Letter to the editor:

In defense of American autoworkers, UAW

Robert C. Sacco, North Las Vegas

Thu, Nov 20, 2008 (2:04 a.m.)

Regarding Craig Trivelpiece’s letter to the editor in Wednesday’s Las Vegas Sun, headlined “UAW should make some sacrifices”:

Those who have never worked in a union factory for the Big Three have no idea what employees do there.

I am a retiree of Chrysler. I worked for more than 30 years in a facility where you walked on wood blocks to get to your machine, oil and other coolants would spray on you, and there were no guards to keep metal chips or fillings from hitting you. You didn’t need to smoke tobacco because the air was thick from the oil that was used to cut gears. In the summertime, when it was 80 degrees outside, it was at least 100 degrees inside with very little ventilation.

From the late ’70s to the early ’90s, the United Auto Workers worked with Chrysler to resolve these issues for its people.

In the ’80s, we had the oil embargo. Who took the cut in pay? We did.

As long as the people of the United States are concerned about benefits for the UAW, our fantastic benefits have been slashed.

Before June, my co-pay was $5 for a single prescription, but now it’s $11. Before June, I was paying co-pays for just office visits, but now $22 is taken from my pension each month for health insurance in addition to the co-pay. Life insurance is another story, and that has been added on to the UAW worker/retiree.

Unless someone has walked in our shoes, he or she doesn’t have a clue what the UAW has done for its people.

Let me just say, if the Big Three fold, there will be a ripple effect on not only the United States, but also on the world.

Discussion: 6 comments so far…

By KDR81

11/20/08 at 8:20 a.m.

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$5 is ludicrous, that should have been cut. Totally unreasonable!

UAW benefits cost GM, Ford, Chrysler DOUBLE what it costs our foreign competition to pay their workers.

If GM and Ford can't figure out how to cut costs other ways its either UAW worker benies and wages or replacing them with more robots.

You UAW workers got a great job, high pay, excellent benefits"paid for by me, my family, my friends, my coworkers. And you got those great benefits because the government restricted OUR FREEDOM to buy the goods and services WE WANTED.

We had to pay extra for foreign cars, we had to pay extra for GM manufactured "Safety features" that the government "surprisingly" mandated had to be in every car.

The list goes on and on.

You had a great gig because you lived at the expense of everyone else, and did so by restricting our freedom to buy from whoever we wanted at whatever price we could agree to.

Let the big three fold, the ripple effect of their collapse will me much smaller than the ripple effect of taking OUR MONEY and sending to keep enefficient,failing and backward companies afloat.
By KDR81

11/20/08 at 8:31 a.m.

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Oh and your benefits need to get cut more.

$11 co pay is just stupid and $22 a month for health insurance. No wonder you guys are bankrupting the companies.

Anyone else in a private company that has to face competition and is not subject to the protection of the American government (aka to FORCE Americans to pay their benefits) will be paying $20 co pays and about $50-90 a month for their health insurance premiums.
By scoutmom498

11/20/08 at 8:47 a.m.

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first rule when dealing with unions- remove any reasoning and then the WHOLE thing makes sense. I can't believe that anyone would complain about having to pay $20.00 for health care and $11.00 for prescriptions. I don't even want to think what the hourly wage is either! Unions are outdated and I get happy every year that I see their memberships drop...of course then they act like their typical selves and try to prevent employees from having a good, honest vote on whether or not they even want to be represented.
By boftx

11/20/08 at 10:01 a.m.

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Union members are double-dipping far more than any government official could manage. Not only do they have the same Social Security benefits that we do, but also the union benefits that are ultimately paid for from the consumer's pocket.

This guy is crying about $22/mo at a time when I pay far more than that to cover my family, and I am damn glad I am able to do that.

Between the lack of protection of US jobs by our government, and the "GIMME GIMME" unions, it's no wonder that the only products we can afford are those in Wal-Mart and the Korean car dealerships.
By stevem

11/20/08 at 11:39 a.m.

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here we have more "flag waving" from an "american worker".

look, if you guys were so great and you worked so hard, why have you made unreliable, low resale value cars for years and years, huh?

i have never seen ONE auto worker or their supporters EVER own up to or defend that fact.

american cars are always at the bottom of almost every reliability and resale value poll and they try to "guilt" people into buying them.

i don't see honda, toyota, or nissan's american workers begging for a handout.

ohhhh, that's right...people WANT their cars.

the best thing that could ever happen to the big 3 and this country is for them to collapse under the weight of their bad cars and executive's private jets.

yes, it WILL hurt in the short run, but in the long run, it will mean the better japanese cars will have won and that's capitalism, and that's more american than anything.
By jcs

12/14/08 at noon

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regarding mr Robert C. Sacco's letter I have worked in manufacturing in the 70s and 80s and guess what they all had oil in the air and metal chips all over. Thats why you wore goggles. As far as you medical goes you would have done ok if you had not been specific. When I had medical ins from an employer it cost $200 a month $25 copay for visits and $12 for medicine. Unions were a good thing when they started but have long outlived their usefullness. They exist now only so the people that run them can exert power. Unions don't resolve issues with companies they just shut them down till they get what they want no matter who get hurt.