Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
California Industries Feeling Effects of Labor Dispute
Aired October 03, 2002 - 14:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A labor dispute is starting to clog the wheels of industry. Both sides in the port lockout are to resume mediated contract talks today but already, the dispute has led to the shutdown of major plants.
CNN's Rusty Dornin is live from one such plant in Fremont, California.
Hi, Rusty.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, I'm at the new United Motor manufacturing plant, that's a joint venture between GM and Toyota and 1,400 cars rolled off the assembly line. I was here yesterday. I watched it.
Today, there is nothing. They had to shut down the assembly line last night because they don't have the parts. They're sitting on the docks or sitting out on those ships.
Here to tell us a little bit more about it is Mike Damer with the company.
Now, Mike, I know with the -- if this lockdown continues, how are you going to get parts to start this assembly line back up again? Can you?
MICHAEL DAMER, NUMMI MANAGER: We're making plans right now to air crate in critical components to support production on the passenger side, and we anticipate that'll happen, we hope, early next week.
DORNIN: Now, but if you do that, that means -- you and me, would we pay -- or would you pay more for the car?
DAMER: Our vehicles sales will be competitive in the marketplace, so those are costs our company will have to absorb.
DORNIN: But how long can you afford to do that? You've got 5,500 workers who are basically idle right now.
DAMER: We can't afford not to have products in the marketplace, so we'll do what we need to do to do that.
DORNIN: Now, we're going to meet the folks now.
We've got a gentleman here, Raul Jauregui, who usually puts bumpers on the Pontiac Vibes and the Toyota Corrollas. Raul, how are you with us today? What are you doing today?
RAUL JAUREGUI, ASSEMBLY LINE WORKER: I'm helping ventilation. Ventilation to the cars.
DORNIN: OK. And so, are you worried about what's going to be happening if these lockdown talks continue? Are you worried about your job?
JAUREGUI: I think we all are. I mean, not just us but other people are as well. A lot of families involved so, yes, I am worried.
DORNIN: But you are getting paid now for your work? Have they asked you take time off, too?
JAUREGUI: It's an option to us now. If we like, we can take time off or use vacation pay.
DORNIN: And, I guess -- if the talks are successful today -- the federal mediator has become involved with both sides today.
If those talks are successful, the folks here say they can get their parts out of the dock and here to the plant -- that could start production on their cars within one day.
Now, of course, there's still going to be a back-up. But the folks here are just hoping that it can happen as quickly as possible so that they get this assembly line running again -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Rusty Dornin, inside look there.
Thank you so much, Rusty.
Well, the port lockout is also threatening to cork the wine industry.
The No. 1 winery in the nation is worried about its dwindling stock of corks.
Joining us by phone is Brad Alderson, general manager of Robert Montabe's Woodbridge Winery in Lodi, California.
Thank you so much for joining us.
BRAD ALDERSON, GENERAL MANAGER, ROBERT MONTABE WOODBRIDGE WINERY: Hi, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: I appreciate it. Well, not good news for you.
I bet you you are following this lockout daily.
ALDERSON: Well, we are definitely following the lockout. Corks aren't like grapes or some of the other crops that are sitting in containers on the dock, but they still have an important part of the bottle of wine. PHILLIPS: Now, let's talk about how far behind you are right now.
I mean, do you have bottles of wine sitting there open, that are going to waste if you don't get your corks?
ALDERSON: No. We normally have about a month's supply on hand, so we have enough corks to run through the end of the month. But, we have at least one or two containers sitting on the docks in Oakland with over a million corks in each of them, and that represents -- each of them represents about a week's worth of cork supply for us.
PHILLIPS: Now, you bottle about 45,000 cases a day, right?
ALDERSON: Yes.
PHILLIPS: All right, now my question to you is: Why do you get these corks from Portugal? Why not the United States?
ALDERSON: Well, there's only two places in the world that really produce a lot of corks, and one is in Portugal and the other is in Italy.
And, there is no domestic production of cork. It's one of those things that we haven't started in the United States yet.
PHILLIPS: Well, brad, I have a new job idea for you, a new company idea.
ALDERSON: Oh, yes?
PHILLIPS: Making corks.
ALDERSON: Well, it takes about 50 years for a cork oak tree to be suitable for harvesting its bark for making cork up. So it's a long, slow process.
PHILLIPS: Wow.
ALDERSON: It's one of the reasons most people haven't gotten into the business.
PHILLIPS: Well, do you think this is going to affect more wineries than just yours?
I mean, do you see the wine industry being affected in a big way if indeed this doesn't come -- if these talks don't come to an agreement here or come to a conclusion?
ALDERSON: Well, it's always hard to speak for other people, but I do think that the wineries that produce wines that are in what we would call the premium set, which is something under $12 and above $5, where the wines are relatively bottled relatively close to the time of consumption, I'm sure they're somewhat in the same situation we are, where we bottle wine right now. The wine that we're bottling today consumed around Thanksgiving, and the winery will bottle in November, if we have corks, will be something for Christmas and New Year's and Super Bowl.
PHILLIPS: Wow.
Now, Brad, worse case scenario: you don't get these corks for a couple of months, maybe even longer. I mean, is it possible that you would have to shut down your winery and folks would be out of a job?
ALDERSON: Well, we're thinking about some scenarios which includes bringing them in by plane if we have to, but that would be expensive, but we would probably do it to keep our people working and not to ruin people's New Year's festivities.
PHILLIPS: Brad Aldridge, general manager, Robert Montabe's Woodbridge Winery, we sure hope you get those corks.
Many of us enjoy that wine. Thanks, Brad.
ALDERSON: Well, thank you.
PHILLIPS: All right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 3, 2002 - 14:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A labor dispute is starting to clog the wheels of industry. Both sides in the port lockout are to resume mediated contract talks today but already, the dispute has led to the shutdown of major plants.
CNN's Rusty Dornin is live from one such plant in Fremont, California.
Hi, Rusty.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, I'm at the new United Motor manufacturing plant, that's a joint venture between GM and Toyota and 1,400 cars rolled off the assembly line. I was here yesterday. I watched it.
Today, there is nothing. They had to shut down the assembly line last night because they don't have the parts. They're sitting on the docks or sitting out on those ships.
Here to tell us a little bit more about it is Mike Damer with the company.
Now, Mike, I know with the -- if this lockdown continues, how are you going to get parts to start this assembly line back up again? Can you?
MICHAEL DAMER, NUMMI MANAGER: We're making plans right now to air crate in critical components to support production on the passenger side, and we anticipate that'll happen, we hope, early next week.
DORNIN: Now, but if you do that, that means -- you and me, would we pay -- or would you pay more for the car?
DAMER: Our vehicles sales will be competitive in the marketplace, so those are costs our company will have to absorb.
DORNIN: But how long can you afford to do that? You've got 5,500 workers who are basically idle right now.
DAMER: We can't afford not to have products in the marketplace, so we'll do what we need to do to do that.
DORNIN: Now, we're going to meet the folks now.
We've got a gentleman here, Raul Jauregui, who usually puts bumpers on the Pontiac Vibes and the Toyota Corrollas. Raul, how are you with us today? What are you doing today?
RAUL JAUREGUI, ASSEMBLY LINE WORKER: I'm helping ventilation. Ventilation to the cars.
DORNIN: OK. And so, are you worried about what's going to be happening if these lockdown talks continue? Are you worried about your job?
JAUREGUI: I think we all are. I mean, not just us but other people are as well. A lot of families involved so, yes, I am worried.
DORNIN: But you are getting paid now for your work? Have they asked you take time off, too?
JAUREGUI: It's an option to us now. If we like, we can take time off or use vacation pay.
DORNIN: And, I guess -- if the talks are successful today -- the federal mediator has become involved with both sides today.
If those talks are successful, the folks here say they can get their parts out of the dock and here to the plant -- that could start production on their cars within one day.
Now, of course, there's still going to be a back-up. But the folks here are just hoping that it can happen as quickly as possible so that they get this assembly line running again -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Rusty Dornin, inside look there.
Thank you so much, Rusty.
Well, the port lockout is also threatening to cork the wine industry.
The No. 1 winery in the nation is worried about its dwindling stock of corks.
Joining us by phone is Brad Alderson, general manager of Robert Montabe's Woodbridge Winery in Lodi, California.
Thank you so much for joining us.
BRAD ALDERSON, GENERAL MANAGER, ROBERT MONTABE WOODBRIDGE WINERY: Hi, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: I appreciate it. Well, not good news for you.
I bet you you are following this lockout daily.
ALDERSON: Well, we are definitely following the lockout. Corks aren't like grapes or some of the other crops that are sitting in containers on the dock, but they still have an important part of the bottle of wine. PHILLIPS: Now, let's talk about how far behind you are right now.
I mean, do you have bottles of wine sitting there open, that are going to waste if you don't get your corks?
ALDERSON: No. We normally have about a month's supply on hand, so we have enough corks to run through the end of the month. But, we have at least one or two containers sitting on the docks in Oakland with over a million corks in each of them, and that represents -- each of them represents about a week's worth of cork supply for us.
PHILLIPS: Now, you bottle about 45,000 cases a day, right?
ALDERSON: Yes.
PHILLIPS: All right, now my question to you is: Why do you get these corks from Portugal? Why not the United States?
ALDERSON: Well, there's only two places in the world that really produce a lot of corks, and one is in Portugal and the other is in Italy.
And, there is no domestic production of cork. It's one of those things that we haven't started in the United States yet.
PHILLIPS: Well, brad, I have a new job idea for you, a new company idea.
ALDERSON: Oh, yes?
PHILLIPS: Making corks.
ALDERSON: Well, it takes about 50 years for a cork oak tree to be suitable for harvesting its bark for making cork up. So it's a long, slow process.
PHILLIPS: Wow.
ALDERSON: It's one of the reasons most people haven't gotten into the business.
PHILLIPS: Well, do you think this is going to affect more wineries than just yours?
I mean, do you see the wine industry being affected in a big way if indeed this doesn't come -- if these talks don't come to an agreement here or come to a conclusion?
ALDERSON: Well, it's always hard to speak for other people, but I do think that the wineries that produce wines that are in what we would call the premium set, which is something under $12 and above $5, where the wines are relatively bottled relatively close to the time of consumption, I'm sure they're somewhat in the same situation we are, where we bottle wine right now. The wine that we're bottling today consumed around Thanksgiving, and the winery will bottle in November, if we have corks, will be something for Christmas and New Year's and Super Bowl.
PHILLIPS: Wow.
Now, Brad, worse case scenario: you don't get these corks for a couple of months, maybe even longer. I mean, is it possible that you would have to shut down your winery and folks would be out of a job?
ALDERSON: Well, we're thinking about some scenarios which includes bringing them in by plane if we have to, but that would be expensive, but we would probably do it to keep our people working and not to ruin people's New Year's festivities.
PHILLIPS: Brad Aldridge, general manager, Robert Montabe's Woodbridge Winery, we sure hope you get those corks.
Many of us enjoy that wine. Thanks, Brad.
ALDERSON: Well, thank you.
PHILLIPS: All right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
