Being Ford's property, they are entitled to put in place whatever rah-rah go team rules they want, no matter how ineffective to the bottom line and onerous to the empolyees they may be. And we are free to point out that they are ineffective and onerous.
You also seem to believe that one can quit a job, almost on a whim, and immediately find new employment that allows one a similar lifestyle. This may be true for you, but it is not for many (if not most) other Americans. Often, one must keep a less-than-perfect job and try to improve it, rather than jump ship and expect immediate rescue.
My references to 'sell' and 'lot' were to another poster who talked about his experience in a dealership.
But let's say that you go visit the Maytag repairman and discover that he has a Sears washer and dryer. Would you be more or less likely to buy a Maytag?
If your neighbor who builds Fords drives a new Chevy, will that increase or decrease your inclination to buy a new Ford?
And yes, realistically, if they have any brains they be sure to build the cars better because their friends and family will be driving them. And if they had any decency they just build them right because people's lives and livelihoods depend on them. And finally, if they had any common sense, they'd know that their freaking jobs depended on making the best car possible despite union promises to the contrary.
However, in the union mentality workforce, there are no brains, no decency, and certainly no common sense.
The laws of economics are as immutable as the laws of physics. You can only push them so far before they break. Ford and GM are both at the breaking point. This move is the tap on the shoulder that says, "Look out!"
I missed replying to this in my original response to you.
Yeah, you're right. I am the exceptional American. No one but me can find another job. /end sarcasm
I prepared myself in a number of ways to not worry about losing a job and none of them involved having enough money. The more I made, the more I spent. What I did do was try to make myself indispensable to the degree possible so that I wouldn't get fired. But by being very good at what I did I could almost always get a new job within days. That didn't happen one time but during that time, using initiative and hard work still netted more in a month than many do working full time.
I have been fired from various jobs 15 times. I've quit another 30 jobs when I wasn't happy with the job or needed to make more money. I learned that job security is within the individual, not in a union contract or a job promise.
I then started a business from scratch at a time when I needed 4 grand a month just to pay the bills and the money that I had on hand and due was enough to last 10 days. I gambled. It wasn't always easy, but I've been in business for 10 years now. I still don't earn a dime until someone calls on me, but I haven't had to look for customers since the first year. My business is all repeat and referral.
I'm not the only one to do this. I am not wealthy, but I am happy and healthy. I know that all of my customers won't fire me the same day and if I need to, I can find more customers.
BTW, I have a high school education and I was in the bottom half of the class. It's not just what you do that makes you valuable to an employer but how well you do it and the attitude with which you do it.
My advice to young people starting out is to get fired early in their career and do it often enough to gain the confidence in yourself that you won't fall to pieces if it happens to you later in life.
This isn't to brag and you could make a strong argument that I made a lot of mistakes along the way. Maybe I was lucky, but I tend to believe that I was blessed and prepared and don't regret a thing. It's been a wonderful ride and it allows me the time to be involved in the political process and advance causes that are important to me and also, since I work from home, was able to take my elderly mother in to live with me. She's healthy except for the Alzheimer's and not ready to be in a home. This way I can be sure that she is safe and that is invaluable to me.