| The so-called General Motors strike has ended as quickly as it began. The goose that has laid the golden eggs for generations has decided to withhold its favors. The United Automobile Workers union, which was the most enlightened and influential force in Twentieth Century labor relations, has demonstrated that it is now an empty suit—a suit of armor perhaps, but an empty suit nonetheless. The strike was a bit of labor-relations theater to impress the rank and file. Both sides knew it, and no important part of the proposed contract was altered because of it. |  Ron Gettelfinger |
If the strike had become a long one, the union would have lost. It doesn’t necessarily follow that GM would have won, but GM would have emerged stronger, meaner, and tougher than the GM that entered the negotiations, and the UAW would have become an historical artifact. With the announcement that the strike had come to an abrupt end, the UAW probably lost some more leverage in its frequent and embarrassing failures to sign up the workers in Japanese plants all over the American south.
If you’re working for winners, you don’t ask losers to come and help.
The UAW was the right force when it came into play during the Depression during abhorrent working conditions and hard economic times. But big labor has become the big argument for outsourcing in our day.
Ducati Minor is right. The threat of unionization to keep organizations honest in their treatment of employees is their greatest value now.
The UAW’s work in the U.S. is now complete. They should outsource their expertise in developing nations.
[…] Despite widespread speculation as to the effectiveness of the recent mini-strike with General Motors, the UAW is proposing to hit the picket lines as a last resort, should an agreement with Chrysler not be forthcoming. […]
Diesel with Attitude: The Audi A3 TDI Clubsport Quattro
Report: Volkswagen Working on Driverless Self-Parking System for Production
More Spied Images of New Camaro Interior
Early Scoop on Volkswagen Tiguan's U.S. Launch, Diesel Delayed? Not Coming? 
Report: Mercedes-Benz to Leverage Aluminum for Next E-class
Send to a friend
HTML Formatting Tips
- To make something bold: <strong>Text to bold</strong>
- To make something italic: <em>Text to italicize</em>
- To make a hyperlink: <a href="URL">Text to link</a>
- To quote something previously said, you can use <blockquote>text</blockquote>
Markdown Formatting Tips (advanced)This site also allows use of Markdown formatting in the comment section. This accomplishes the same formatting as HTML but is typically easy to use.
my code* Second item
• Second item
1. Second item
2. Second item
<email@add.com>