Only In America: Workers Fight Their Own Union

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

The UAW is getting an interesting lecture: Ownership of a car manufacturer entails delicate handling of labor relations. As Ed had reminded us so rightly: “Pre-bankruptcy, GM didn’t have to deal with the fact that the UAW is incapable of building fuel-efficient subcompact cars profitably. But now that the General has promised to build the next-gen Aveo in Michigan’s Orion Township plant in exchange for nearly $800m in local tax credits (not to mention the political benefits of “saving or creating” hundreds of union jobs), it’s up to the UAW to square the circle and make the damn thing profitable.”

And now, the UAW gets a taste of how it is when the working masses protest in front of your building: “About 100 General Motors Co workers and retirees picketed outside the United Auto Workers union’s headquarters on Saturday to protest plans to build a new small car with low-wage workers,” reports Reuters. They didn’t picket RenCen. They didn’t picket the Orion plant. They picketed their own union.

As reported previously, the UAW enacted “innovative labor agreement provisions” that would allow GM to make a small car profitably in the United States. The creative part: Slash wages in half. Think back what would have happened before the UAW ended up as a co-owner of GM and a good chunk of the shares that are about to be IPO-ed.

According to Reuters, “details of the concessions granted by the UAW’s national leaders have angered many workers.” The most contentious detail: GM will be able to hire an increasing number of workers at wages of about $14 per hour. That is about half of the nearly $29 per hour veteran UAW-represented GM workers make. Eventually, GM plans to staff the plant entirely with workers at the lower wage level, union officials told Orion workers.

No wonder China’s SAIC is interested in getting in on the ground floor with the GM IPO. If this trend continues, the U.S.A. will be the world’s new low cost producer. Workers protesting their own union? The Chinese are used to it.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Slance66 Slance66 on Oct 18, 2010

    I suspect that the one thing management really wants, and NEEDS, is for union employees to be "at will" just like those of us in non-union jobs. Somebody drinking on the job? Fire them. Incompetent? Fire them. Job security is the problem...your only job security should come from the fact that you're a good employee. Get rid of the waste and the useless employees, and wages could rise for those who are doing the job the way it should be done. I have always wondered why the good workers put up with the bad ones. That's the downside to "solidarity". Never worked in a plant, but I worked for the state after college, in a union job...and those folks could never hack it in the private sector. I'm not surprised these newer employees are picketing, they should. I'm sure that some of them are great hard working employees, while some of the higher paid folks are useless bums. Unions prevent management from rewarding those who deserve it.

    • Steven02 Steven02 on Oct 18, 2010

      I don't think I could have said this any better. Solidarity can be a bad thing. It invites people to get by. Individuals do the job and they should be treated like individuals. Tell me the guys who will be making ~$29/hr are all doing the same amount of work? Tell me that they are twice as valuable as the $14/hr worker. This isn't going to be the case for anyone there. Everyone should have individual pay, individual reviews, and be individually responsible for their performance. The ~$29/hr guys have no motivation to work any harder. They are only going to work hard enough not to get fired.

  • Loverofcars1969 Loverofcars1969 on Oct 18, 2010

    Kinda funny people here are talking as if $14 an hour is chump change. There are families of 4 that live on less. As yes the line is hardwork my dad did it for 30+ yrs before he retired. I will say this not sure whether robot or person but the fit and finish of my 2009 CTS V is much to be desired but overall the car is an incredible kick in the pants. I just imagine how much better the car could be with better management and better quality minded workers.

  • ToolGuy This is the kind of thing you get when you give people faster internet.
  • ToolGuy North America is already the greatest country on the planet, and I have learned to be careful about what I wish for in terms of making changes. I mean, if Greenland wants to buy JDM vehicles, isn't that for the Danes to decide?
  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
  • Carson D The UAW has succeeded in organizing a US VW plant before. There's a reason they don't teach history in the schools any longer. People wouldn't make the same mistakes.
  • B-BodyBuick84 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport of course, a 7 seater, 2.4 turbo-diesel I4 BOF SUV with Super-Select 4WD, centre and rear locking diffs standard of course.
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