this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2023

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Work Reform

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Jim Cramer Says OEMs Should Move American Auto Manufacturing To Mexico For $5/hour In Response To UAW Demands (jalopnik.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Well - why not introduce import tariffs for those goods then? Or would this be against NAFTA rules?

Edit: Read a post further down - it might indeed be against NAFTA rules.

[+] [email protected] -6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

This is the problem with nafta. NAFTA created an environment that is hard for unions to operate in. The big 3 can send it all to Mexico and just ship the final product back.

Or Canada. Either is cheaper labor wise.

It’s why nafta needs to be renegotiated.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Unionize Mexico

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nafta has restrictions around worker pay. Overall though it might be bad for auto workers in the US but much more beneficial to the average American.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

NAFTA is horrible for the average American. It destroys unions and wages. It allows a massive export of our jobs to other countries.

You have a cite around workers pay? That wasn’t in the original plan.

Eta: found an article from 2017

https://www.npr.org/2018/10/17/657806248/will-nafta-2-0-really-boost-mexican-wages

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Is protectionism really the solution?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I'm already paying more for American made products, in search of better oversight and safety. If it offered workers better pay, that would be a huge win for "voting with my wallet".

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Canada really isn't that much cheaper than the US to manufacture and they are also unionized. You just get the currency advantage (1USD = ~$0.72 CAD). Stellantis already moved Ram production to Mexico. The bigger issue is relative competition with Asian imports and Tesla who have no union factories because they produce mostly in the south.

Either way, it would make little sense to move F150 and Silverado to Mexico. Hard to claim you drive American industry but produce in Mexico. I think the frustration is that multiple reasonable offers have been made and the UAW has yet to move from their original position. Which is ironic given they accused Stellantis and GM with bargaining in bad faith.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Current advantages but wages are typically lower. I know in my career field they’re about 40-50% lower. You also get the savings of not paying healthcare cost. (Most people don’t understand that employers are self insured. That means medical payments come out of expenses).

Tesla mostly produces in Nevada and California. Texas is starting to pick up but it isn’t as union as Nevada or California.

When my wife at the time bought her Nissan, it was more American built than any product in the same price range. It was non/-union labor but mainly built here.

Gm has moved a lot of production to Mexico. People forget all the supply chain which has moved as well. Ac Delco moved almost everything to Mexico.

I don’t know what is reasonable as I’m not an auto worker. I don’t buy most American car brands because they’re garbage. My two cars currently are an Audi and a Tesla. I know the Tesla was not union but Im not sure about the Audi.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's important to note that Mexico and Canada have unions.

Musk and his team has been very successful at surpressing unionization. They quickly gets rid of those that try.

The Japanese and Korean makers try to keep people placated so that they don't think about unionization. Or in Hyundai's case, using child labor and getting caught. In the South, some people are too ignorant to understand what the benefits of unions are which is one reason why it's a popular destination for manufacturing jobs.

Volkswagen Auto Group has two separate unions, a minority UAW and a competing American Council of Employees specifically at the Chattanooga plant. The others are probably not unionized YET.

Unionization gets more popular as more conpanies try to extract more productivity without proper compensation.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Hard to claim you drive American industry but produce in Mexico.

Yeah Ford's multi-million dollar "all in on America" football ad campaign will look pretty fucking ironic if they move all of their production elsewhere.

(Not that I believe it anyway)

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