Sociology Prof's Solution To Detroit Meltdown: Unionize Toyota!

NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Only a professor, preferably a sociology professor, one with way too much time on his hands, could have come up with this one. His solution to the Detroit crisis that has the Big Three automakers on the brink of bye-bye? Unionize their foreign competitors manufacturing in the USA!

Now why didn't we think of that? Because we're not Jonathan Cutler, associate professor of sociology at Wesleyan University. His solution in a nutshell, contained in his Los Angeles Times column of today [emphasis added]:

"[N]ot to tear down the historic and heroic gains won by prior generations of UAW workers. If there is hope long term -- for the unionized Big Three companies and for the UAW -- it rests in dealing with the unfinished business of the 1980s: unionizing the unorganized transplants."

Let's count the ways that won't work:

[WayneLusvardi]

this shows you how much a sociology professor knows about labor economics - not much. It isn’t union versus non-union per se that makes the difference between the Big 3 U.S. auto makers and foreign auto makers producing cars inside the U.S. It is the age of the workforce and how many retirees depend on the food chain of the sales of cars for their medical and retirement benefits. Toyota, Nissan, Honda, and Saturn have relatively young work forces with few retirees. So much for professors.

[softwarecreator]

His solution to the Detroit crisis that has the Big Three automakers on the brink of bye-bye? Unionize their foreign competitors manufacturing in the USA!

Why stop there? We should force them to:

• unionize
• make bad management decisions
• be slow on changing public tastes
• produce big cars when gas prices rise

There, now we are all equal. Isn't socialism wonderful? We're all winners just for competing!

[eyedigress]

I work for a French Company but French standards don’t apply here, nor do I want them to. I prefer to be a part of the most productive unit of our global companies.

[Solidstatechemist]

I had a student who switched from chemistry (too hard) to sociology. The last time I saw her after she graduated she was working as a waitress in a local restaurant because she couldn’t get anything else with her degree. I tried to encourage her to try chemistry again, b/c I think she could have done the work, but she hasn’t come back to the fold yet.

[Enchante]

"It only went out of business because it had to compete with non-communist businesses. Otherwise, it would have been fine."

Sure, and that's why they all of humanity must be "socialized" into the party's politically correct ways of thinking and behaving -- it's just too inconvenient to have all these capitalists and freedom-lovers running around, making the party look bad.