Massive Layoffs At UPS A Big Win For The Union!

My point in this is that the issue is not caused by huge exec pay

Now, talk about corporate cash reserves and stock buybacks. How do you feel about those?

The issue is shareholders.

How so?

Shareholders actually hold companies accountable for being efficient and productive. How else can a company gain trust and investment from the public?

It's great to hear your opinion on shareholders, but explain your position to us.

New article came out today:

GM Shifts Into Higher Gear As It Beats Quarterly Results, Raises 2024 Guidance

Here is a quote from the article:

General Motors shares are higher in premarket trading after raising its 2024 guidance and beating Wall Street analysts' top- and bottom-line expectations for the first quarter. The automaker cited stable pricing and increasing demand for its petrol-powered vehicles.

GM boosted its adjusted pretax profit forecast to $12.5 billion to $14.5 billion, or $9 to $10 a share, up from its previous range of $12 billion to $14 billion, or $8.50 and $9.50 a share, for the year on a more robust car market in North America offsetting losses in other regions.

The automaker increased its 2024 forecast for adjusted automotive free cash flow to $8.5 billion and $10.5 billion, up from the previous estimate of $8 billion to $10 billion.

Last year the UAW renegotiated contracts and scored a big win for auto workers. I've been celebrating these wins here in this thread. After the UAW negotiations, people said, "Just watch and see how many of those workers lose their job."

Well, it looks like everything is full steam ahead at Chevrolet. The company is making a ton of money, and even raised guidance for 2024 beyond what they previously expected and above Wall Street expectations.

I'm pointing this out because my take has always been that workers aren't getting their fair share anymore. People repeatedly warn me that these raises are going to lead to job losses, moving factories overseas, and more pain for the little man.

This demonstrates that even after giving a massive raise to its workers, the auto makers are rolling along just fine and the workers are able to pay their bills a little easier at the same time.

Here are some details about the contract negotiations from last year for the UAW:

2023 Negotiations: After six weeks of strikes, the UAW reached agreements with each automaker in November 2023. These contracts were seen as a major win for the union and a turning point in labor relations.

Key Wins for Workers:

Wage Increases: Workers received a significant increase in hourly pay, with estimates suggesting a total increase of 25% over the four-and-a-half-year contract term. This is a substantial jump compared to the previous contracts.

Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLA): The contracts included a reinstatement of COLA provisions, which had been suspended in previous agreements. This helps wages keep pace with inflation.

Improved Benefits: The contracts offered improved healthcare benefits and other benefits for workers.

Two-Tier System Elimination: While not eliminated entirely, the agreements aimed to phase out the two-tier wage system in some plants, leading to more equitable pay structures.

Job Security: The contracts provided some assurances for job security, including the reopening of a previously closed plant by Stellantis.

Overall Impact: These contracts were viewed as a significant victory for the UAW, reversing years of concessions and demonstrating renewed bargaining power for autoworkers. The substantial wage increases addressed concerns about rising living costs and income inequality.

In Michigan, the automotive manufacturing sector has faced challenges, leading to layoffs at General Motors, which had announced plans to lay off 1,314 workers across two plants through March 25.

GM's Orion Assembly facility laid off almost 1,000 employees, while its Lansing Grand River Assembly/Stamping plant lost almost 400 workers, according to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notices filed with state workforce-development offices.

The Article doesn't address the rest of the cuts going on like engineers and project managers. They're getting mutual separation agreements or severance packages.

I'm expecting it to get worse as car lots fill up with inventory because who has 700-1k to spend on a monthly car payment.

I'm curious as to how much higher did the workers union dues rise as well?? Ya know they had to go up as well, since the union gained the employees more $$....

When I was in Teamsters #495 @ Waste Management in the '80's our dues then started at $10 a month. When I left and went to work for Pepsi, turnin' wrenches, they had the exact same Teamsters union local #495 and the dues were $45 a month.

I only left Pepsi in 9 months because WM hired a new supervisor and foreman in the shop. My friends kept buggin' me to come back to WM. So after I interviewed with the new guys, I got a $3 hour raise from what i made an hour before leaving WM 9 months earlier. Made sense to go back to WM, since working @ Pepsi actually was costing me around $2,000 a year more out of pocket

I weighed my options because Pepsi was @ first 45 miles 1 way, the union dues, the cost of travel etc. V.S. my 5 mile drive, 1 way, to the WM shop, lower dues, same hourly wages now(then) and it put more money back in my pocket to return to WM. Besides, I was divorced now, and raising my 2 kids as a single dad....Divorcing the witch, also put a LOT more $$ back in my pockets hahaha

Oooops forgot to add, my buddies bro working @ UPS just retired last month after 40+ years. My bro there probably won't retire til he dies (@ UPS 42+ years now). Who knows, ain't spoke to him in over 15-20 years now....He is married my exes sister (another witch) almost as long as he's been at UPS....the Simp lol

I find it odd that they are forecasting gains too as we're in what many have described as Carpocalypse. Inventories are stockpiling, the dealerships can't sell them and are defaulting on their floor loans and allotments.

If I recall, it was GM, that close to 80 percent of all their new vehicle sales were fleet vehicles, meaning people are not buying new vehicles. Since their sales were down 30 percent in q4 of 23, any improvement in that is going to look good.

With the discontinuation of the Camaro and the push for BEV which is costing the automakers billions and the public rejecting buying them, coupled with non existent resale values and the highest default rate on car loans in history, I don't think they're going to be doing as well as they claim.

Both ford and Toyota ceased devopment and further production other than current on their EVs with plans to cease production of them after loosing billions each. They can't sell the crapolla, yet GM doubles down on it.

Plus, after they milked the American taxpayers of billions of dollars in bailouts from criminally mismanagement, they turned around and built the camaro in Canada and Mexico. Remember the "too big to fail" where's my bailout?

Out of the big 3, only Ford didn't take a bailout.

As far as projecting profits. Knight was off 37 percent of their earnings forecast. So, not really a reliable barometer of the companies health. I would expect more layoffs impending.

I find it odd that they are forecasting gains too as we're in what many have described as Carpocalypse. Inventories are stockpiling, the dealerships can't sell them and are defaulting on their floor loans and allotments.

One of my newer predictions is that you will soon see the length of auto and car loans get extended. You'll start seeing 8 - 10-year auto financing and 35 - 40-year mortgages become increasingly common.

There's no other reasonably painless way to continue the US dollar Ponzi scheme because it all relies on debt. You can't raise interest rates higher for longer because the interest on the debt will be too high to service. You'll blow up the system.

You can't lower prices for long or the entire debt-based system will collapse. You'll get a wave of defaults which will cascade through the system from top to bottom.

So, if you can't really raise interest rates further for longer and you can't lower prices, you can only increase the length of financing terms to make payments affordable again. Of course, this will further drive up prices, but that's what we're faced with.

For years I predicted the resurgence of unions because they've squeezed our standard of living down to nothing and drove the wealth gap way too far. Now you're seeing it, as auto workers are unionizing in the South, and companies like Starbucks, Amazon, and Walmart face increasing pressure from unions.

Now I'm predicting 10-year car loans and 40-year mortgages will become commonplace over the next few years.

Buckle up! It's gonna be brutal.

The Article doesn't address the rest of the cuts going on like engineers and project managers. They're getting mutual separation agreements or severance packages.

Much of that is related to AI or the slowdown in our economy.

We're living through an AI-induced slaughter of white-collar workers and other office personnel right now. Of course, the mainstream media won't talk about it, but the list of layoffs over the past few months is staggering. It's across every industry. It would be hard to find a job you do in front of a computer that AI can't enhance or eliminate.

I think our economy is still in the midst of a slowdown, which I expect to get worse. AI is going to make things much, much worse.

So, you will continue to see waves of layoffs in every industry across the board.

It's a good time to be a tradesman, that's for sure!

I think one of the easier predictions will be for a resurgence in trade school attendance.

One of my newer predictions is that you will soon see the length of auto and car loans get extended. You'll start seeing 8 - 10-year auto financing and 35 - 40-year mortgages

Brett, I am home this week taking care of some farm business. I was talking to my banker 2 days ago. Our conversation steered into auto financing and he said, "One of the next things we are implementing is ten year auto loans." My jaw dropped, and I asked, "What happens to the guy who needs to sell his car in three years?"

His response was that they were going to be in a difficult situation. Most of the money they've paid at that point was applied to interest. They are married to the car and the bank. There's not a good way to get loose from either one of them.