[Oldexpat]

A couple years before this..Caterpillar headed by CEO Don Fites faught off a long UAW strike and imposed an agreement on them when they returned to work. CAt was in a much better position to to it since they had strategically reduced the number of plants in IL with the UAW and had enough office staff, field staff and engineers to run the plants without the UAW. Everybody worked 12 hour days for a long time..and the mgmt employees were paid time and a half for overtime. They found out they could make the same product with fewer people and never took back the same number of UAW who walked out. I guess the car companies just couldn’t do the same thing. It took years of positioning to get there.

[rlmorel]

This isn't rocket science. And lest the union drones out there cry this is erroneous data, it is from their own beloved liberal government that is providing the teat they will be sucking your and my tax dollars from so they can continue to pay union dues that ultimately end up in the pockets of the liberal socialists now running the show.

[Saundra Duffy]

Romney on this mess:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2262657/posts

[FlingWingFlyer]

The unions are always whining that their main mission is workplace safety. I watched a piece on FOX news yesterday that was filmed on an assembly line. The union idiots were building cars dressed in T-shirts and shorts. None in the camera view had safety glasses or hard hats. I thought that it just looked a little weird for these guys who were assembling cars to be dressed like they were going to the beach.

[quesney]

Problem’s bigger than GM. The US is no longer a country where anything gets solved, just debated and band-aided endlessly until a crisis hits or the problem is beyond repair. Compare the U.S. that rebuilt the Pacific Fleet after Pearl Harbor in a matter of months, sent men to the moon, etc. etc...

GM may be a great metaphor for the country the U.S. appears to have become.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Related thread:

GM: Its rise, fall and future (Founder was strongly anti-union)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2261996/posts

[Last Dakotan]

Back in the 80's I worked in a shipyard in Wisconsin. A cargo ship came into the yard for repairs and amongst other things we have to service a minor pump on board which had spun a bearing.

I went aboard with three workers. All from different unions in the yard. I had a pipefitter to pull the plumbing away from the pump, a electrician to disconnect the wiring from the pump and a laborer to pick the pump up.

My job was to point out which pump to service as none of the aforementioned tradesmen were allowed to read blueprints.

The yard went from 5,400 workers to 500 in 5 years.

[GeronL]

apparently the UAW has told its members their base pay will not decrease and they will keep their health and pension benefits. Those that keep their jobs anyway. meanwhile this is unsustainable without huge amounts of govt stolen money

[Boiler Plate]

This is the beginning of the “Britaining” of the American auto companies. Starting in the Late 50’s through the 70’s all of the British car companies were merged mangled and finally owned by the UK government. Now there isn't a single British marque other than the very small boutique builders that are not owned by foreigners. It is only a matter of time before we see the next generation Cherry Corvette.

[Spktyr]

BMFL