Business As Usual

Business As Usual

The news this morning stated that many of the UAW workers found faults with the tentative agreement reached with American Axle.  But they predicted they predicted that it would be accepted, albeit by a very small margin.  The UAW outgoing president wasn't that optimistic or upbeat about the tentative agreement, which will be voted on this week.  But he said that it was the best that the collective bargaining unit could do for its rank & file under the circumstances.  What are those circumstances?  Well, the economy.  American Axle is using the economy to shaft its employees.  They're threatening to move work off-shore.  But the company needs to make a profit to remain in business, you say.  Absolutely!  But it has nothing to do with the company's ability to make a profit.
One of the UAW members was quoted to say the following about the pay reduction the workers will be forced to take -

"I'm voting no. It's totally unacceptable," said Gary Reed, 52, of Warren, who criticized American Axle Chairman and CEO Richard Dauch for making millions while asking production workers to take a pay cut from $28 per hour to $18.50.

"It's a slap in our face," Reed said. "We've been watching this guy making millions and millions of dollars even while we've been on strike, and were going to accept a stab in the back and just walk away with a smile on our face?"

Why doesn't the actions by Richard Dauch surprise me?  Dauch doesn't care.  There isn't anything to make him care.  He has no compassion for anyone other then himself.  He probably doesn't care how profitable the company is, other then how it affects his compensation.  But I'm willing to bet that Dauch will be the first one to criticize the workers when they focus in on their compensation.  He'll turn around and tell everyone how uncaring and mercenary the employees are because they are not focusing on the company and what is in its best interest (translation: what is in HIS best interest).  Dauch won't care what happens to American Axle, he probably has some legal clause that will allow him to rip off the rest of the shareholders if the company goes under.  Hasn't this been the case with all of the companies in the US when they've collapsed?  The company becomes defunct...shutdown...but the executives pull out all of these fabulous clauses out of their asses that allows them to reap millions, while others (who has absolutely nothing to do with the ruination of the company) are ruined financially.

What will happen to the employees of American Axle?  They will more then likely approve the agreement.  What choice do they have?  Loose their jobs?  Stop feeding their families?  Dauch won't have that problem...regardless of the outcome.  

What can be done?  I guess to answer that question you need to ask an additional one...by who?  Who is going to do anything?  Not any government entity.  They've been paid too much to not interfere.  I've never seen any politician actually champion any kind of worker cause.  I've seen and heard them give it a lot of lip-service, but actually do something, make some type of sacrifice, or actually take some meaningful action.  The courts? Pllleeeeaaassse!  The US courts have been bought and paid for decades ago.  If a poor person is caught stealing a loaf of bread to feed his family, he can expect to spend a few years doing hard time in prison.  But on those RARE occasions where one of these corporate executives get caught and by some remote chance they get convicted of stealing millions they end up doing their minimal time (counted in months) at some country club facility that they refer to as a prison.  Naaah.  I don't see anyone doing anything other then the people themselves.

Do what, you say?  I say start out by bringing back tar & feathering.  We can always build from there.  I can now understand the logic and reasoning behind the French Revolution.

You can read the news article about the American Axle agreement here.

The Inept Leading the Incompetent

I've pretty much had it! I just don't know what to do. I still my
paycheck, my salary level, and my benefits. So I can't just quit this
hell hole. The job market being what is it doesn't help the situation
any, either. What happened?

Well, it seems that there are a few privileged people here that are so
special that they really don't have to do their jobs nor do they have
to meet any type of standard of work performance. If things don't go
their way, they feel they are are being held responsible for anything,
or they feel just plain ornery...they throw a temper tantrum and
things get smoothed over for them. The latest development has left me
completely livid!

Now, everyone else in the industry has evolved, progressed, or
whatever to utilize the most current state-of-the-art tools and
systems. But not us! For us to do that would require these "Special
People" to actual do their jobs and maintain accurate data for others
to use. But the "Special People" don't want to do that...it's too
much work for them. So I have been assigned the task to manually
process the data and make sure everything is correct. The Executives
are NOT going to hold any of the "Special People" accountable for
their work, just pass on the responsibility onto someone else. After
all, they don't want anything as mundane as work to interfere with
their favorites' ability to sit around and BS with them, do they? I
get even more work added to my list...they get more taken off of
theirs.

I'd be out of here in a shot if I could find another field that pays
me what I am currently making. I don't know if I can wait a few years
more until all of the kids are out of college. And I have this slight
attachment to being able to eat actual food and living under cover. I
come in every day and wish that they all got their
comeuppance...somehow!

The Illusion of Intelligence

Next time you come across a politician and they talk to you as if you
are a moron and give you the feeling that they are much smarter then
you, repeat some of these stories to them:

A Washington , DC , airport ticket agent offers some examples of why
our country is in trouble!

1. I had a New Hampshire Congresswoman ask for an aisle seat so that
her hair wouldn't get messed up by being near the window.
(On an Airplane!)
2. I got a call from a candidate's staffer, who wanted to go to
Capetown. I started to explain the length of the flight and the
passport information. Then she interrupted me with, 'I'm not trying to
make you look stupid, but Capetown is in Massachusetts .' Without
trying to make her look stupid, I calmly explained, 'Cape Cod is in
Massachusetts ; Capetown is in Africa .' Her response - click.
3. A senior Vermont Congressman called, furious about a Florida
package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando .
He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain that's
not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied,
'Don't l ie to me. I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin
state!' (OMG)
4. I got a call from a lawmaker's wife who asked, 'Is it possible to
see England from Canada ?' I said, 'No.' She said, 'But they look so
close on the map.' (OMG, again!)
5. An aide for a cabinet member once called and asked if he could rent
a car in Dallas. When I pulled up the reservation, I noticed he had
only a 1-hour layover in Dallas. When I asked him why he wanted to
rent a car he said, 'I heard Dallas was a big airport, and we will
need a car to
drive between gates to save time.' (Aghhhh!!)
6. An Illinois Congresswoman called last week. She needed to know how
it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:30 am and got
to Chicago at 8:33 am. I explained that Michigan was an hour ahead of
Illinois , but she couldn't understand the concept of time zones.
Finally, I told her the plane went fast, and she bought that.
7. A New York lawmaker called and asked, 'Do airlines put your
physical description on your bag so they know whose luggage belongs to
whom?' I said, 'No, why do you ask?' She replied, 'Well, when I
checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage that said
'FAT,' and I'm overweight. I think that's very rude!' After putting
her on hold for a minute while I looked into it (I was laughing). I
came back and explained the city code for Fresno , CA is 'FAT' -
(Fresno Air Terminal), and the airline was just putting a destination
tag on her luggage.
8. A Senator's aide called to inquire about a trip package to Hawaii.
After going over all the cost info, she asked, 'Would it be cheaper to
fly to California, and then take the train to Hawaii ?'
9. I just got off the phone with a freshman Congressman who asked,
'How do I know which plane to get on?' I asked him what exactly he
meant, to which he replied, 'I was told my flight number is 823, but
none of these planes have numbers on them.'
10. A lady Senator called and said, 'I need to fly to Pepsi-Cola ,
Florida. Do I have to get on one of those little computer planes?' I
asked if she meant fly to Pensacola , Florida on a commuter plane. She
said, 'Yeah, whatever, smarty!'
11. A senior Senator called and had a question about the documents he
needed in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about
passports, I reminded him that he needed a visa. 'Oh, no I don't. I've
been to China many times and never had to have one of those.' I double
checked and sure enough, his stay required a visa. When I told him
this he said, 'Look, I've been to China four times and every time they
have accepted my American Express!'
12. A New Mexico Congresswoman called to make reservations, 'I want to
go from Chicago to Rhino, New York.' I was at a loss for words.
Finally, I said, 'Are you sure that's the name of the town?' 'Yes,
what flights do you have?' replied the lady. After some searching, I
came back with, 'I'm sorry, ma'am, I've looked up every airport code
in the country and can't find a Rhino anywhere.' The lady retorted,
'Oh, don't be silly! Everyone knows where it is. Check your map!' So I
scoured a map of the state of New York and finally offered, 'You don't
mean Buffalo, do you?' The reply? 'Whatever! I knew it was a big
animal.'

Now you know why the Government is in the shape that it's in!

Like a Butterfly

I tried very hard not to react today when I couldn't help but notice that one of the members of the Estrogen Club (EC) was going from one executives office to another and then would disappear for a while.  Some time later, she would repeat the process.  What the hell was going on?  It occurred to me that none of the executives were available today (they were in the mutual admiration meeting). 

So what was happening with the EC member?  There must have been some real pressing gossip/tattle-taling she need to let the Big Boys know about (Boy, how they love that!  All company social gatherings involve them pumping anyone & everyone for the "juicy" gossip).

So, the EC member spent more time running around trying to get to the Big Boys (BEFORE anyone else did, I guess) then she did in doing any amount of work.  And what's totally incredible is that she gets paid for this!!

More Crapping on the Little Guy

How much more are the people suppose to endure? With job security being the lowest it can be, the auto industry to going to be dumping a whole bunch of its employees. Hey. again, the big shot executives got theirs. Why should they worry abotu anyone else. All they're looking at is keeping the moeny coming into their pockets. So what that they can afford to feed their family a hundred times over and over each day whiole those that have worked to insure that the fat cat executives get theirs end up with absolutely nothing or some very hard choices to make.

What is someone suppose to do when everything they've worked and saved for is on the verge of disappearing? Yes, there are realities of life that need to be dealt with. The declining auto industry in this country (which is another blog entry) is causing most of the jobs to be eliminated. Is this something that JUST happened overnight? We all know that answer is NO. But what have the auto industry executives been doing while the auto industry was in decline? They were busy taking care of themselves, making sure that their "nests" were feathered very well. What they weren't doing was protecting their employees. They weren't insuring any kind of job security for them. All they made sure of was that they ended up with the lion's share of the wealth. Why would they want to shae it with anyone else? Haven't the auto industry executives been notoriously against organzied labor and labor laws right from the beginning? Didn't the auto industry executives hire gangsters and thugs in the past to break up union pickets? So, we shouldn't be surprised that the "lowly" auto employee is goign to bear the brunt of this reduction and cost-cutting efforts in the auto industry. And we shouldn't be surprised that the auto industry executives didn't plan for this other then making sure that they had taken care of themselves. After all, what do you think the executives get paid for? To make sure that they take care of themselves and not their emplioyees. Haven't you read the news articles about all of the corporate executives who received these outrageous compensation packages while the businesses they were being paid to manage lost tremendous amounts of money and employees lost their jobs and moeny from their investments in the companies.

To read more about the news about what is going on in the auto industry, click here.

And I still want to propose that Tar & Feathering be brought back into vogue. I don't think the courts will be of much help in that these corporate executives have enough money and waelth to buy off the judges.

Corporations Up To Their Old Sleazy Tricks.

Are you aware of what is in your Terms and Conditions or contracts that you sign when you sign on for a service?  Well, according to a blog entry by Bob Sullivan of MSNBC (http://redtape.msnbc.com/2008/04/the-end-of-clas.html) about another situation where the big corporations, in this case the cell phone companies (specifically AT&T), are being taken to task about the wording in their contracts where THEY prohibit consumers from banding together and forming a class action suit against the corporation. 

Why doesn't this surprise me?  Even after I read the statement from the corporate spokesperson that not using class action suits was to the consumer's advantage. Here is another case of a big corporation wanting to secure its means of gouging people out of money and not being held liable for their actions.  It amazes me that corporations can become THAT arrogant as to feel that they have the right to tell consumers how the consumer can deal with issues that they have with the corporation.

Also, remember, these are the corporations that run this country.  God Bless America...Land of The Crooks and Thieves.

The Current Bankrupcy Crisis.

Have you heard?  We're in the middle of a bankruptcy crisis.  And if you read the article in The New Yorker (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23869179/) Congress is the one to blame. 

Well...DUH!  It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out.  Does anyone remember 2005 and the law that Congress passed to make it hard to file for bankruptcy?  That was because the credit card companies told their bought and paid for minions (Congressmen) that there was a bankruptcy "crisis" and that Congress had to do something about it.  The only crisis that existed was the one in the credit card company's executives feeble little minds.  The current bankruptcy laws were allowing too much money to slip from their greedy, greasy fingers.  That was NOT accepted by these executives.  So, they called and told their minions what they wanted done.  And their minions dutifully obliged them.  After all, when your master tells you to do something....you do it. 

So, as usual...the big, fat cats are going to get theirs.  They're not going to loose a penny while the little, ordinary person gets stuck with the costs.  Why should anyone, other then the big, greedy, fat-cat executives be left with anything?  After all, didn't God create the ordinary person for use and abuse by the rich and powerful?  Think back to the European feudal system.  Are we really that far away?  All the strides we have made as a society and as a nation, George W. Bush has wiped out in 8 short years.  So, is it any surprise that the current bankruptcy crisis was created by Congress when they did their master's bidding in 2005 over a made up crisis by their masters, the credit card corporations?

And there's another interesting point brought up in the article in The New Yorker.  And that is that with the new bankruptcy laws passed in 2005, there are less start-ups of new businesses.  Well, this works perfectly into the big corporations plans.  What a fabulous coup they pulled off.  They got their minions, Congress, to pass a new bankruptcy law that stifled new competition from entering the market...thus limiting THEIR competition.  And THEY can't be charged with any kind of anti-competition activity because they got their minions (the same ones that would have accused them of it) to make it legal to do so.  What a great country America is...we have the VERY best politicians money can buy.  It's just that the ordinary person can't afford to buy their own politician.

So, can anyone tell me if there is any law on the books in any state that forbids the use of  tar and feathering?  If not, then I strongly suggest that we take up that long-lost and forgotten practice and use it on those most deserving in our society...the politicians and their masters.