Yes, but the Japanese and Germans have been opening up plants in the US that aren't in non right to work states. Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, etc. Michigan is not a right to work state. GM can't get out from under the unions' thumbs. The unions have used their political muscle in Michigan to make it a closed shop state, which makes employers leave. Those that stay cannot be competitive in the long run.
Combine that with long term pensions and you've got yourself a disaster.
"The unions have used their political muscle in Michigan to make it a closed shop state, which makes employers leave. Those that stay cannot be competitive in the long run.
Combine that with long term pensions and you've got yourself a disaster"
And GM opened a plant in Tennesee, (Saturn). If those guys at the top were doing anything other than figuring out how much they can get from the company, and planning bankruptcy, they could have worked a solution.
Unions are weakened, and although they tend to be stupid, they are human. Is it possible if management made it crystal clear that Saturn was the first of many, they'd strengthen their barganing position? GM management has the ear of politicians. They could lobby for fundamental changes, and if not given concessions, move to an American state that's more business friendly. Clearly there must be an advantage to manufacturing in the US or the Germans and Japanese wouldn't even try.
Of course, those are the things that a real management would do. I would say GM doesn't have a real management.
RHINO Governor John Engler never did a thing to change Michigan's closed shop law. He never even had a bill introduced in the Republican controlled state legislature.