Posted on 12/19/2005 5:53:37 AM PST by nckerr
MARYSVILLE-- For more than a month, workers at a small auto supply plant outside Port Huron have fought bitterly to keep the United Auto Workers from organizing their shop.
The blue-collar denizens at Schefenacker Vision Systems USA occasionally picket outside the factory -- carrying homemade signs with slogans like "UAW Kills Jobs" and "Proud to be union free."
Union resistance efforts are nothing out of the ordinary in Georgetown, Ky., Canton, Miss., or any other Southern town where foreign-owned auto plants are popping up.
But such passionate opposition from Michigan factory workers, many of whom grew up in hard-core UAW families, is something else again.
It speaks to a growing skepticism and sometimes outright distain of a union that historically inspired unflinching loyalty from members and fear from management.
On Web sites and in grassroots meetings, UAW dissidents and critics are loudly questioning whether the union is willing and able to fight back at a time of falling wages, layoffs and globalization.
"The partnership and teamwork espoused by unions and management has been detrimental to union members," said Gregg Shotwell, a UAW worker who writes an Internet column called Live Bait & Ammo and is a member of Soldiers of Solidarity, a UAW splinter group.
Shotwell, who works at Delphi's Coopersville plant, personifies the dissident movement. He's informed, media-savvy and pragmatic.
He believes in labor solidarity, but like many of the workers at Schefenacker, he questions the resolve of the UAW. "I'm definitely pro-union," Shotwell said, "but I can understand the concerns of those workers who don't want the UAW in their shop."
Membership falls
The UAW has fought a mostly losing battle in recent years to hold onto members and organize new factories. The union has fewer than 650,000 members today, down from 1.5 million in 1980.
Some of this decline was inevitable as productivity allowed auto companies to build more cars with fewer people. And UAW President Ron Gettelfinger has earned praise from many quarters for standing up for workers while recognizing the union must change with the times.
But many workers wonder whether compromise only begets more compromise. In 2003, the UAW agreed to allow Delphi Corp. to hire new workers at a lower pay scale. It was a bitter pill seen as necessary to save jobs.
Two years later, Delphi wants to cut worker pay by 60 percent, radically pare benefits and cut 24,000 of 34,000 union jobs in the United States. For Delphi workers who expected to receive top-class pay and benefits for life after the company was spun off from General Motors Corp. in 1999, the demands are unthinkable.
Since Delphi filed for bankruptcy in October, Web sites run by dissident UAW members such as Soldiers of Solidarity, Future of the Union and Disgruntled Autoworker have been deluged with traffic from angry rank-and-file union members, say the Web site operators, who are mostly union workers.
Not only do they blame Delphi Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert S. "Steve" Miller, but also they blame union leaders for not doing more to prevent the dire situation.
"Without question, there is rising dissension. I expect it will become more vocal," said Robert Chiaravalli, a principal at consulting firm Strategic Labor and Human Resources in West Bloomfield, who follows labor relations in the auto industry.
UAW tolerates dissidents
So far, UAW leaders have not tried to quiet the dissidents. Gettelfinger has told reporters that UAW members are free to meet and discuss events without sanctions. The UAW International declined to comment further.
Workers have staged rallies outside Delphi plants in Flint, Grand Rapids and Kokomo, Ind., where critics slam both UAW leaders and the auto supplier. Some intend to picket outside the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Jan. 8, the first day of the auto show's media preview.
Many of the Web sites are calling for a work slowdown at Delphi plants, a move that's neither been endorsed nor discouraged by UAW leaders, and some haven't ruled out wildcat strikes, which could disrupt Michigan's already-ailing economy.
Watching all this unfold, many workers at Schefenacker wanted nothing to do with the union.
"The UAW will sell you out if it suits their needs," said Laura Dickinson, a Schefenacker assembler who has been a UAW member twice in previous jobs.
In both cases, the plants closed and the work went overseas, she said.
Her father and brother have been UAW members and are urging her to keep the union out of her workplace. "We got it good here, the management listens and we have a fair wage," Dickinson said.
"Why do we need the UAW?" she asked. "When push comes to shove, (the UAW) sided with management and workers lost their jobs and the work went overseas."
Most of Schefenacker's 750 Marysville workers assemble rear-view mirrors and earn between $8 and $14 an hour. The plant is a unit of Esslingen, Germany-based Schefenacker AG, which has facilities in Tennessee, Europe, Mexico and India.
Hi-lo driver Joe Farnsworth says his father, a current UAW member, often blasts the union's leaders.
"They got fat and lazy and let workers become that way too," Farnsworth said. "And then, people wonder why these jobs go to China. Maybe they were necessary like in the '40s, but now it just doesn't seem like a good idea."
Anger is rising
Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at the University of California, Berkeley, says frustration is growing among autoworkers in general.
"Some of that anger is aimed at unions, some at companies and some of it is going in a lot of directions," he said.
He added that most workers in the auto supply sector still want to be UAW members.
"I don't see structural changes as a result of this," Shaiken said.
Much of the Internet chatter by dissident UAW rank-and-file workers focuses on wage and benefit cuts.
Last week, UAW leaders outlined a tentative agreement with Ford Motor Co. that would shift more health care costs to thousands of workers and retirees and save the automaker an estimated $850 million a year.
A similar agreement between the UAW and General Motors Corp. was approved by 61 percent of union members in October.
Some have suggested the relatively narrow margin reveals a groundswell of discontent.
Laid-off GM employee Doug Hanscom said e-mails and comments posted on his Web site -- disgruntledautoworker.com -- have more than doubled in recent weeks, though he doesn't precisely track the number of visitors.
As for Schefenacker, the workers seeking to keep the UAW out of their shop are claiming victory. Last week, the union canceled a vote at the factory to determine whether it could represent workers.
"We are very happy," said Bill Bernardo, a Schefenacker worker who opposed the UAW. "Let's hope we can keep working now."
Gee, no mention that maybe some Blue Collar types are sick and tired of their union dues going to support the Rats.
Put a part made in China..and part made in Detroit side by side.....there will be no difference..just one of them costs 1/3 of the other.....which one would the CUSTOMER want...and I stress the word CUSTOMER
Thought I'd finish your thought out for you. Sheeesh. Free men in competition is characterized by different directions. Sorry pal.
I grew up in WV with the UMW. They have done the very same thing to WV. And liberals like Byrd and Rockefeller are working hard to make it worse!!!
My husband is an electrician and once when he was hired into a company (in michigan) that was union, he single handedly got them to get rid of the union.
All it did was reward the lazy and take money from everyones pay checks.
My husband was actually getting paid More than union scale because he was worth it. The ones who weren't worth it were getting paid money they weren't earning and we couldn't see what the union was doing for us for the money they collected from his check!
After the union went away life was great!
There is also the 'turf wars' among unions that have different unions fighting each other for the exclusive right to certain tasks, such as unloading a truck, instead of letting whoever the employeer has on hand to get the job done. Then the 'special' task worker gets a minimum days pay for a 2 hour job.
Finally, the unions destroy their own company by the antagonistic attitude they create against it. They create an 'us versus them' mentality with strikes, illegal sickouts, and other hissy fits like the United Pilots union in the summer of 2000, when they pulled this little stunt: 1. Call a mechanic and say something is wrong with the plane. 2. When so much time has passed that if they complete the flight, the last few minutes of flying time will be overtime, walk off the plane by saying you refuse to work overtime. 3. Plane load of suckers get to spend the night at Camp O'Hare.
Non-union employees also have an 'us vs. them' mentality; their 'us' is the employees and the company they work for, while their 'them' is competition. This results in better treatment of customers because they want their company to win, unlike unions, which always seem to be trying to do everything they can to 'get' their own company.
The sad thing is that all of the above problems with unions result in very little or no benefit for the actual workers, even though they cost the companies a great deal.
"Finally, the unions destroy their own company by the antagonistic attitude they create against it."
My cousin was union, with Schlitz Brewery, and was always going on about "breaking the company." I asked him what he would do for a job if they actually succeeded, and he gave me a blank stare, then got angry and then didn't speak to me for months.
Guess they finally succeeded. When was the last time you heard "Schlitz?" It was a major beer label at one time.
Only unions representing public employees have clout now.
I have news for you. The unions are not doing anything here in the public sector except taking our money.
"your jobs are still heading to china, india and eventually kenya."
Without the Union constantly trying to squeeze every last penny out of the company to justify their existence the conpany has a much better chance to remain competitive with domestic labor.
It's not cheap shipping parts overseas. It also makes for a less reliable supply chain.
However, the companies do need to remain competitive, and the unions prevent that.
The tell the workers that the conpanies are exploiting them, and the push for more and more to justify the existence of the union. When the push for and get to much, it's not sustainable. then there has to be cuts or the company goes under.
The workers have been told over and over again that the employer is exploiting them and lying to them. They paid the Union to protect them from the exploitation of the company.
When cuts become necessary it's hard to get them passed by the workers because they done understand that the union has forced the employer to give more than they can afford to give and stay in business. They don't trust their employer, they don't understand the economic of the business, and the union doesn't want to help them understand, because it will show that the union screwed up.
Unions thrive on hate, distrust, and a lack of knowledge in the workforce. They also thrive off of greed.
They provide short term gains for their members at a cost of long term stability.
Will jobs still be lost to competitors? Of course some will be lost, that's the nature of competition. However, if we cease to be competitive many, many more jobs will be lost.
Today, hiring a union person to do a job is synonymous for expensive, inflexible, sloppy work and belligerence.
And hiring an illegal is synonymous with cheap, flexible, efficient work with a smile.
You mean with a wink and a nod. Businesses should be held accountable, criminally, for hiring illegals.
You are a fool! How's that? :o/
Oh, I don't know... take "property management," for example. Here in Hartford, there is a grand old building with a gilded dome on a hill overlooking a beautiful park. It's called the State Capitol.
They own it lock, stock and barrel.
Correct!
I can easily see the unions rise up again. Soon after wages have been reduced to table-scraps by outsourceing and "guest workers".
Not meaning to revive an old post, but it's funny that this story was posted right before the union in New York took a humiliating defeat. That there is funny...I don't care who you are. Getter-done!
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