GM strikers play a dangerous game

So Mr Unions,

I have one question, What happens if GM goes out of buisness... Are all of you still going to strike.. thanks for leaving your kids jobs to go to. The middle class welfare system... When Gm goes out of buisness, It wont be big buisness fault, like you want to blame... You know the same people that sign your check.. Thanks middle class america.

From... future of this country

Ps... your no better then the monopolies you were founded on

"(shareholders are NOT more important than employees)."

That couldn't be further from the truth. Shareholders are what makes a good company a great company. If you do not believe me, ask any Google employee would they like to see the stock drop. They know that a drop in the stock means no more gourmet meals, no more dry cleaning and laundry services, no more daycare services, and many other perks would be minimized or eliminated. As long as people pump money into a company, that company will do well. When the money leaves, the company starts to swing the axe and cut jobs and close facilities. Employees, whether they be rank-and file or executives, are only as worthy as the stockholders believe they are.

I'm also ambivalent about unions in general, but less so about unions for public government workers. If a private company wants to spend gobs of cash on salaries and medical insurance for retired workers they should go ahead. If they can make a profit and still pay people not to work, that's great.

But the government should not be paying for the retirement of its former employees. Part of the reason why New Jersey is in a fiscal hole is because of the generous retirement packages doled out to state employees. Using tax money to pay people not to work isn't working for New Jersey.

I have little doubt that unions have made the working conditions, including pay, better for the average worker. Having said that, the issue with the auto industry is that problems exist within the union and with management. Have you priced a new auto recently? The price of a new car is beyond the reach of most of the average workers in my community. Why? Because the labor cost has soared and the salaries being paid to executives are out of sight. The American auto industry is pricing itself out of the market. Witness the number of people who are buying new cars turning to the newer imports, which sell for substantially less than an American-made auto.

Unions have a right to work toward equitable pay and benefits. Shareholders have a responsibility to hold industry executives accountable for decent management including accepting equitable pay for their work. Whenever labor or management demands pay in access of what the market can bear, the market will turn bear. In that case, we all lose.

Give me a nreak. I am betting it has been a while since you last bought a US made automobile.

Go ahead. Tell me I'm wrong,

Great point, Gerry. But are state workers' retirements etc decided by unions? Don't know--just asking...

As for Tim: was that question directed at me, or at Michael? If you meant me, you're right: I buy Japanese.

Well, the unions and the gov negotiate contracts every few years, and because the labor unions are politically strong and active, they tend to get what they want.

Occasionally concessions are made. The recent NJ teacher's union contract negotiations resulted in teachers paying around 3% of their health insurance costs. That's not much. I don't know how much every other WIP reader pays each month for family coverage, but for me it runs over $300. (I don't have a pay stub handy. Now that I think about it, it's more.) Plus there are no copays for union employees. And these benefits continue after retirement. Sweet deal.

But hey, if I had followed my dad's advice and gotten into a union, I'd be nearing retirement (assuming I got a job at 18 and was required to put in only 25 years--not unheard of for union jobs) and arguing from the other side.

Hello Lisa Takeuchi Cullen

I read GM Strikers play a dangerous game and it isn't that I disagree. No one has a guarantee of a job and their strike and discussion is hard to generate personal sympathy. But manufacturing jobs decline month after month. If GM workers don't strike and go on working their propspects are not good in manufacturing at any salary or with any benefits. If we focus on their pay compared to others we lose the bigger picture of what is happening to everyone's jobs when manufacturing jobs decline. Allow me to suggest http://americanjobmarket.blogspot.com/2007/06/americas-job-market-free-for-all.html for some thoughts on the service jobs that are replacing our manufacturing jobs.

As a management labor and employment lawyer who has seen plenty of ugly union behavior, I am no great fan of unions. My first reaction to this strike was that it was a terribly tragic miscalculation. Fortunately, it seems to have turned out OK.

It is true that the whole system of collective bargaining is based on an adversarial model that tends to minimize the common ground labor and management share in the success of the company.

On the other hand, good union leadership recognizes this common ground, yet uses the bargaining process to get the best deal for workers consistent with the shared interest in company success.

In doing so, the threat of a strike, and sometimes a strike, is an inherent part of the process. Here, unless the workers fail to ratify, it looks like the strike succeeded, at some level, with minimal harm to either side. It may have been a necessary move to save face for the union leaders. GM and UAW will be able to move forward, hopefully, with both sides feeling they got the best deal possible.

Will it be good enough? To a considerable extent that will be up to the nonunion GM workforce. Will they be able to design and market cars Americans want to buy? Will they be able to build cars overseas for overseas markets, using cheaper labor, that compete effectively? We should not underestimate the power of American brand names and marketing overseas. Why should Chevy be less powerful than Levis, McDonalds, or Calvin Klein?

FYI: I have been buying Pontiacs lately because I like them and have some silly preference for American cars, a carryover from having grown up when Japanese imports were viewed as cheap, flimsy junk, and real men drove Fords, Chevys, Cadillacs, etc. I'm rooting for GM and UAW, despite never having been a big fan of the latter, and feel UAW made meaningful concessions here that I hope will make a difference.