The media consensus is that union auto workers escaped the government-imposed restructuring of their industry basically unharmed, exchanging a few dings for control of the companies. Nothing could be further from the truth. . . .
Labor Notes' Jane Slaughter sat down with a round table of active and retired auto workers from Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler to take a look at how decades of concessions have impacted their work, and their lives. From losing a few precious minutes of break time to major wage and benefit givebacks, auto workers tell how they've seen the industry change on the line.
Washington is making plans to send GM through bankruptcy's wringer, and the U.S. government seems focused only on restoring GM's bottom line. Labor Notes' Mark Brenner discussed what a more comprehensive solution to the auto makers’ problems would look like on David Bacon’s “The Morning Show” on KPFA.
If the car companies are too big to fail, too poorly run to put right, it’s time to take them over. Listen to Mark Brenner discuss these issues on Warren Olney’s “To the Point” on KCRW.
Chrysler’s concessions-or-die deal is the end of auto as the pace-setting, high-wage industry that it was for 60 years. No longer will it set standards all blue-collar workers could aspire to—nor outmatch many white-collar jobs. From now on, working for the auto companies will be just another bust-your-hump factory job. . . .
Instead of emptying auto factories and dispersing thousands of skilled workers in the Midwest who’ve spent a lifetime shaping metal into useful things, why doesn't Obama take a page from an exhausted steel plant now making wind turbines? . . . .
As Big 3 automakers rolled out plans that would “save” the industry by destroying jobs, it’s easy to forget that union members must vote on changes to their contract. . . .
More than 150 auto workers and supporters picketed outside the International Auto Show in Detroit January 11, protesting the strings attached to government loans to GM and Chrysler. President Bush’s loan package would wring more concessions out of a union that’s already accepted deep cuts. . . .
The Detroit Three cite legacy costs as their biggest competitive disadvantage. Their solution? Add to the legacy costs by retiring more workers faster with buy-out packages subtracted from the pension.
In the 1980s Chevrolet proclaimed itself the “Heartbeat of America.” Today many would say that the American auto industry qualifies for life support. Last November, General Motors announced that it was cutting 25,000 jobs and closing up to 12 factories by 2008...
