GM to Slash 30,000 Jobs, Close 9 Plants

[sleeper]

Well i read that article like 2 months ago when it was on the front page of the paper, but yeah, i know those guys don't like it much. But the industry is changing, and the companies need to downsize. No way in hell are ford and GM going to have the market share they once had, so there's no getting around the downsizing. the question is, should the UAW be allowed to send the auto companies into bankruptcy by continuing to draw pay after being laid off?

I think six months of severance pay, maybe a year, is fair. Indefinitely being paid to do nothing is not fair.

Seems to me line workers for Toyota (as well as other japanese and german manufacturers with plants in right-to-work states) are plenty happy and well compensated without the UAW's help. I mean, why else would they consistently reject union efforts to organize those plants?

 

[dirty old man]

Oh, so now we get down to the truth of the matter! It's the unions that are bothering you! So Dave, are you anti-union?
Well, my friend, if that's the case, tyhen maybe it'sbecause you never held one of those jobs where the foreman stood there and hollered at you " hey, you better get ALL THAT WORK, there's a hundred men out there in that line at the personnel office that say they can, so get it or get gone."
Yes my friend, you are degreed, and I congratulate you on that foresight, but don't look down on those who, for one reason or the other, didn't have that foresight or perhaps the opportunity to go to college. And don't presume to criticize those whose shoes you have never worn.

 

[sleeper]

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Oh, so now we get down to the truth of the matter! It's the unions that are bothering you!
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Unions have their place. But today they are too powerful, too political, too top-heavy, and way too corrupt. They are now screwing everyone involved.

The company gets screwed by things like the jobs bank. The white collar workers get screwed because it becomes much, much cheaper to lay off an engineer than it does a UAW line worker (recall fords last major layoffs, 26,000 white collar workers, mostly engineers). The customer gets screwed because the union is too protective of gross misconduct and laziness. And in the end, the blue collar worker gets screwed when the company finally gets fed up with the BS.

A friend of mine is a union electrician, IBEW i believe. The union does good for him, it makes his job much more stable, assures him good benefits, esp. unemployment benefits in a trade with a lot of temporary work. But he's politically brainwashed, and he's told me some horror stories about some jobs.

The UAW, specifically, has gone too far. But unions do have their place.