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"Confrontational, obstructionist bargaining as a success strategy is dead."

2K views 27 replies 13 participants last post by  Clownzilla 
#1 ·
Detroit Free Press
September 30, 2019

While the United Auto Workers strike against General Motors Co. plants stretches on, it's been business as usual here at Honda Motor Co.’s Marysville assembly.

Celebrating its 40th year of production this month, the non-union plant has never had a work stoppage as it has pumped out two of the most popular vehicles in America: the Honda Accord sedan and CR-V SUV.

Honda Marysville is not alone.

Dozens of so-called foreign "transplants” — from Asian mainstream manufacturers to European luxury makers — have followed Honda’s model across the United States in recent decades. The influx has transformed America’s auto landscape with a cheaper, more flexible, non-union workforce model upping competitive pressure on unionized Detroit.

Today, the Detroit Three automakers are an island of UAW production surrounded by foreign transplants that now make up 48% of U.S. vehicle production, according to the Ann Arbor-based Center for Automotive Research. That's up from just 17% in 2000. Non-union employment rose from 15% of the industry at the century's turn to 39% in 2013, according to the most recent Automotive News analysis.

“Unions are not dead,” said East Lansing-based economist Patrick Anderson, who noted the strike is costing GM $25 million per day in lost profits. “But confrontational, obstructionist bargaining as a success strategy is dead. Unions are here to stay only if they are interested in the welfare of their employers as well as their workers.”

The UAW says that non-union plants are at a disadvantage because union wages are better, the shops are safer, workers' rights are better represented and disciplinary actions are covered by a grievance procedure. But UAW efforts to organize foreign-owned auto plants in the United States have failed repeatedly, despite promises of contract protections and generally higher pay.

In response to inquiries from The Detroit News, the union said: "As a matter of policy, the UAW does not comment on organizing plans and strategies." Still, compensation in UAW-represented auto plants trends higher nationwide than non-union shops.








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#2 ·
Re: "Confrontational, obstructionist bargaining as a success strategy is dead."

“But confrontational, obstructionist bargaining as a success strategy is dead. Unions are here to stay only if they are interested in the welfare of their employers as well as their workers.”
The current "spat" between the UAW and General Motors certainly proves this point to be true.

Both sides are going to have to realize that the calendar reads "2019" and not "1965". The propensity of start-ups to render salable copies of easier to produce electric vehicles (Tesla, Rivian, etc), is going to rock the automotive world in the next 10 years. The legacy manufacturers and the unions along for the ride had better adapt, sooner rather than later.




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#4 ·
Re: "Confrontational, obstructionist bargaining as a success strategy is dead."

The current "spat" between the UAW and General Motors certainly proves this point to be true.

Both sides are going to have to realize that the calendar reads "2019" and not "1965". The propensity of start-ups to render salable copies of easier to produce electric vehicles (Tesla, Rivian, etc), is going to rock the automotive world in the next 10 years. The legacy manufacturers and the unions along for the ride had better adapt, sooner rather than later.




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The number of high-ranking UAW officials convicted of stealing money from their members shows how out-of-step and corrupt the UAW is. Their confrontational and thug tactics need to go.
 
#3 ·
Re: "Confrontational, obstructionist bargaining as a success strategy is dead."

Unions are useless in this day and age. They only exist to protect lazy, disruptive employees who would be fired at any other job. If unions were concerned about their jobs, they would be pushing for more accountability by their workforce with compensation based on performance. At both the individual and corporate level. What works for non-union should go for union employees.
 
#5 ·
Re: "Confrontational, obstructionist bargaining as a success strategy is dead."

Unions are useless in this day and age. They only exist to protect lazy, disruptive employees who would be fired at any other job. If unions were concerned about their jobs, they would be pushing for more accountability by their workforce with compensation based on performance. At both the individual and corporate level. What works for non-union should go for union employees.
Really?

I guess all the statistics that have been out there for the last 35 years about the shrinking middle class and how the effective wage for most blue-collar workers have dropped.

Unions are NOT useless if they are used in the manner upon which they should be--which is to represent the workers for a particular company. Instead what we got was "I'm gonna get the best for me and not for you" and that phrase is used not just by unions, but, also by the companies who use those workers.

Yes, it isn't 1965, but, in 2019 as in 1965 unions are just as important. There are plenty of graphs plotting this very thing which I'm sure you can find should you be interested enough to search for it.

Then again, I'm sure you just have a wad of cash lieing around you can tap into to ensure this isn't happening to you. If so, then forget it, this just doesn't concern you.
 
#10 ·
Re: "Confrontational, obstructionist bargaining as a success strategy is dead."

If you have a specialized and scarce skill, you obviously don't need a union. But if you have no specialty or your specialty is not scarce (which is the case with the vast majority of the workforce in manufacturing and lower-end services), then any one person can easily be replaced. So for those folks, there is value in collective bargaining. And don't point to the transplants as counter-examples because they pay just enough to keep the UAW away. If (the threat of) the UAW didn't exist, I'm willing to bet they will pay a lot less.

That said, I suspect most dictionaries define "belligerent" as a synonym for the UAW. It's hard for any outsider to sympathize with that union, especially with the recent news. But let's not confuse the UAW for all unions. I suspect (or like to think) there are still some unions out there that know what they exist for.
 
#11 ·
Re: "Confrontational, obstructionist bargaining as a success strategy is dead."

That said, I suspect most dictionaries define "belligerent" as a synonym for the UAW. It's hard for any outsider to sympathize with that union, especially with the recent news. But let's not confuse the UAW for all unions. I suspect (or like to think) there are still some unions out there that know what they exist for.
Any labor union affiliated with or supportive of AFL-CIO (UAW is among them), SEIU, NEA, or Teamsters is in the "belligerent, confrontational, obstructionist" category.
 
#20 ·
Re: "Confrontational, obstructionist bargaining as a success strategy is dead."

Out of the goodness of their hearts, are the indicted/arrested UAW leaders at least putting the millions that they've stolen from the workers into the strike fund?

People who defend the UAW are delusional. GM and the management of the other automakers have made mistakes. But all of those mistakes were correctable. Problems with vehicles can be corrected. New models can get better. But the one problem that they'll never be able to overcome is higher labor costs. If your cost structure is higher than your competition, no matter what, you're always at a disadvantage.

Even in terms of what are referred to as "management mistakes," even most of those are caused by higher labor costs. You can pick all you want at "bean counters" and how they're supposedly wrecking GM. But cars cars have to be sold at a profit. If your labor costs are higher, than you have to recoup that cost elsewhere, and at GM and the other domestic makers, those savings come at the expense of quality.

No matter how you cut it, the UAW is at the root of every problem the domestic auto industry has faced. The biggest management blunder of all was just not shutting down decades ago for however long it took to sweep this criminal organization off the planet.
 
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#21 ·
Re: "Confrontational, obstructionist bargaining as a success strategy is dead."

Out of the goodness of their hearts, are the indicted/arrested UAW leaders at least putting the millions that they've stolen from the workers into the strike fund?
What a concept!

They should, while they rot in prison for corruption and stealing from their own membership. I have the feeling that these guys/gals are still going to get off way too easy, despite the planning and pre-meditation that went into a lot of this. Since they tried to hide it, bring RICO on, and treat them like the Mafia in court.
 
#22 ·
Re: "Confrontational, obstructionist bargaining as a success strategy is dead."

Apparently no one from GM or the UAW has ever stepped foot into a Honda or Toyota plant. A good friend of mine’s sister has worked at Honda Marrysville since 1991. You can eat off the floor in the plant. It’s extremely well lit. The line workers all wear white protective coats - yes to be more uniform but also to ensure no one scratches the parts. She makes a great living and has all the benefits of a union - without the union dues. Which shows that, while the UAW May point to their members making more money, they have dues that come out their check. So the take home is about the same. They never tell you that.
 
#24 · (Edited)
Re: "Confrontational, obstructionist bargaining as a success strategy is dead."

Unions were meant to give a voice for workers. Workers need to be unionized but they probably need to replace the UAW with a better union. I doubt UAW management is true to its mission.

When union membership was higher, workers had a bigger slice of corporate profits. It is no surprise that the decline in the middle class and union membership went hand in hand.

Unions are Marxists organized crime rings
Unions gave us the 40 hour week and the two-day weekend. But hey I am a cultural marxist, and a communism who believes in things like integration.

 
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