Kongsberg Automotive Screws Van Wert Ohio, Again

Kongsberg officials said the decisions were a result of the "global automotive market collapse" that has resulted in a steep drop in demand for automotive components especially in North America.

Kongsberg officials have said a lot, most of it is a bunch of hogswallow.

The Businessweek piece goes on to say:

Kongsberg said its Van Wert, Ohio facility will close sometime in the summer and its production will be transferred to the company's Nuevo Laredo, Mexico facility, eliminating about 105 jobs.

The company said it also plans to move its Haysville, Kan. facility's production to its facility in Matamoros, Mexico. The Haysville facility will also close sometime in the summer, affecting about 100 jobs, Kongsberg said.

Not a problem. When Kongsberg decideds that Mexico is too expensive, they'll move to Poland, Haiti, India, maybe back to the US, you know where ever the taxes are cheap and the workers are so desperate they'd crawl all over themselves to get the jobs. Cause in the end, they're really just greedy bastards.

And why do I call them greedy bastards, well, because while they talk about the poor auto market from one side of their mouth, they accept a huge German contract out of the other side.

Kongsberg Automotive has booked an order valued at MEUR 18 (MNOK 151). The new business includes delivery of Seat Heat to the European market. The contract term is 7 years with production start in 2010.

The seat heaters will be manufactured at Kongsberg Automotive's plant in Pruszkow, Poland.

The customer is a German automaker and one of the world's premier manufacturers of passenger cars.

Ah, yes, Poland. This is the operation begun by closures of Amotfors, Sweden. But don't take my word for it, here's what Kongsberg had to say:

Kongsberg, 8 December 2008.

Kongsberg Automotive (KA) has booked an order valued at MEUR 4,3 (40
MNOK). The new business includes delivery of Seat Heat to the Russian
market, where a German automaker is preparing the launch of a small
sized car.

"The customer is one of Europe's leading carmakers and this contract
represents a door-opener to the emerging Russian automotive market",
says Hans Peter Havdal, President of Automotive Systems at KA.
"Further, this contract is the first ever to this particular
carmaker, and we expect new business opportunities to follow as a
result of this award", he concludes.


###

Kongsberg Automotive is headquartered in Kongsberg, Norway and has
more than 50 facilities in 20 countries on all continents. Kongsberg
Automotive, with revenues of about EUR1 billion and over 9.500
employees, provides system solutions to vehicle makers around the
world. The product portfolio includes gearshift systems, cables for a
wide variety of applications, fuel lines, tubing and hoses,
couplings, clutch actuation, stabilizing rods, seat heaters, seat
ventilation, lumbar supports, head restrains, arm rests, steering
columns, pedals, electronics and displays. Find more information at
www.kongsbergautomotive.com.

Yeah, right, market is down, so we have to close Van Wert (despite an illegal lockout) and we will have to close operations in Kanasas (another 100 jobs) because we have to move those operations into Mexico. It's just business, after all. Just business. Greedy fucking bastards.

Does this Mean that Republican Senators Will Be in Favor of a Bridge Loan?

I mean, how often does an administration lead by a Congress controlled by Republicans for years (unitl 2006) allow deregulation of the financial industry, arguably causing issues like Madoff:

They join a list of more powerful investors that have come forward, all worried about the extent of their losses. The roster of names include former Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman, New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon and J. Ezra Merkin, the chairman of GMAC Financial Services, among others.

So, in a climate of DEREGULATION, a well respected captain of financial markets gets to pull off the scam of all scams, including DEFRAUDING the likes of GM (GMAC is a subsidiary of GM and provides financial services, including mortgages). Now that GM is out BILLIONS (Madoff scammed at least $50 billion that we know of now), does it make it more likely that Republican Senators will be willing to assist the ailing auto industry? Afterall, helping GMAC is a financial services company and seemingly so much more Republican like, as opposed to dirty, hard working, loud, uneducated, unskilled autoworkers represented by a union.

Hmm, the only ones here I think of as dirty, uneducated and unskilled are Republicans in the Seante lead by the likes of Senators Corker and Shelby. Just writing their names makes me want to go take a shower. I feel so dirty.

UAW WORKERS Meet on Capitol Hill

Mostly, watch and listen at 4:11.



The UAW worker speaking is from American Axle and the staffers at the table have never heard of American Axle. NEVER HEARD OF IT. Why is that important? An 11 week strike this past winter.

How can we expect the Republican Senators to be able to pull their heads out of their asses if their staffers can't even keep up on an 11 week strike that SHUT DOWN GM plants all over the country, in Mexico and also hit Canadian autoworkers? Are these rely the people who should be making policy about how and if money should be loaned to manufacturing in this country?

Idiots and asshats. Because of them, there's no money out there in the form of a LOAN for the auto industry!!

Detroit Free Press Editorial on Southern Republican Senator's Asshated

I got this in an e-mail but had to go and read it for myself mostly because at the same time I got this, someone else sent me a link to what states receive the most in Federal aide and those states that utilize the least. And not surprisingly, Republican Senators who receive the most in federal funding are also the senators who voted against a BRIDGE LOAN for Chrysler and GM. Oh and of course the Republicans from Alaska, too (receiving loads, but clearly want to screw Michigan and the rest of the midwest).



Take what Mitt Romney said on Meet the Press this morning, blaming a $2k "disadvantage" on labor, labor benefits and labor legacy (retired workers). Governor Granholm hit the nail on the head when she made sure that everyone knew that this "disadvantage" is about how other countries provide for their citizens. Here, we have companies that must, as in the Detroit Free Press editorial

December 12, 2008

Hey, Southerners: Detroit 3 helped you to survive

BY TOM WALSH
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

When Hurricane Katrina slammed into Louisiana and Alabama on Aug. 29, 2005, the automobile companies of Detroit did not harrumph that the gulf coast should have been better prepared.

They didn't sit back and wait for New Orleans to submit a detailed plan for future repair of the ruptured levees.

General Motors Corp., on Aug. 30, donated $400,000 to the American Red Cross 2005 Hurricane Relief Fund, pledged to match up to $250,000 more in employee contributions, and sent more than 150 vehicles to the stricken area for use in relief work.

Ford Motor Co. and the UAW quickly made a joint donation of $100,000 to the Red Cross. The Chrysler Group gave $150,000 to the Red Cross and $200,000 to local New Orleans charities. DaimlerChrysler Services chipped in $200,000 for the Red Cross and pledged to match employee donations up to $50,000.

The three Detroit auto companies together gave more than $18 million in cash and vehicles to the Katrina relief effort in the ensuing months. No strings attached.

The U.S. Senate's most adamant naysayers about whether Detroit deserves rescue loans should have thought about that before now. It might have made Thursday's futile wrangling over a compromise to get $14 billion in emergency rescue loans for GM and Chrysler a bit less tortuous.

U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., for one, might have dialed down his earlier rhetoric.

Vitter said Wednesday that he plans to vote against the rescue because, in his words, it is "ass-backwards" to give money to the distressed companies before Congress sees more detailed survival plans.

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., should think about Hurricane Katrina, too. He has threatened a filibuster against the bill, calling it "a bridge loan to nowhere" and stating that Detroit's automakers should undergo a fundamental restructuring before they ask Congress for money.

None of the logical arguments made by, or on behalf of, Detroit's auto industry seem to resonate with certain congressional critics.

Not the fact that GM, Ford and Chrysler have slashed billions of dollars in costs. Not the fact that they have the nation's top-selling pickups and minivans. Not the fact that they have lots of high-mileage vehicles and more on the way. Not the fact an auto company bankruptcy would have a horrible ripple effect, wiping out scores of suppliers and making hundreds of thousands more U.S. workers jobless.

No, to the most adamant auto-rescue opponents in the Senate, Detroit doesn't make cars people want. It's a dinosaur not worth preserving.

Could the opinions of these senators be colored by the fact that the foreign-owned plants of Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, BMW, Nissan and Volkswagen -- which compete with the Detroit Three -- are located in their states?

Nah, let's not even go there.

Let's just say that since logic hasn't worked, we should fall back on a simple moral argument.

If you see a fellow American is drowning, gasping for air, do you quiz him for a while about whether he's drunk or why he never learned to swim better? Or do you throw him a life buoy and ask questions later?

That, it seems to me, is where we are with America's car companies.

You have done nothing and failed them, senators.

So now it's up to President George W. Bush and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to, hopefully, rush in with emergency aid from the $700-billion Troubled Assets Relief Program.

They could still hold the Detroit Three's feet to the fire afterward, empowering a strong auto czar to bring all stakeholders together to forge business models for these companies that can withstand future shocks.

Contact TOM WALSH at 313-223-4430 or twalsh@freepress.com.

Just one more time, Damn, Mitt Romney is an ass...ah, and a liar. Wow, glad he's not going to be president. Why are there always more Republicans on the Sunday talks than Democrats? Come on, the CEO of Wal-Mart? Please, focused on working people? Yeah, working them for as little as possible with the smallest wages as possible and then, with little or no benefits. Great model to compare to GM and Chrysler. Why would this joker even be on Meet the Press? Is this what we really want to expand as a model for growth or prosperity?

Mr. Block gets news only from the bosses' paper

some things never change


So who is Mr.Block (from Wikipedia)?

Mr. Block is a United States comic strip character commemorated in a song written by Joe Hill.

Mr. Block, who has no first name, was born 7 November 1912 to Ernest Riebe, a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Block appeared that day in the Spokane newspaper Industrial Worker, smoking a cigar and wearing a checkered suit with top hat. Subsequently, Mr. Block lost the fancy clothes but always kept a hat, ten sizes too small, perched on one corner of his wooden blockhead.

"Mr. Block is legion," wrote Walker C. Smith in 1913. "He is representative of that host of slaves who think in terms of their masters. Mr. Block owns nothing, yet he speaks from the standpoint of the millionaire; he is patriotic without patrimony; he is a law-abiding outlaw .. [who] licks the hand that smites him and kisses the boot that kicks him .. the personification of all that a worker should not be."

Former Teamster President Ron Carey dead at 72

Ron Carey, the first Democratically elect President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has passed

From MSNBC

The first democratically elected leader of the Teamsters died yesterday at age 72 in New York City.

Ron Carey was first elected to head the Teamsters in 1991 on a vow to end mob control. In his re-election bid in 1996, he narrowly defeated James Hoffa, Jr. However, in 1998, a court-appointed review board expelled Carey from the Teamsters, concluding, according to the New York Times, he “breached his fiduciary duty by failing to stop an illegal scheme that siphoned more than $750,000 in union money into his 1996 re-election campaign.”

In 2001, Carey was charged with perjury related to the scandal. He was later acquitted on all charges.

He is survived by his wife, Barbara, and five children.

What people are saying

From "Republican Senator Admits Opposition to Auto Bill is All About Union Busting" comment at DU

Unions "appear to be an antiquated concept in today’s economy"?

If anything is true it's the exact opposite. Unions are more important now then ever before as it has become painfully clear the corporate executives have no interest in seeing American workers prosper. For them it's all about getting what you can for as little as possible. Fucking disgusting.

From "Somebody Has to Respond" comment at Truthout

Thirty years of anti-labor propaganda has taken its toll, but us working stiffs have to stick together or we are going to keep getting screwed. It's not a coincidence that, once the interests of the wealthy are threatened, $750 billion materializes instantly. This is after all that preaching about fiscal responsibility to those of us lower on the food chain.

From "Stuff Made In China"

Another gross example of this is from years ago. I had a roommate that worked at an Old Navy. For those of you that don't know, Old Navy, Gap and Banana Republic are all the same company. The blue jeans at Old Navy cost around $20, at the Gap $40, and at Banana Republic $60. I don't recall exactly, but I want to say all were made in Indonesia. Undoubted they were produced at the same factory. Really I don' know, maybe the 12 year old sewing the Old Navy jeans got like $8 a month and the one sewing the Banana Republic jeans received $12 a month. However, I seriously doubt it.
Moral is: If you have to buy Chinese made crap, please buy it as cheaply as possible. You should realize those $90 Polo Jeans are probably $7 at Marshalls.

New York construction union shows solidarity with sit-in workers

“In many ways,” said Jessie Jackson, their action “is the beginning of a larger movement for mass action to resist economic violence.”

When the Republic Windows and Doors workers were left shafted without warning they took action, according to the AFL-CIO blog yesterday Dec.11th:

...workers at Republic Windows & Doors who made justice happen. After a six-day sit-in at the plant, workers at Republic Windows & Doors in Chicago voted to accept a settlement late last night.

Somewhere along the line a little thing happened, solidarity. Many of us have heard about the demonstrations across the nation, the support from President-Elect Barack Obama and Jessie Jackson standing in solidarity with the workers, but here's something that you may not have heard.

According to a friend of mine who on December 9th, was at the meeting of New York's own Metallic Lathers Union LU 46, in front of a standing room only crowd of members Business Manager Bob Ledwith made a motion that Local 46 show support for the striking UE workers in Chicago by sending them a gift of $1,000 to help defray their costs and hardship.

The members, all of whom are anticipating a rough ride themselves in the near future voted unanimously to approve the motion.

According to the history of the Metallic Lathers in New York:

All through the years Local 46 has been outstanding in its help to the labor movement and has always aided and endeavored to help others secure their own rights.

I hope that showing of solidarity can rub off on other workers across this great nation. I recall the sentence I used to use to practice typing when I was a kid:

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country. (of course, and women too)

Here's more on the struggle and victory of the Republic workers from the UE site:

A bid for fairness that inspired the world.

On Friday, December 5, 2008, an new chapter in labor history was written by about 260 Chicago workers at Republic Windows and Doors.

Three days earlier, they learned the plant was closing. Bank of America, although flush with U.S. government bailout cash, had refused to extend Republic's line of credit and had also refused to allow Republic to pay out what they were owed.

United — as a union of co-workers — they stood together and said "No!"

For the next five days they occupied their plant — something rarely seen in the U.S. since the 1930's The worldwide reaction was stunning.

A World of Support

People organized demonstrations in dozens of cities across the country, from New York to San Francisco, from icy Buffalo to sunny Florida. Solidarity messages poured in from around the world. Their common theme was, "We're behind you — and proud of you! Keep up the fight!"

The UE Local 1110 members had no way of knowing how deeply their courageous action would resonate. But it soon became clear that their action articulated the anger and frustration millions of ordinary people in this worsening economic crisis. of

A World of Hope

They inspired people fed up by the excesses of banks, corporations and the powerful who have led us into the worst economic crisis since the 1930s — and then got the government to bail them out with our money.

They gave hope to people who face the prospect of losing jobs, homes, healthcare, retirement, and for many, the hope for their kids to get a good college education.

A Movement to 'Resist Economic Violence'

Rev. Jesse Jackson expressed it well when he said that, like Rosa Parks 50 years ago, the Republic workers stood up for justice by sitting down. “In many ways,” said Jackson, their action “is the beginning of a larger movement for mass action to resist economic violence.”

Now, it's up to all of us to make sure this moment is a real turning point, when we begin to stand together as working people to demand an economy and government policies that put our needs first.

So what is the latest on these workers?

From Change To Wins Blog:

Republic Workers Win! (For Real This Time)

This time it’s official:

After the conclusion of negotiations Wednesday evening, the membership of Local 1110, more than 200 workers, met in the plant cafeteria to hear and consider the tentative settlement that had been worked out by UE negotiators over the past three days.

The settlement was approved by a unanimous vote…

The settlement totals $1.75 million. It will provide the workers with:

• Eight weeks of pay they are owed under the federal WARN Act,
• Two months of continued health coverage and,
• Pay for all accrued and unused vacation.

JPMorgan Chase will provide $400,000 of the settlement, with the balance coming from Bank of America.

Although the money will be provided as a loan to Republic Windows and Doors, it will go directly into a third-party fund whose sole purpose is to pay the workers what is owed them.

As the Local 1110 leaders characterized the settlement, “We fought to make them pay what they owe us, and we won.”

Hooray! Congratulations!

UPDATE (1:35PM): Great discussion of the victory at Daily Kos, kicked off by Friend of CtW Connect TomP.

Pyramid of the capitalist system redux

They Rule You, They Fool You, They Shoot At You and They Eat For You

That idealization has been around for quite some time, it was on the cover of The Industrial Worker, the newspaper of The Industrial Workers Of The World(The IWW) way back in 1911, the title of the work is Pyramid of the Capitalist System.



So what has changed in the almost 100 years since this masterpiece has been created, the masses fought through the Great Depression gotten some advantage through the 50's and the corporatist have found better ways to fool us.

They have opened our borders to a servitude class, while diverting our pension into mutual funds that invest against our own interests, they have made loopholes for those at the top and given corporations carte blanche over our lives and have taken our constitutional rights while we sat in blind patriotism. They have their media telling us what we need to know about nothing, while constricting the free speech from dissenting views. They have us thinking that labor laws will protect us, while cutting staff and regulations to the bone.

They have used racism, religion, language, and fear to pit us against one another, and have beaten us with the sense that there is nothing any one of us can do about it.

Here is an updated version of the great illustration of 1911, is it so far off the mark.

I wish I were more creative I'd make my own, maybe show the Wal-Mart door crushing out a human life so some scums could save a few dollars on their foreign made crap, maybe add the Haitian bread winner feeding his children dirt sandwiches to stave off the hunger pains after a hard days work making clothes for companies which used to make it here for a living wage.

They sold our future down the drain while you watched American Idol.

Unfortunately I don't know where the image is from

Autoworker bailout fails Senate!

You motherfuckers, you toss trillions at killing in war, a trillion to your cohorts in banking and when it comes to one of the last American industries which is manned by American workers, union American workers who have agreed to give concessions, who's new hires only make $14 at the highest wage and whose companies have asked for a loan of a mere $15 billion, you turn your backs.

Make no mistake about it, this bill was killed by Republican Senators, they are your enemy, and for all of those working in the deep south in the Foreign auto manufacturing, which does not have any legacy costs for retirees yet, be prepared, if the big 3 are gone, your pay is gonna drop like an anchor.

With 1 in 10 US jobs attached to the big three you have tossed our country into a tailspin, the dollar has dropped overnight and how much longer before we have another 3,000,000 unemployed, while you close your eyes and leave the border open and let all help the corporations continue to force undocumented workers into servitude to feed you.

The people have shown that they are getting tired of it at the Republic window and door factory in Chicago, unfortunately it's like alcoholics anonymous, we might all have to hit the bottom before we look for change.

How long will you all bury your head in the sand before you realize that there is a war against the American worker? That's ALL American workers, they will continue to pick us off one at a time..

Bloomberg:

Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar slumped below 90 yen for the first time in 13 years after the U.S. Senate rejected a $14 billion bailout for the nation’s automakers.

The U.S. currency headed for a sixth week of declines versus the yen as General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC failed to obtain the funds they need to survive until next year. Japan isn’t considering intervening in currency markets now, Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa told reporters in Tokyo today.

“The dollar is dropping like a rock,” said Masahiro Sato, joint general manager of the treasury division in Tokyo at Mizuho Trust & Banking Co., a unit of Japan’s second-largest publicly listed lender. “This is a big blow to confidence in the U.S. economy. Bankruptcy protection for U.S. automakers may be the only option left.”

More info from Google

Jim DeMint= Angry Idiot

And I don't say such things lightly.

But then I got to hear his bizarre anti-worker and anti-union rant on NPR and well, read this comment from another listener...pretty well sums it up:

Nellie
I was deeply disturbed at Sen. DeMint's comments about the Unions being the whole problem facing the auto industry. The Unions do not determine what vehicles are to be built or engineering of vehicles, management does. They assemble the vehicles they are directed to assemble. No one seems to think there is anything wrong with CEOs negotiating the best salary and benefits package they can, but somehow its wrong for the workers to do so. Remember, without the workers, the Union members, there would be no product to sell. Further, no one seems to remeber that Toyota, Honda and other foreign auto cos., got a free pass when they negotiated manufacturing their vehicles in the U.S. They were not required to deal with the Unions. Therefore, there is no level playing field. The NPR staff needs to educate itself about Unions and the roll of Unions in the history of this country so they can challenge such outrageous statements from the likes of Sen. DeMint. Unions were prominenet in the most prosperous times of our country. Because of Unions, there are weekends, laws requiring a safe workplace and other standards we all take for granted now. An attack on Unions is an attack on the common working woman and man of this country

And did anyone else notice that not only is this guy an idiot, he also had several moments where it seemed difficult for him to form his thoughts? Is he more than just an idiot, is he also a blithering idiot?

Chicago Workers Take A Stand

A good friend and fellow labor activist wrote this piece for UnionReview.com. I asked her if we can cross-post her article to Joe's site, and she said, "Of course," enjoy!

They say that those who aren’t angry simply aren’t paying attention. When it comes to anger over the country’s financial meltdown, however, not paying attention is becoming less of an option, thanks, in part, to a group of renegade workers from Chicago who have taken matters into their own hands.

In the midst of a financial crisis and government-backed bail outs to save Wall Street, big business and fat-cat CEOs, workers in Chicago are taking a stand.

As reported by CNN.com, 200 members from the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America have joined together in a peaceful protest that is making headlines and causing some of the country’s most powerful to take notice.

The group of 200 were employees at Republic Windows and Doors until just days ago, when the company announced massive layoffs, giving employees only three days notice. The layoffs, Republic Windows and Doors claims, are a result of Bank of America cutting off credit to the company.

Now, the workers are staging a sit-in, saying they won’t leave until they get what is rightfully theirs: severance packages and accrued vacation pay.

Among those to show support for the group include the Civil Rights leader Jesse Jackson, President-elect Barack Obama and Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who recently issued an order for the state government to suspend doing business with Bank of America.

“We are going to do everything possible here in Illinois to side with these workers,” Blagojevich said. “And it isn't just lending them moral support, but it's putting pressure on financial institutions like the Bank of America.”

Earlier in the year, Bank of America received a $25 billion tax-payer bailout package which corporate CEOs claimed would save the jobs of working men and women; it’s more and more clear, however, who the bailout really bailed out—and the employees of Republic Windows and Doors are making it harder and harder to forget.