“Yeah, those 20,000 employees on the jobs bank program couldn’t be part of the problem...”
And who exactly was it that agreed to that?
I’m not saying the unions are without guilt in this, but the blame here at FR is disproportional. When execs get huge salaries and benefits, the consensus here is along the lines of: “It’s a free market, they worked hard, if they can get it, they deserve it.” Somehow, that consensus doesn’t apply to workers.
They say the cost of benefits per car is $2k. Let’s assume the cost of benefits for the Japanese cars that are selling quite well are $500/car, (it has to cost something). If GM made a car as good as an Accord, or a Camry, I’d pay the extra $1500. But they don’t. They make crap, and they don’t stand behind their product. That is not the doing of the union.
Re: When execs get huge salaries and benefits, the consensus here is along the lines of: “It’s a free market, they worked hard, if they can get it, they deserve it.” Somehow, that consensus doesn’t apply to workers.
You noticed that too;-)
Management agreed to it. However, that doesn't mean they weren't coerced by the union. Both sides are to blame. I like the fact that Troll_House_Cookies posted this earlier in the thread "Anybody see the execs get punked out yesterday about “flying to the hearing in private jets with a tin cup in hand” it was priceless."
There is plenty of blame to go around. However, those union folks should be like the rest of the world and be happy they had jobs. They have no problem walking off the job to strike for crap that the real world would shrug off. Management was too yellow to tell them to get back to work or they'd be replaced.
I’m not saying the unions are without guilt in this, but the blame here at FR is disproportional. When execs get huge salaries and benefits, the consensus here is along the lines of: “It’s a free market, they worked hard, if they can get it, they deserve it.” Somehow, that consensus doesn’t apply to workers.
Personally, I don't think executives are worth 1/10th what they get paid. That money would be better invested in R&D and PP&E. I also think, rather than golden parachutes or handcuffs, they should be given the boot, and shunned by the business world, when decisions they make turn to crap. They have this knack of taking credit for "good decisions" when the economy is good, but then blame the "bad economy" when sales drop.
GM management should have been cleaning house a long time ago. The Union should have been knocked down a peg or two at the same time. But, given that they actually designed, marketed, and produced the Pontiac Aztek, we all know where their heads were.