I hate the UAW. (only slightly long)

[Jadedcarguy]

As of today the entire UAW(United Auto Workers) union went on farking strike. This means I can't get parts until they stop their hissy fit and go back to work. Customers understand this predicament, right? Sure they do.

Me: Scanning the classifieds
SW: Service writer
SC: A friggin' upstanding example of a fine human being

SW: Mr. Asshole would like to know why we can't give him an ETA on his parts.

Me: You told him about the strike, right?

SW: Yes, I did.

SC: I can't believe you can't tell me when my parts will arrive! What does a strike have to do with it?

Me: Sir, have you seen the news this morning? Perhaps picked up a paper? It's the first UAW strike since the early '70's. The warehouse personnel are not shipping any parts. I'm limited to what I have on hand.

SC: Well when will this strike end? I need my car back!

Me: I understand and we are going to try to get your parts from another dealer. I don't have a firm time frame for that, though. It depends on GM's willingness to have them shipped to us in this way. Normally we only use this method in the event of a backorder, but since the warehouses technically have the parts, we may not be able to go that route. My managers are working on it.

SC: This is unacceptable! I insist you give me a time frame.

Me: <I've had enough> Sir, I will give you a time frame if you can answer this question: How long is a piece of rope?

SC: What the hell does that mean?

Me: How long is a piece of rope?

SC: What kind of question is that? Are you being a smart-ass?

Me: <yes I am> Sir, I asked you an unanswerable question because you asked me one. I truly wish I could give you an answer but right now I can't. I will get your parts and everyone else's when the bloody strike ends. I DO NOT know when that will be. Could be tomorrow. Could be next month. I simply don't know. The people involved in the strike don't know. No one knows.

SC: I'm calling GM customer care! This is unacceptable.

Me: Please do. <SC leaves>

Me: <To SW> Don't do that to me again.

SW: He wouldn't accept my answer and wanted to talk to a parts man.

Me: Next time take him to <my boss>.

I really really really hope this damn pissing match between GM and the unions ends soon. I'm sure I'll have more post-worthy SC shenanigans in the coming days.

[Peppergirl]

Don't smack me, but does this mean my ex-husband (GM dealership parts manager) is likely miserable right now?

[Jadedcarguy]

Don't smack me, but does this mean my ex-husband (GM dealership parts manager) is likely miserable right now?

All GM parts managers are likely miserable right now. As well as GM parts guys. And GM customer care phone reps. The list goes on and on. Take your victory in reveling in your ex's misery. I don't mind.

I seriously hope this doesn't last long, though. My paycheck depends on parts sales. Minimal parts sold=weaksuck little paycheck. I don't need that.

[Peppergirl]

I never thought of that, JCG. Before my ex was management, a big chunk of his check was from commission, so I know exactly what you mean.

Kidding aside, I hope it ends for you soon. To have to deal with idiot SC's like you had, as well as a cut in pay is just deporable.

[Imogene]

How long is a piece of rope?

"Well, that depends... on things such as: The length of the rope, the type of cording used, how tightly wound the cording is... You know? Variables?"

[Jadedcarguy]

"Well, that depends... on things such as: The length of the rope, the type of cording used, how tightly wound the cording is... You know? Variables?"

Exactly why I asked it. It's one of my favorite responses when someone asks me a question that an answer is unavailable for or they refuse to give me enough info to properly answer it.

[ArenaBoy]

The UAW, living in the Detroit (Headquartered there) area I have to hear about them constantly. I have a few choice words about them but they'd get me in trouble here. All I can say is that I don't like them for a lot of reasons.

[Jadedcarguy]

I have a few choice words about them but they'd get me in trouble here.

Don't hold back on my account.

What blows me away about this whole thing is that GM is in trouble, and has been for a number of years. The primary reason they are in trouble is because of the promises they have had to keep to the unions(pensions, kick-ass insurance, incredibly high wages for blue-collar jobs, etc). The unions and union workers know this, yet they seem unwilling to give even an inch on their demands. They're cutting off their nose to spite their face! If they think GM can't fold like a house of cards, they need only to look at the fate of AMC. They built cars for decades and look at them now. Greed is driving this strike.

[cinema guy]

Me: How long is a piece of rope?

Twice the distance from the centre to the end.

[dalejrfan71]

All the GM workers here in Canada are now laid off because of these idiots. The GM plant in Oshawa closed down yesterday and the plant in St. Catharines will be closed by friday. Can't these guys be happy with the money their making right now. Hell I'd be happier than a pig in shit to make $30 an hour.

[Geek King]

Me: How long is a piece of rope?

Six inches shorter than I need it to be. Always.

[Reyneth]

What blows me away about this whole thing is that GM is in trouble, and has been for a number of years. The primary reason they are in trouble is because of the promises they have had to keep to the unions(pensions, kick-ass insurance, incredibly high wages for blue-collar jobs, etc). The unions and union workers know this, yet they seem unwilling to give even an inch on their demands.

Maybe they know it and are unwilling to give because they also know they (or rather, their families) can be screwed over.

My dad worked for GM nearly his entire life. When my parents got divorced, my mom got the house because he had a sizable pension and was eligible to retire. Two years later, he was talking about retiring. But he died before he did. My parents were divorced, he was still actively working, my sister and I were both legal adults.

Everything he worked for - that $230,000 pension he was eligible for but just hadn't wanted to stop working yet - was gone. We didn't see a penny of it, GM took it back.

Yes, the money aspect of it bothers me. But it also bothers me that that was what he gave a good portion of his life to. It didn't matter to them. We didn't fit the criteria, so what should have been HIS money was not ours.

[digilight]

Kind of reminds me of the grocery store strike we had here in southern california a couple of years ago. Everyone supported the strikers, well most people did for a while at least. But the freaken strike went on for like 4 months. We had to respect the picket lines because my brother in law is a union driver for sarah lee or was a union employee for a grocery store in northern cali, I can't remember when he switched to be honest. Andd another family friend down here was a grocery store employee who was on strike and his family suffered for it.

When they started threatening strike this time most people just had the screw 'em all attitude about it.

IMHO just about (not all but just about) the only thing that Unions really help are the clowns high up in the union running the show. It doesn't really help the line workers getting paid the bottom of the barrel and barely scraping by. Plus you have no choice but paying you're dues out of what you do make.

[ebonyknight]

All the GM workers here in Canada are now laid off because of these idiots. The GM plant in Oshawa closed down yesterday and the plant in St. Catharines will be closed by friday. Can't these guys be happy with the money their making right now. Hell I'd be happier than a pig in shit to make $30 an hour.

Apparently, it's not the money or benefits or anything of the sort. What they want is "job security". They want to know that they will always have a job.

What fricken company can promise that????

[bob the goat]

The UAW is a parasite. Most parasites latch on to the host, but remove less than what the host can stand to lose, so they can keep milking the host. The problem is the UAW has sucked the American auto industry so hard that they can not compete with foreign competition. This year Toyota sold more cars than GM. The problem is that the UAW has its head so engrossed in Anal Spelunking that it can not see that it is killing the American car industry. Look at the Toyota plant in Kentucky. It is not UAW. The UAW has tried to infiltrate many times and infest the plant. Luckily the plant has intelligent employees and they voted it down. The Toyota plant is making cars in America, and UNLIKE any UAW plant they are making money doing it. Why? Because they don’t have the UAW to leech the lifeblood of the company. I read in a new article that this year alone the UAW in Michigan alone had over 300,000 man hours involved un just up keeping the union. Not supporting the employees, but in simply supporting the sheer bureaucratic weight of the union. At $20 per hour (which is pretty low for union job) that is over $6 million dollars that are NOT being paid to employees, but rather to support the people “supporting” the employees.

I REALLY hope that GM can declare bankruptcy. It will let them out of the insurance obligations that are stalemating the negotiations. Then the UAW will get to see what it is like to have a group of obsolete people sucking them dry.

There was a time when companies did not realize that they had to take care of their employees. At that time, the UAW was a good thing. Now, companies realize that the happier and healthier their employees are the more they get out of them. Unions used to protect the employees, now they are usually a safe-haven to protect the “rights” of slackers. Good employees are not allowed to shine.