Posted on 12/03/2015 1:17:46 PM PST by Kaslin
Another touching story from the American heartland crosses our desk this morning, dealing with the dedicated efforts of labor unions to care for their workers and ensure the prosperity of the working class. The United Auto Workers have been in a long series of negotiations with the nation’s auto manufacturers in the latest round of contract wrangling. The result was a deal which should make everyone happy, if by “everyone” you mean the people running the unions. At the heart of the debate was the issue of outsourcing, where American companies ship their facilities (and all of the associated jobs) to other countries in search of cheaper labor and less regulation. Unions, of course, oppose this practice vehemently because it deprives their members (and potential members) of their livelihood.
Unless, that is, you’re running the UAW. (Washington Post)
Does the labor movement favor or oppose outsourcing? It seems a silly question, given the AFL-CIO's vociferous opposition to the free-trade agreements and tax breaks that, the labor federation argues, abet the flight of good-paying manufacturing jobs abroad.
What makes the question non-silly is this: The United Auto Workers has just negotiated and ratified collective bargaining agreements with U.S. automakers, the foreseeable and, to some extent, intended effect of which is to facilitate shifting jobs to Mexico.
It's a case study in the difference between labor's political rhetoric, which is all about working-class solidarity, and collective bargaining, which is all about self-interest.
This is quite the sordid tale and it all seems to revolve around the last agreement they reached when the auto industry in Detroit collapsed. In order to get the factories back up and running after massive layoffs the unions agreed to a widely despised “two tier” pay system, wherein older, established union members who somehow managed to avoid the ax were able to keep their very good paying jobs and benefits, while new workers came in at far more “normal” pay rates and perks. This, of course, has led to a lot of grousing among the ranks, particularly when new workers were put alongside colleagues who were doing essentially the same jobs but making as much as three times the pay.
How will it be solved now? Under the new deal, the top auto makers will continue to produce trucks and SUVs here in the United States, but will shift production of smaller, more fuel efficient cars to Mexico. They’re not really making any money on the econoboxes anyway, so it’s an obvious plus for the manufacturers. So what do the unions get out of it?
To cut a long and complicated story short, the companies essentially agreed to solve that problem for the union, in return for which the union, which has a say on investment plans, helped the carmakers solve their problem: gaining access to cheaper labor somewhere in the world.
Ford and Fiat Chrysler have the most aggressive plans to shift smaller-car production to Mexico, where labor costs less than $10 per hour; the new contracts let the companies pursue those plans. Vehicles will enter the United States tariff-free under the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The first Ford factory affected may be the Michigan plant that once underwent a $550 million retooling for small-car production, as part of a $5.9 billion Energy Department loan. Announcing the loan in 2009, then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu declared "the most fuel-efficient cars in the world must be made right here in America." Alas, low gas prices undercut demand for such cars and Ford couldn't make money building them, at least not at UAW wages.
You don’t need any help reading between the lines there. If the automakers could have moved their facilities to right to work states where labor costs are lower, pretty much all of the jobs could have stayed in the U.S. But that won’t do for the UAW, so they’ll get rid of the lower tier workers who were doing the complaining by shipping their jobs to Mexico. The old, loyal union hands can then stay on in Detroit and keep on collecting the big dollars. It’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it?
The UAW is being blatantly callous and self-centered here. The only workers to benefit from this deal are the ones funding the unions. Everyone else can pretty much go pound sand. And after all the taxpayer money that went into “saving” the industry, this is apparently the thanks that we get. Well done, boys.
American automakers need innovation, not just in design and development, but in how to run a company.
Oh, wait, this article if from 1957, but fortunately the UAW is still strong.
This is pretty much how all private-sector unions have operated over the years. They’ll cut deals to prop up their existing membership and their current leaders, even if it means screwing the next generation of workers in the process.
Union management will always have jobs. If they have to gut an industry (think steel and manufacturing) that isn’t a problem, because they will jump in a plane and go somewhere else, while the rank and file wonder what happened to their jobs.
Unions are evil. Period.
So, what is new about the UAW?
The unions have been self-destructing for decades. Unless the members have to sense and balls to chuck out their leadership and find people who can make union labor competitive again they will continue to collapse.
Personally, I’d go back to import duties, eliminate any law that forced people to join unions, then cut off welfare and reward modernization.
Report a couple of weeks back said that Buick was likely to import a crossover SUV from China.
How yinz UAW guys liking Obama NOW??
Labor unions are a business not a benevolent charity.
Union leadership uses government approved RICO tactics to limit the labor supply to a company or industry.
Union leaders are parasites.
Their product is the power to grant or withhold the permission for people to be allowed to work.
They get that power from governments - local, state and federal.
The same politicians they support with huge financial contributions of money they extorted from businesses and their members.
Then they use that power to rake off a nice big chunk of the workers wages for themselves.
They live fat, happy lives on the backs of the membership while they suck the life blood of business and industry.
They don’t care what is good for the country or the industry - their interest is getting money and power for themselves under the pretense of protecting the worker from the big, greedy capitalists.
GM killed Pontiac and Saturn instead of Buick because Buick is a big seller in China.
The current Buick Encore is from Korea. The new Envision will be from China. The trend is clear.
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