[hillarynot]

Excellent comments as always Bray. If only GM had followed the lead of Caterpillar – a company that was hostage to the UAW 20 years ago.

There are some interesting comments this morning on the left leaning Peoria Journal Star editorial page relative to Caterpillar settling with the striking machinists union in Joliet Ill this week, and their breaking the UAW stranglehold 20 years ago.

Some background ----Twenty years ago, Caterpillar essentially neutered the UAW by rejecting pattern bargaining and going it alone. (Pattern bargaining is a union plan where the UAW negotiates with one manufacturer and all the UAW employers fall in line with similar wages and benefits, or they get shut down by the UAW through strike.) In the mid nineties, CAT said screw you UAW – hired replacement workers and after 3 years of pure hell here in Peoria, the Union caved.

So today the Journal Star says and I quote “For Caterpillar, this begins to bring above market wages back to a middle ground that will allow the Illinois plant to remain globally competitive. Because Cat has been so aggressive in achieving its contract goals, unlike many a U.S. manufacturer, this company is adding jobs domestically rather than subtracting them. In addition to its work force Cat must also contend with customers and shareholders. For Cat this is a balanced contract that protects, more or less, each of those constituencies”

So the bottom line – Company prevails, is extremely successful, is hiring people here in the U.S. today, and isn’t a hostage to the Union.

[bray]

Does the American worker really still believe they need a union to look after them? When you have the internet and job mobility the last thing you need is to pay a union so the evil rich person won’t exploit you. How 19th century.