I know I'm writing this at the risk of angering long time reader Alan over at Some Amusing Blog Pun.
From today's Wall Street Journal:
Union workers at a key General Motors Corp. plant in Michigan walked off the job Thursday, in the latest sign the Big Three auto makers are having trouble reaping the benefits of concessions they won in labor contracts last fall.I just don't get it.
About 3,300 workers, represented by the United Auto Workers, went on strike at GM's Lansing-Delta Township plant, where the auto maker has been trying to hammer out an agreement with local union leaders covering an array of isues.
— SNIP —
...the Lansing strike affects supplies of the Buick Enclave and other crossovers that have been hot items for GM during a U.S. sales downturn.
• Michigan is in a major slump with high unemployment yet these folks are going on strike?
• GM finally designs some vehicles that customers want, decides to build them in Michigan, and they are rewarded with a strike?
• The UAW strikes at will, then wonders why other manufacturers fight so hard against unionization and refuse to build plants in Michigan?
• Aren't these the same workers that get 90% pay when they are laid off during times of overcapacity?
• Haven't the UAW leaders learned that these tactics may win short-term gains but ultimately cause a lot more harm than good?
I know it sounds callous, but it's hard to muster up any sympathy for these folks when most of the country would beg (are begging) for these jobs at half the pay. I'm not sure that 100% unemployment in Michigan will convince the UAW that these aren't the good old days. Unfortunately, the entire state suffers by these actions.
As a point of reference, our local news has been going 24/7 on the announcement that HondaJet will locate their East Coast sales facility here at the Albany International Airport. The big news? It will generate some construction jobs and 25 recurring "high paying" jobs.
That is considered a HUGE win around here!
I suppose I have a deep-seated resistance to unions. When I was little, my father lost his job in a strike. He had been a bread delivery man for 23 years at the same company. The bakers went on strike, and rather than give in, the company shut down and everyone lost their jobs, pension, etc. whether they were in the union or not. My dad lost everything he had ever worked for through no fault of his own.
UPDATE:
...the United Auto Workers threatened to walk out at the main plant that builds the hot-selling Chevrolet Malibu.*
UAW Local 31 at the Malibu factory in Fairfax, Kan., near Kansas City, on Thursday gave the company a letter warning that it will strike the plant in five days if local contract issues go unresolved, GM spokesman Dan Flores said Friday.
The strike would hurt GM financially because the Malibu is selling well even as U.S. auto sales slump. The company has only a 37-day supply of the mid-sized sedan, according to Wards AutoInfoBank.
5 comments:
Meh, I'm pro union, but not enough to get angry about it.
I don't really know what the issues are in this strike, so I can't respond reasonably to your questions.
But yeah, a strike when we have double the unemployment rate of the rest of the country seems a little silly. Have they never heard of scabs? Scabs are pretty easy to come by in a state with nearly 8% unemployment.
Funny you mention "half the pay" because that is, I believe, what the new contract is offering. Basically, they've bought out the old expensive workers, getting them out of the factories, and the contract allows them to hire new folks at half the starting pay. Now, OK, it's just business, what's the problem? Well, can you imagine being one of those new workers standing next to a guy who got hired in a year ago, and he's making twice what you are simply because he was hired a year earlier? I'm guessing that eventually that worker who might have been so happy to have a job at half the pay is going to be a little less happy.
But of course the real problem here is that these auto jobs are never ever coming back and neither is the auto industry... at least not how it used to be.
I think it would have been nice to have figured out a way, during this election season, to have tried to bring attention to the troubles of our state. I wish we could have figured out something, like say, holding our primary early so the candidates have to address our issues. :)
Alan--I'm not sure they would have addressed this issue regardless of when the MI primary was held. I haven't heard anything about the steel industry in the PA primary.
In my long strange employment odyssey, before I finally landed in high-tech land, I was a member of the Machinist, UAW and Teamsters unions at various plants; I even participated in the organizing campaign for one (being one of the folks who "invited" the union to come and organize us). While the management at each place had a lot of rotten eggs, I can't say the union honchos were any better once I got a good look at them.
They preyed on the employees' lack of education (some guys at the one place were illiterate and signed their paychecks with an 'X') and when all was said and done, they were just another hand in our pockets, taking the dues and not doing much to earn them.
In one campaign, they told the employees that the company was making a ton of money that the management was "hiding" from the employees. This was a publicly-held company, but I didn't feel brave enough to stand up and utter the words "annual report, as required by the SEC" in that meeting.
In my hometown, there was a refrigerator factory that had had 15,000 employees at one time. Twenty years of regular, months-long strikes over 20 years had resulted in a workforce of 2,500. However, these jobs went elsewhere in the states, to non-union plants(small cheer). The 2,500 made a good wage, but the other 13,500 were working elsewhere for MUCH less money.
At the end of the day, companies are just a group of people. If they could just treat each other with respect and dignity--which is part of my current employer's strictly-enforced Standards of Business Conduct (large cheer)--we wouldn't need unions.
Getting off the soapbox, thanks for letting me rant.
--Alex
I'm in a union and about the only thing they're good for is scaring the company. The client I work for is phasing out out our union jobs in favour of non-union; when we told the union they did nothing, despite the fact that our client is both high-profile and government.
Despite being in a union a minor benefit like medical premiums, which even jobs typically paying minimum wage cover, aren't covered by our union.
In the end, unions become just like the big companies they're supposed to police: greedy, callous, and apathetic to anything but their own profits.
We have 2 unions at my place of employment. The faculty union is fantastic. My union takes $40 a month and doesnt' do shit to earn it.
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