Unions?

[Durk Jenkins]

What opposition to the manufacture of Elio can be anticipated? Will UAW want to get involved? organize? Will Elio 'sell out' to a high bidder for whatever reason. ( some auto company wants to stop them)

ELIO is a fantastic idea whose time has come, but I can't help but wonder who/what will get in the way and prevent or complicate it's manufacture, arrival, and use. Will the same thing happen in Shreveport that happened in Michigan, and ELIO won't get the Shreveport plant?

VW went to Tennessee and got all kinds of city, county, state, tax breaks? The city & state gave them millions? billions? to BUILD their plant there. Does LA give you some kind of deal? maybe?

Elio is all I can think about. Can't wait, and I'm spreading the word of Elio.

Mr. Elio, I sure hope this comes to fruition.

 

[Neal]

I won't get political about the Unions. Not the place for it. The plant is already secured (leased) and the equipment inside the plant has been purchased outright. The Parrish has given Elio a lot of breaks from what I can tell.

 

[Grumpy Cat]

I'm fairly certain LA is a right to work state. So few foreign car manufacturers have unions here because it saves them money.

 

[2.ooohhh]

TN offered VW a little over $570 million in tax breaks spread over the next decade with specific requirements for some portions such as the number of jobs filled from in-state.

The LA parish where the future plant is located provided 7.5 million in funds to IDB to buy the former GM facility though the Racer Trust. IRG an elio partner company managing the leasing of parts of the facility to different tenants is set up to receive $35k for every 1 million in payroll it brings to the parish for a set number of years.


The main difference being VW is the largest automotive manufacturer in the world(measured by revenue), and eilo is at the exact opposite end of that chart since they haven't sold a single car yet. . .

 

[Lil4X]

protias is right, Louisiana, like the South and several Central and Intermountain States does not compel union membership. That's why the rust belt is failing economically as manufacturing industries depart for more economically friendly places with right-to-work laws. New automotive plants have sprung up across the South - and the reasons are economic rather than political. It wasn't necessarily the disproportionately high wages for basic skills, or the strongarm tactics of mob-riddled unions, no, the automakers did it to themselves through years of quick settlements to avoid strikes - accepting deferred benefits over immediate wage increases.

The automakers were living on borrowed time. They'd already sold their futures down the river, and when business fell off and a whole generation retired to some pretty lavish benefits, it broke the backs of the Big Three. In the popular political vernacular, all those "deferred payments" came home to roost. It took a quarter-century of spineless behavior by the auto industry - while the unions were playing the long game. In the end, it was the automakers' failure to stand up to a strike threat for short-term gain that destroyed the futures of Ford, GM, and Chrysler.

 

[Rickb]

It's typical that State and Local politics provide Tax Break Incentives to attract new business & jobs to boost local economies. Seems to be the logical partnership location with that former GM Plant and it's former workers ready to build vehicles again. Go LA & Elio! We all have opinions regarding Unions and Auto Makers but it's not the place to discuss it.

 

[Durk Jenkins]

I won't get political about the Unions. Not the place for it. The plant is already secured (leased) and the equipment inside the plant has been purchased outright. The Parrish has given Elio a lot of breaks from what I can tell.

 

[Durk Jenkins]

Gee, not trying to stir up politics, for sure! Just wondering how many factors might get in the way to complicate the Elio dream. Saturn, Spring Hill, TN, started out non-union then..........stuff happened.
Thanks to all of you for the information. I'm sure lots of you know a lot more about what's going on than I do.

 

[Ty]

Gee, not trying to stir up politics, for sure! Just wondering how many factors might get in the way to complicate the Elio dream. Saturn, Spring Hill, TN, started out non-union then..........stuff happened.
Thanks to all of you for the information. I'm sure lots of you know a lot more about what's going on than I do.

It's a valid question. I had a couple different engineering jobs in Shreveport... Two involved UAW union workers who, I might add, aren't particularly fond of industrial engineers. Why, you ask? Well, simple. industrial engineers have one primary purpose: Make the place more efficient. Typically, we start off making processes more efficient. The plant can then take two tracks... increase production using the same force "But, then I'd be doing more work" - no. you'll be producing more but using the same amount of effort. The second track is to produce the same amount of product but reduce the workforce. And unions are usually against personnel cuts. I say, Usually. Sometimes, they understand, sometimes they watch factories move to Mexico... whatever. Anyway, I was fortunate (or picked my employment well) in that I was always involved in increasing production or quality and not in workforce reduction. However, I watched the Union fight over one workstation so hard that we ended up having to keep the extra person there because the union made us put a chain across a walkway and attaching the chain put that workstation over the 4 person time restraint (52 seconds per vehicle for those who remember my many posts about that speed). So, we had to have a 5th person whose job could have been to just put the freaking chain across the aisle once per every 15 vehicles.

So, unions COULD affect Elio though I hope they end up being a non-union shop.

 

[Rickb]

Gee, not trying to stir up politics, for sure! Just wondering how many factors might get in the way to complicate the Elio dream. Saturn, Spring Hill, TN, started out non-union then..........stuff happened.
Thanks to all of you for the information. I'm sure lots of you know a lot more about what's going on than I do.

All is good with a valid question. It's the debate of union or non-union that could get nasty. It may or may not be a problem. I bet Elio worked out the plant/labor force details early on the planning process to avoid such problems and surprises as they move closer to production.