That's quite a brilliant management team they've got in place over there at the Caterpillar company.
These are the shitbags who shut down 450 jobs in London Ontario last year and moved them to Indiana. Net saving to the already hugely profitable Caterpillar empire? About ten million dollars a year.
Wow! Ten millions added on the bottom line when you're already clearing 4 billions in profit! That's got to make the management team feel proud!
All they had to do for that is destroy the livelihood of 450 workers in London.
And who can blame them?
By destroying the lives of 450 families in London they added about .025% to the bottom line!
Fuck social responsibility and fuck the workers!
Bring on the management bonuses!
Today the news comes out that the same genius management team forgot to do their due diligence before they bought a Chinese machinery builder a couple of years ago.
As a result, they are announcing a half billion dollar write-down on the purchase of Chinese company ERA Mining Machinery.
How many workers will have to get fucked over to make good on that?
That's the equivalent of moving fifty good-wage London plants to half-cost "right to work" states.
Think any of those six and seven and eight number management shitbags will lose their jobs over this?
Not likely.
Showing posts with label Electro-Motive Diesel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Electro-Motive Diesel. Show all posts
Friday, January 18, 2013
Friday, February 3, 2012
Boycott Caterpillar!
In his speech at Davos last week Sweden's Finance Minister made a lot of unseemly and unwarranted comments about the situation in Greece.
But he also made a passing reference to "corporate responsibility", a concept that never took root in North America.
It is perhaps overly harsh to say it "never took root". Henry Ford was on the right track with his five dollar day.
Andrew Carnegie built a lot of libraries.
There is a long history of corporate capitalism in America in which a sense of responsibility to the community was at least a consideration in the decisions taken in corporate boardrooms.
Those days are long gone.
The attitude that prevails today is the one all too evident in Caterpillar's decision to close their Canadian locomotive works.
Fuck the workers.
Coming off the best year in its history, Caterpillar can hardly claim that worker concessions are necessary for the company's survival, and they aren't.
The move to shutter Electro-Motive is about nothing other than making an already profitable company even more profitable, and if that means sending 500 working class families to the food bank and onto the dole, so be it.
So you union guys who are climbing into Caterpillar equipment tomorrow, maybe you can give a thought to those 500 workers in London who are out of a job today.
Boycott Caterpillar!
But he also made a passing reference to "corporate responsibility", a concept that never took root in North America.
It is perhaps overly harsh to say it "never took root". Henry Ford was on the right track with his five dollar day.
Andrew Carnegie built a lot of libraries.
There is a long history of corporate capitalism in America in which a sense of responsibility to the community was at least a consideration in the decisions taken in corporate boardrooms.
Those days are long gone.
The attitude that prevails today is the one all too evident in Caterpillar's decision to close their Canadian locomotive works.
Fuck the workers.
Coming off the best year in its history, Caterpillar can hardly claim that worker concessions are necessary for the company's survival, and they aren't.
The move to shutter Electro-Motive is about nothing other than making an already profitable company even more profitable, and if that means sending 500 working class families to the food bank and onto the dole, so be it.
So you union guys who are climbing into Caterpillar equipment tomorrow, maybe you can give a thought to those 500 workers in London who are out of a job today.
Boycott Caterpillar!
Caterpillar buries Canadian workers
Reuters) - Caterpillar Inc has decided to close its Electro-Motive locomotive plant in London, Ontario, and lay off at least 450 workers following several months of unsuccessful contract negotiations with the Canadian Auto Workers union.
Dear Reuters,
Caterpillar "has decided"? I think not. Caterpillar knew when they bought Electro-Motive they would shut it down.
"Several months of unsuccessful contract negotiations"? Telling your employees they can work for half of what they earned last year is "negotiating"?
Why not tell it like it is? The world's biggest manufacturer of heavy equipment, coming off the most lucrative year in its history, can be even more lucrative going forward by shifting work to lower paying jurisdictions.
That's perfectly legal.
And perfectly shameful.
Dear Reuters,
Caterpillar "has decided"? I think not. Caterpillar knew when they bought Electro-Motive they would shut it down.
"Several months of unsuccessful contract negotiations"? Telling your employees they can work for half of what they earned last year is "negotiating"?
Why not tell it like it is? The world's biggest manufacturer of heavy equipment, coming off the most lucrative year in its history, can be even more lucrative going forward by shifting work to lower paying jurisdictions.
That's perfectly legal.
And perfectly shameful.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Caterpillar celebrates record year by screwing workers
2011 was a very good year for the Caterpillar company. Sales and profits have never been higher.
But even when you're more profitable than ever, there's a sure-fire way to ratchet record profits up to even higher levels.
Ratchet down the wages of the folks who actually build your Caterpillar stuff.
That's what's going on right now at the Caterpillar locomotive plant in London Ontario. Purchased from General Motors via a very profitable layover at a hedge fund, Electro-Motive Diesel employs about 500 workers in the southern Ontario city.
The skilled welders and steel-fitters at Electro-Motive have been given an ultimatum by the company that is coming off the best financial year in its history: work for half of last years wage or we'll shut you down and send the work somewhere else.
Makes sense to me. Just because you're having the best year in your history doesn't mean next year can't be even better. And if you have to rip the guts out of the union folks who build your stuff, well, that's the way it goes.
This is where I lapse into fantasies of worker solidarity. What if the guys who operate Caterpillar equipment world-wide simply said "no thanks - I won't operate equipment that is built by a company that squeezes it's surplus profits out of the paychecks of their workers."
Construction sites and mines and road-building projects all over the world would shut down overnight.
But even when you're more profitable than ever, there's a sure-fire way to ratchet record profits up to even higher levels.
Ratchet down the wages of the folks who actually build your Caterpillar stuff.
That's what's going on right now at the Caterpillar locomotive plant in London Ontario. Purchased from General Motors via a very profitable layover at a hedge fund, Electro-Motive Diesel employs about 500 workers in the southern Ontario city.
The skilled welders and steel-fitters at Electro-Motive have been given an ultimatum by the company that is coming off the best financial year in its history: work for half of last years wage or we'll shut you down and send the work somewhere else.
Makes sense to me. Just because you're having the best year in your history doesn't mean next year can't be even better. And if you have to rip the guts out of the union folks who build your stuff, well, that's the way it goes.
This is where I lapse into fantasies of worker solidarity. What if the guys who operate Caterpillar equipment world-wide simply said "no thanks - I won't operate equipment that is built by a company that squeezes it's surplus profits out of the paychecks of their workers."
Construction sites and mines and road-building projects all over the world would shut down overnight.
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