Unions....

Can't Live With Them......

Here's an article from 2008 explaining how the auto business operates under the Union Rules.

But almost all of the discussion, when it comes to UAW culpability, has been on wages. The even larger issue, though, is the elephant in the room that seemingly no one discusses, even when given a political opportunity. For instance, I saw a “debate” on Fox News recently in which the Democrat defending the union said that it was partly management’s fault because of the poor quality of the cars, and the Republican failed to respond. And it’s not like people are unaware of it, at least people familiar with the industry. The issue isn’t wages — though those are a problem — so much as work rules. UAW work rules, which have evolved over the many decades since the passage of the Wagner Act, are the biggest reason that General Motors is uncompetitive with its non-union American counterparts.

Unions have a vaunted place in labor history, particularly in Detroit/Flint/Pontiac Michigan. Those days are gone. At some point the hierarchy changed and the Union bosses understood that self preservation is more important than any particular worker or product. Thus we have productivity and quality falling off at the expense of preserving those in power. Unions have become the very large bloated bureaucracy they purport to despise.

Where's Jimmy Hoffa when ya need him?