What's Wrong with Canada's Industry? - Here's One Thing!
Link From the Hamilton Spectator....
Excerpt:
Sounds like a pretty good record what with not having a strike at the Oakville plant in 20 years.
Reality is that the CAW has been in a power position there for that long. They have driven up the costs of operating those plants and reduced the competitiveness of the company. This has endangered the local economy, the Provincial economy and the National economy. Politicians and governments on both sides of the spectrum have been using tax dollars to underwrite the operations for even longer than the 20 years of 'labour peace'. And the union (CAW) continues to act as if they were a part of the management team. Pure hubris!
BUT that is all just the background theme for this latest labour instigated fiasco.
The CEP is a union that represents a very small group ( 17) of employees at the plant who are essentially working in the old steam power plant and operating equipment that is being phased out.
Old technology in the plant uses compressed air from the steam/power plant. New technology in the assemply plant is all electric. The CEP workers do not look after electric power and controls in the plant
In other words it's like the days of the steam engine! As soon as a diesel motor came along the coal stokers were out of work.
Their arguments include pension issues and job security among other things but the bottom line is that a handfull of people are willing to stop operations at the Ford plant to defend jobs that are completely redundant.
The company has only indicated plans to lay off four of the members to date and has offered severance and retirement packages far above the industrial norm.
And the CEP wants to argue about that?
Where's the "solidarity" among labour brothers in the CAW?
Where has this CEP been in all the years leading up to this situation?
In case you have not noticed guys! The auto industry is in deep shit and you are part of the problem!
OMMAG
Excerpt:
"CEP on strike at Ford over plans to lay off four members
OAKVILLE : Snarled traffic and delays greeted Ford of Canada workers yesterday as they crossed the first picket lines they've seen at the plant in almost 20 years."Sounds like a pretty good record what with not having a strike at the Oakville plant in 20 years.
Reality is that the CAW has been in a power position there for that long. They have driven up the costs of operating those plants and reduced the competitiveness of the company. This has endangered the local economy, the Provincial economy and the National economy. Politicians and governments on both sides of the spectrum have been using tax dollars to underwrite the operations for even longer than the 20 years of 'labour peace'. And the union (CAW) continues to act as if they were a part of the management team. Pure hubris!
BUT that is all just the background theme for this latest labour instigated fiasco.
The CEP is a union that represents a very small group ( 17) of employees at the plant who are essentially working in the old steam power plant and operating equipment that is being phased out.
Old technology in the plant uses compressed air from the steam/power plant. New technology in the assemply plant is all electric. The CEP workers do not look after electric power and controls in the plant
In other words it's like the days of the steam engine! As soon as a diesel motor came along the coal stokers were out of work.
Their arguments include pension issues and job security among other things but the bottom line is that a handfull of people are willing to stop operations at the Ford plant to defend jobs that are completely redundant.
The company has only indicated plans to lay off four of the members to date and has offered severance and retirement packages far above the industrial norm.
And the CEP wants to argue about that?
Where's the "solidarity" among labour brothers in the CAW?
Where has this CEP been in all the years leading up to this situation?
In case you have not noticed guys! The auto industry is in deep shit and you are part of the problem!
OMMAG
posted by OMMAG at 11:54 a.m.
9 Comments:
Yep. They just can't see that though.
They're not part of the problem. They are the problem.
MAC - Unfortunately there are other problems in play. The Union stranglehold on the Auto manufacturers don't help.
Just as unbridled greed and arrogance of industry owners without regard for the wellfare of workers was hurting society at one time....the unbridled greed and arrogance of the unionists is helping to tear down our economy.
The industry owners aren't trying to remake the country so everyone is forced to purchase one of their cars but the CAW is trying to remake the country so governments and unions control all labourers.
Toyota and other Asian-based automotive companies aren't having the same problems as the traditional "Big Three" and they don't have (or need) unions. Coincidence?
Hargrove is gonna have a heart attack and a hissy fit when he sees this;
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Ceramic Batteries
EEStor of Cedar Park, Texas (near Austin) says it has developed a ceramic "battery" with extraordinary energy density.
Seasoned scientists at EEStore say they've created a battery made of glass- and aluminum-coated ceramics that could allow electric motors to completely replace the internal combustion engine.
The inventors, erstwhile Xerox PARC and IBMmers, boast about the car's efficiency, saying it'll be so cheap it'll be as if gas costs 45 cents per gallon, will drive 500 miles on nine bucks' worth of electricity, and needs just five minutes to completely recharge.
Actually the battery is a capacitor. An ultra capacitor. Which in the old days we used to call a condenser. Two plates of metal separated by paper or oil or something (called a dielectric) that helps multiply the charge storage. The key to higher energy storage (KWh) and higher energy density (KW peak) is better dielectrics.
http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2006/10/ceramic-batteries.html#comments
These sound great, and likely to be more fireproof than Lithium, although aluminium can burn.
http://tinyurl.com/zdjvu
= TG
I can*t wait for my first EV.
Not a hybrid. That*s two cars in one. A fantastic waste of money.
Hybrid owners are known to override their processor-controller so the car runs on battery most of the time.
I admit to spreading the *bug*. It*s a good bug. The more who get it, the better off we will all be.
Check TonyGuitar.blogspot.com and try not to get the yearning. [ Tesla Roadster ]
You will not even miss the payments. You are not buying gas anymore, remember? = TG
PS. . . It leads to a de-nutting of our Iranian friend in the long run too.
Thanks Tony...........
"Reality is that the CAW has been in a power position there for that long. They have driven up the costs of operating those plants and reduced the competitiveness of the company. This has endangered the local economy, the Provincial economy and the National economy. Politicians and governments on both sides of the spectrum have been using tax dollars to underwrite the operations for even longer than the 20 years of 'labour peace'. And the union (CAW) continues to act as if they were a part of the management team. Pure hubris!"
I have the impression that hubris is one subject in which you are a genuine expert!
Can you cite any report or study to back up your claim that the CAW has made the industry non-competitive? One that's not done by the industry or by the Fraser Inst, that is.
WORKERS STRIKE FORD MOTOR COMPANY
Here is some online info about the late September 2006 strike at Ford Oakville Assembly Complex in Ontario, Canada. The OAC facility is involved in the production of the Freestar minivan and had just launched the new Ford Edge and upscale Lincoln MKX crossovers when the contract talks broke down and the picket lines went up. The strike by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP), Local 2003 completely shut all production at the facility, sidelining operations for the 3,600 people employed there.
ENVIRO CONCERNS ON THE FRONT BURNER
This is the first strike in North America wherein workers demands included environmental improvements that would benefit the employer, the workers and the community. Central to the dispute was the union push to have CEP, Ford of Canada, third party electrical energy generation experts and the municipal, provincial and federal levels of government come together to evaluate what could be done to make a dent in aleviating the electricity shortage / greenhouse gas emmision crisis in Southern Ontario. The strikers proposed the development of a co-generation facility at the Ford Oakvlle plant by outside interests in an effort to secure their employment for years to come.
FIVE ONLINE RESOURCES TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CEP FORD STRIKE
Part 1. Video News report posted on Revver and Youtube
Hamilton ON CH 11 news September 25, 2006
Revver - CEP Ford Strike
YouTube - CEP Ford Strike
Part 2. The CEP union won't back down from their demands to secure a cleaner environment for all
OAKVILLE, Sept. 26, 2006
CEP to Ford: let's talk!
Part 3. Photos of those picketers
OAKVILLE, Sept. 26, 2006
Ford Strike Pictures - Click the 'View Slideshow' button to view the larger images in turn
Part 4. The strike at Ford has an impact, Detroit hears the picketers loud and clear.
Oakville, ON Sep. 27, 2006
Ford, union resume talks after disruption
Part 5. The final press release from the CEP union
OAKVILLE, ON, Oct. 2, 2006
CEP gets Ford back to bargaining and back to work
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