UAW is becoming part of the solution

[Omaha Steve]

Source: freep.com

UAW is becoming part of the solution
Union, carmakers are industry allies

March 25, 2007

BY TOM WALSH

FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

Some people say the UAW is to blame for Detroit's problems, that the greedy labor union bullied General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler into paying outsized wages, pensions and health care benefits to hourly workers and retirees.

Others say the shrunken union is irrelevant in a 21st-Century global economy.

Neither is correct.

Indeed, as UAW representatives converge on Detroit this week for the first ritual gathering of nationwide contract bargaining, the union and its president, Ron Gettelfinger, face a unique make-or-break opportunity in the coming months:

• They can save what's left of the traditional Big Three (and save their own union in the process).

• Or they can relegate Detroit to the scrap heap of postindustrial ghost towns.

Read more: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070325/COL06/703250601/1014/BUSINESS

[Jack Rabbit]

1. The "greedy unions" should have been a bigger problem to GM than they were

It wasn't the workers on the assembly lines who made the decisions to keep building fuel inefficient cars while peak oil loomed. Only a Harvard MBA or a Yale lawyer could be that stupid. They really aren't dishonest enough to sell the American that crap, either. Only a Madison Avenue ad executive could combine diabolical cleverness and the the gumption of a traveling medicine show druggist to pull off a stunt like that.

The ruling class in America has become totally worthless. They don't have to compete or build a better mousetrap to make a buck. They just have to be big.

Corporate elepantitis is a serious that needs to be eradicated. There is no such thing as a large, well-run organization, public or private.

[BayCityProgressive]

2. We need new International Unions

to deal with a globalized economy. The Wobblies are back picking up steam...they have organized about 10-20 places in the US. One Big Union.

[Acadia Blue]

3. Ditto. I am sick of the Execs and CEOs blaming labor for managerial

decisions that caused havoc.

[Sherman A1]

4. Agreed

When in doubt blame the greedy unions for everything. Oh... it' the legacy costs, oh.... it's healthcare costs....etc

They never seem to mention the costs of CEO and Executive salaries, bonuses, perks, bad decisions, etc as part of the issue... just that big bad old labor... :nuke:

[Kolesar]

5. I was hoping that this was about "climate solutions"

Little ones growing up in auto factory towns are going to have deal with this problem in half a century.

[LiberalFighter]

6. UAW has been working to be part of the solution for many years!!!

It is management that has failed to be part of the solution. When good solutions have been put into place it has been management that has screwed them up. When mangement implements bad solutions they do a good job of implementing them.