"Tis Unions Killed Detroit
For anyone who hasn’t seen Peter Jackson’s version of "King Kong", I recommend that you drop what you’re doing and find a theater where “Kong” is still playing, preferably a theater with a huge screen.
Well, maybe that’s asking too much, but you should see it. The movie is fantastic. Seeing it on DVD won’t do it justice.
Naomi Watts plays Ann Darrow, the beautiful blonde with whom Kong falls in love. I have always thought Naomi Watts was pretty, but in this movie, she was unreal. Her walk down a deserted New York street dressed in a shimmering evening gown, as Kong watches in fascination, is unforgettable.
What is it with these Australian actresses? A country that produces Naomi Watts and Nicole Kidman? I must visit there someday.
But I digress.
So what does any of this have to do with my topic-du-jour: The Collapse of the American Auto Industry?
GM is in deep trouble. They lost $10 billion in 2005. $10 billion! The entire company is only worth $12.5 billion.
Two of the reasons GM can’t compete in today’s auto market are:
1) Retiree benefits add $1,500 to the price of each car.
2) There are 3 GM retirees for every active worker.
And we wonder why they’re not doing well? And Ford’s in the same boat.
During the boom years, the United Auto Workers squeezed concessions out of Ford and GM. Ford and GM agreed, partly because the UAW had them over a barrel, but also because they were making a lot of money.
Now that times aren’t so good, those concessions are killing the companies. Where else can a worker with no college education and maybe not even a high school diploma make $20, $30 or $40 an hour with super-generous benefits?
So the companies are going out of business.
It’s going to be a long, drawn-out, painful affair, but it will happen. Ford and GM will both go bankrupt and that will be the end of the American auto industry.
The government is already circling the wagons. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp (a government agency that takes over pension plans from bankrupt companies) is investigating its options should GM declare bankruptcy.
Unions had their purposes. But their time has passed. They have changed from helping the common worker to being giant greed machines. They add cost without increasing productivity.
At the end of “King Kong”, after Kong has fallen from the top of the Empire State Building and is lying dead on the street, a man stands besides his body and says:
“Tis Beauty Killed the Beast.”
I hope it doesn't happen, but one day, we may stand next to the dead body of the once-great American auto industry and say:
“Tis Unions Killed Detroit.”
posted by The Phantom Republican @ 11:25 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
You are partly right my friend but that republican fever on your brain has bent the obvious. Sure UAW got great pay and benefit packages from the auto industry, but they were willing to pay because they were making a boat load of cash. It is the companies that are greedy and stupid not the union. Auto workers are the only group of workers in America that have had wages keep up with inflation and the cost of living. The unions simply asked for the repayment for concessions that they took back in the Reagan years and the 70s. Some of the benefits they have been enjoying are unbelievable and were never expected to be agreed to.
The unions have always been reasonable and willing to sacrifice to a point. There was an old Ford executive back in the 80s whose name slips my mind that said basically, "99% of all the problems and failures of a company are the fault of management, because management has the power to change and solve problems as they occur or before the occur". The death of the American auto industry will most likely come shortly, but when Fords and GMs are made in China and a majority of americans still won't be able to afford to buy a new vehicle, it will be because short sighted corporate greed has cut its own throat and republicans allowed it by lowering the American standard of living to that of a third world country whose citizens can't support those huge profit margins any longer.
All this bull about the underskilled and dumb workers is just that - bull. When the economy collapses who will be able to feed their families - workers with years and years of technical, electrical and mechanical training, or those that have been sitting behind a desk, having meetings about meetings and kissing ass to rise up a ladder thats no longer there. Who's dumber, those that got a deal that pay them fully even when they are not working or the ones that agreed to the deal?
the UAW indeed killed the American automotive industry. They bog down the business with negotaions/bargaining/time/resources/money which is far better spent being put back into the business.
the guy who simply turns a bolt at Nissan get replaced by a robotic arm. that guy has the oppurtunity to learn how to program and maintain that robotic arm.
But in a union palnt - noooooooo! I am going to turn this bolt just as i have for 10 years and my father did before me.
Well done.
you just killed GM.
unions are obsolete in all industries, most obviously in thae automotive industry.
I was a dedicated GM man in the 80's and 90's. But guess what I discovered! my olds cutlass supreme, chevy nova, pontiac grand am and S-15 Jimmy were all replete with non-stop problems. The two nissan Altima's and Honda CRV I have since purchased have been a reliability dream.
This consumer will most likely never ever even consider looking at a domestic car ever again. Burned me multiple times. Im done.
so yes, the UAW killed Detroit.
A business must be nimble and flexible and its workers must be ready to learn new tasks and adapt.
That is impossible with a union. Unions are locked into an old world mentality and have rendered themselves a detriment to all businesses.
-Matt. Laytonsville, Maryland
The first response is complete and total BULLSHIT.
In 1908 the daily pay at ford was $5/day.
Which means to have kept up with inflation they would have only needed to increase their daily earnings to $110/day (2200% inflation from 1913 - 2007)
Instead, they have increased their daily earnings to 2x the rate of inflation at $28/hr.
Only now have they been forced to reduce their compensation to actually match inflation at $14/hr which is $112/day/8 hours.
Of course in 1908 they were probably working 10 - 12/hrs a day easily, so they are still making off better than inflation.
Kept up with inflation, BULLSHIT!
Their pay hikes have greatly exceeded inflation.
Keep defending the union workers....You are so full of crap those of you the defend the unions..under and unskilled workers demanding 30 to 40 an hour for what they do?? and the benefits that go along with it?? Bullshit!! The american way...do as little as possible and get paid a shitload to do it!! I hope both car companies fail!! Unions have no place anymore. GM was not a child labor sweatshop!!
Bottom line, they didn't deserve the wages and benefits packages they received!! Work 7.5 hours a day and make 80,0000 a year!! christ no wonder they are failing..and claiming it's the companies fault for paying them is another crock of shit..what do you do when your feet are held to the fire by unions that threaten strikes and work stoppages!! To much power, plain and simple!!!
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