henry Paulson made $500,000,000 from Goldman Sachs. How much does that work out per hour? Even if you count his time in the Treasury, it is more than $70/hr.
we never talk about the financial analysts, brokers, traders, etc. and how much they got paid. what was the average salary of wall street employees working for companies that have been bailed out?
this faux-outrage about union employees is completely insulting to the intelligence
is hard work!
What I want to know is not how much money those analyst et al made out of the bailout. What I would like to know is why 3/4 of Wall street aren't behind bars, because they literally single handedly committed the biggest monetary crime in history.
If you or I sold something that didn't exist it would be called fraud. Credit Default Swaps didn't actually exist.
They give you money that does not exist, and you have to pay back at interests, or else they will take your possessions.
The mob has nothing on these guys, in fact looking at the sums involved... the mob looks down right laughable and harmless.
For example, try printing your own money, even if it is backed with real value and honoured between the two parties involved in the transaction, and even if it does not involve the government remotely. You can be severely penalized. Or try entering the country with tens of thousands of YOUR OWN MONEY in cash... Even though it is your own money, and nowhere in the contractual note for a dollar bill (all the contractual obligations have to be written in the bank note) there is anything stated regarding the limits of money you can posses.
...previously suggested that the way to fix the banking/financial "crime spree" is to gather up all the offending statements, reports, CDOs, bonds/securities, whathaveyou and then get several truckloads of White-Out and start smearing.
Voila! Numbers on paper which represent absolutely no value, nada, are disappeared. Everything goes back to zero > then we dump the Federal Reserve and eliminate the national debt > and we have the Congresss follow the Consitution and oversee the coining/printing of money backed by something---anything.
for the financial wunderkind? does. not. compute.
now, had you said: What I would like to know is how will these superior human beings spend those HUGE bonuses that our dear politicians gifted to them, courtesy of the unwashed masses (us)?
i might have an answer.
Oh, and thank you PA, for giving us a Senator who cares about the working man, and who doesn't spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about man on dog sex.
welcome
Glad he is standing up for working men and women! (Santorum was an embarassment.)
That lost by the largest margin ever for an incumbent senator in PA. A very happy day for me indeed. Thank you Bob Casey, you're my hero.
fuck you.
Just that simple.
Well I have been reading some of the story on the Huff blog. Its called Blogging the meltdown. Many, many people had some very sad stories. These are people that are middle class and college degree type people. If you have a chance go and read some of them. It will break your heart. They are finally realizing what a lot of working poor people have know for a long time now. They can't find a apartment they can afford. Not everyone is smart enough to go to college. Some like working in factories. Yet everyone for all walks life are starting to really have some real problems. What does Bush do. Not a damn thing. He is sitting on his lazy ass doing nothing.
This whole mess says more about the congress critters lack of knowledge about the financial world than it does about their hatred of working people.
And, please, give Barney Frank a break. The guy knows what needs to be done, but the problem is that the bailout bill is being executed by the morons who gave us the last eight years of deregulation, privatization, and cronyism.
And let's hear it for Sherrod Brown who is also holding up the banner for us working stiffs. Thank god for Senators like him.
frank knew what had to be done?
so, then, what happened? why did he get behind the wall street blackmail package?
i don't know. i listened to frank defending the indefensible.
curious...
I second that. If you see the republicans that are bitching about not wanting to give the big 3 a break all you have to do is see where they come from ya'll. Yep they are southern states that are right to work states. They want to destroy the big 3 because of the unions. They hate the unions. The republicans run on helping the blue collar workers just like they try to say they support the troops but didn't want to pass the new GI bill. As usual they are all talk and no show. They willing to help wall street and forgetitaboutit for mainstreet. Those are the facts. I live in TN.
whats all the fuss about billions of what? fucking paper dollars? in a few months they will only be good for wipeing your ass with, id wager thiers not enough gold left in ft knox vaults to make a micky mouse watch with, its all been transfered into the country that really owns old uncle sugar israel,
our very own WASP elite can suck us dry, thank you very much. No need to blame a country that has been going through a severe recession.
No tyree you got the wrong country = CHINA. They own us lock stock and barrel baby.
Not only that, but the CEO of Exxon was only paid $3.25 per hour lasat year, with no health care benefits, or retirement. You do believe me don't you?
Thats what 500,000,000 divided by ((40 * 52) * 50) is per hour. AS in 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year, for 50 years. He made $4,807.69 PER HOUR. F him.....
I take he did not work more than a couple decades tops!
So he was most likely pulling over $10K per hour.
Or basically 100+ autoworkers at a real $70 per hour. But since the more realistic figure is $28 per hour in the best case scenario. Then he is making as much as 220 auto workers.
Such figures put things in perspective, don't it.
F*ck him indeed...
Does the Big 3 REALLY want. They are asking, no demanding, that the Canadian government throw our tax dollars to them too!
But the BEST part? Just like in the US, they say they want this cashola PLUS they want to lay off massive amounts of employees. So, what the hell do they need the cash for, if not to pay their workers? AND if that isn't bad enough, they want the government to get involved in purchase financing of their vehicles. I say sure. We just bought ourselves 3 major corporations. First order of business is the immediate dismissal (without termination pay) of every top tiered manager in all three companies.
Let the games begin I guess. Gimme the money, or I take all you suckers down with me.
The auto industries asking to be bailed out is a lot like a high school or college debate class where students argue which one deserves a $10 bill from the teacher.
The only disappointment I've had with voting for Sen. Casey, so far, is that BillO hasn't devoted a segment to calling me names.
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