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.
In this case, yes. NAFTA screws the average American and boosts the stock market which pur government is beholden to. The net effect around the globe is more exploitation for all.
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”.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Not always Mexico, but yeah outside the US. Many of them have followed through with that. As capitalism pushes harder and harder for profits companies continue to look for ways to cut costs. Moving production to countries with cheaper labor and lax safety regulations is an easy way to do so.
I joined the auto industry around 5 years ago. It blew my mind to some extent to be made aware that some ~25 years later, the effects of NAFTA are still to be fully realized. I had assumed that enough time had passed that any economic rebalancing would have been complete.
The potential is there and ripe for industry to whole cloth make the move to Mexico. My company for one is rumored to have an unwritten rule that they don’t do new construction in the US, despite being a US based company.
Only a few crown jewel US locations are really well managed and supported.
I am the first generation not to work in an GM auto plant in my family. The town I grew up in was built by autoworkers after nafta passed, slowly the jobs started moving north and south. Almost all the plants and associated plants closed.l as they moved away.
After they hear this, I expect the big three to immediatly cease all manufacturing in Mexico and add a UAW seat on the Board of Directors. Cramer’s advice should never be ignored.
Cramer built his career on misleading investors to pad hedge funds’ profit margins. His opinion on literally everything should be immediately discarded.
