Teamster Protesters Target Bimmerfest East!

What did you you all think of this? This group was on both sides of the entry to the show, handing out flyers to attendees as they rolled in...

They went to a lot of trouble to get their message out.


Here's their website: http://www.bmwultimatemisery.com








Thoughts?



.

What did you you all think of this? This group was on both sides of the entry to the show, handing out flyers to attendees as they rolled in...

They went to a lot of trouble to get their message out.


Here's their website: http://www.bmwultimatemisery.com








Thoughts?



.

LOL, I think they're secretly all BMW fans!!!

I certainly can empathize for those who have lost their jobs, especially in these very difficult economic times (really any time for that matter), but infiltrating a BMW-enthusiast event really has the potnetial to backfire. I noticed several folks getting heated by their presence.

Sure BMW's quality has decreased, but that's not b/c BMWNA is finding cheaper labor, rather it's b/c our cars no longer have dipsticks, poorly designed HFPP, and RFTs!!!

Thanks for putting on a fantastic event Jon! It was great meeting you and these people did not take anything away from that.
Can't wait for next year!

Wtf

Haters goin to hate

i really understand they are upset with the company and the actions they are going to take, but they should understand that we are not supporting bmw's actions we are just a group of car junkies that are getting together for the love and passion of our hobby.

i am happy that they did not ruin a great day. thank you again for holding such and amazing event, i got to meet a lot of great people and learn a lot more about my car.

thank you to Turner Motorsports for all the information they gave me, will and his team are a bunch of cool guys and very humble. marco their 335 expert opened my eyes to everything i can do to my car. thanks again guys i will be there next year for sure

I found this that explains their plight a little better.

This article explains their plight more fully...

losers

They're jelly.

As a working union man I understand their situation. They got their message out there with minimal disruption to a wonderful event. No harm done. Actually, I noticed the banner aircraft more than those guys on the ground.
Jon, extremely nice meeting you coming in yesterday and thanks again for putting on such a wonderful event. See you next year.

After reading the article Jon posted. It's about keeping the money rotating in the same circle so the rich stay rich and there will be no other class. I work for the treasury and you start to learn and see things that don't make sense in any way on a daily basis. We will end up in a have and have not world if things continue this way.

TROLLS!!!! pure and simple. Yes, I am sorry you lost your job, I agree that sucks but perhaps you should be more angry at congress than at people who bought cars from the company WHILE you worked there and put food on your table. Seems like misplaced hostility to me. I refused to take any of their handouts.

Things are tough all over...deal with it.

I've worked in a unionized environment one summer while in university and I am not a fan of unions after that experience; they create an US vs THEM environment which is unhealthy.

BMW may have received loans from the government but banks were not lending to anyone in 2008 so I'm sure the money was used to keep the US manufacturing plants operating.

I'd be interested in seeing an official reference to such bailout loans. The government payouts are public record so any such loans to BMW should also be on the record. $3-4B is big enough that it shouldn't be able to be hidden that easily.

"BMW would never be allowed to get away with this in Germany," said Bob Lennox, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 495.

BMW did get away with this when the invested billions on dollars in establishing production facilities in the US, stealing German jobs. In 2008 BMW laid off 7,500 workers in Germany. In 2011 they are laying off 71 warehouse workers in the California, while they are expanding their automotive manufacturing facilities and hiring in South Carolina to make it the largest automotive manufacturing facility in the US terms on number of employees. That sound like American jobs to me.

"BMW got bailed out with nearly $4 billion in top-secret low-interest federal loans and in exchange, they are mocking America's plant closing laws and destroying working families," he said.

BMW Financial Services North America received the USG loans as an alternative cash source when the the US financial sector wasn't providing the traditional sources of money. This was part of the financial sector stimulus program and not the automotive bailout program. These loans were not Top Secret and were not a bail out gifts, since the US is being paid back with interest.

Finally, BMW is an automotive company. They are not a logistic company. Much of their German-based logistics is handled by outside companies. They are starting the process to do the same in the US.

Originally Posted by razzy530

LOL, I think they're secretly all BMW fans!!!

Who isn't secretly a BMW fan unless you own a BMW?

Originally Posted by Kief

Sure BMW's quality has decreased, but that's not b/c BMWNA is finding cheaper labor, rather it's b/c our cars no longer have dipsticks, poorly designed HFPP, and RFTs!!!

Actually it is because of cheaper labor. That cheaper labor doesn't have the desire, skill or knowledge to perform the job correctly.

Originally Posted by bigjoe53

i really understand they are upset with the company and the actions they are going to take, but they should understand that we are not supporting bmw's actions we are just a group of car junkies that are getting together for the love and passion of our hobby.

i am happy that they did not ruin a great day.

You are correct. We are not supporting BMW's actions, but how many people knew what BMW was doing until they saw these people protesting? I am glad they did not ruin the day also, but glad they put the info out there for people to know what BMW is doing.

Originally Posted by Jon Shafer

I found this that explains their plight a little better.

I read that and the same thing is happening to the company where I work. I work for a MAJOR US motorcycle manufacturer based out of Milwaukee Wisconsin .

I can tell you that the "temporary" workers that they are using are low paid, no pride in the company and are only there for a paycheck. They are hard to train and when they do get trained they either don't come back or quit because it wasn't the "gravy" job they thought it would be. We literally had a guy say "this job isn't for me, its too technical" after only 3 bikes, which amounts to 6 minutes of work. I can go on with more but I wont bore you.

Originally Posted by PhillyNate

As a working union man I understand their situation. They got their message out there with minimal disruption to a wonderful event. No harm done. Actually, I noticed the banner aircraft more than those guys on the ground.
Jon, extremely nice meeting you coming in yesterday and thanks again for putting on such a wonderful event. See you next year.

As a working union man I understand their situation and appreciate your understanding and hope everyone would understand that BMW is playing with peoples lives in the US in a way that they would never do in Germany.

I'm sorry I didn't get to meet anyone from the boards. I am mostly a lurker and rarely post and it was a last minute decision to go to the show. Maybe next year I can plan accordingly.

Originally Posted by bimmerbrother1

After reading the article Jon posted. It's about keeping the money rotating in the same circle so the rich stay rich and there will be no other class. I work for the treasury and you start to learn and see things that don't make sense in any way on a daily basis. We will end up in a have and have not world if things continue this way.

You are correct. There will be the rich and the poor. There will be no middle class and its the middle class that spend the money on the new cars, HDTV's, Restaurants, Vacations, etc.

Originally Posted by copcarguyp71

TROLLS!!!! pure and simple. Yes, I am sorry you lost your job, I agree that sucks but perhaps you should be more angry at congress than at people who bought cars from the company WHILE you worked there and put food on your table. Seems like misplaced hostility to me. I refused to take any of their handouts.

Things are tough all over...deal with it.

What does congress care. They will always get their paycheck and health benefits paid for buy you, the taxpayer, until the day they die. They would only care about us if they would go through what we are going. Losing Jobs by outsourcing to cheaper countries with suspect labor laws, losing homes, paying for health insurance, some people just struggle to get by.

We are fortunate to not have to struggle, to have a BMW and a nice place to call home. But as bimmerbrother1 said " We will end up in a have and have not world if things continue this way."

Sorry for the rant, I enjoyed the Bimmerfest East.

Thoughts?

Were they aware that we've been discussing this here??

I can understand why they want to get this out -- after all bimmerfest members are some of BMWs best customers.

Originally Posted by DnA Diesel

I'd be interested in seeing an official reference to such bailout loans. The government payouts are public record so any such loans to BMW should also be on the record. $3-4B is big enough that it shouldn't be able to be hidden that easily.

There is an "official" reference made to 3.6 bln in loans made to BMW in Barbara Boxer's letter to BMW. See the ultimate misery website. While I'm no fan of the senator from Ca I'm confident she's done her homework before putting that statement in writing.

Originally Posted by dunderhi

BMW did get away with this when the invested billions on dollars in establishing production facilities in the US, stealing German jobs. In 2008 BMW laid off 7,500 workers in Germany. In 2011 they are laying off 71 warehouse workers in the California, while they are expanding their automotive manufacturing facilities and hiring in South Carolina to make it the largest automotive manuafacturing facility in the US terms on number of employees. That sound like American jobs to me.

As companies continue to “rationalize” labor and capital from high cost labor intensive sectors to sectors that seemingly offer more return on investment, the question arises: Do companies, especially profitable ones, have any moral responsibility such as offering options like alternative employment, and /or retraining, to long term employees who helped build the brand? Furthermore, beyond the responsibilities to shareholders, do companies have an ethical responsibility to the society as a whole beyond fulfilling the terms of a labor contract?

I did some research this morning on the subject. Their flyers were a bit misleading.... Go figure..
These loans were not for the manufacturing parts of the companies (Ford, BMW, Chrysler, Toyota, GM) they were for the financial portions of the companies. These loans were to make sure there was money for car loans.... Remember, we were in the midst of a credit crunch.

Ford: 15.9B
GM: 13B
BMW: 6.2B
Chrysler: 4.9
Toyota: 4.6

All loans have been paid back.....

I was ready to get a couple bmw lovers together and go on over and thump a couple of those a-holes
sometimes I get close to goin over the edge
my ol lady got the good ol lady song for holdin me back just abit
I wonder what the cost was for the show for the union???
was that an old bi-plane trailin the sign ????

As another person said, they are bunch of idiots. The 'bail out' that they their group is focused on (and angry about) was actually a simple low rate loan that a BMW would be completely stupid not to take.

They are paying it back and this is really not a big issue.

Corporations do lay offs, I was laid off before and it sucks but I don't waste my time going to events and get mad because they laid me off while company CEO is still making money. This is a part of life.

If they were quality workers; they would be already employed instead of trolling meets with misguided agenda.

The UAW was out 2 weeks ago pimping their propaganda at a local BMW dealership here in St. Louis with this very same nonesense. Since they have run the Ford assembly plant in Hazelwood, MO and the Chrysler plant in Fenton, MO into nonexistence they have nothing else to do. From what I have been told it was a one day affair.