UAW Money Woes Worry Detroit Three
With declining membership and fees paired with a defeat in a close election recently held at Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., the Detroit Three fear the United Auto Workers not only have no future, but their replacement would bring back the days of turmoil settled over a decade before.
The Detroit Free Press reports the three Detroit automakers worry the UAW could be absorbed by another, more hostile union not as willing to keep labor costs competitive with overseas competitors, as well disrupting the brokered peace which set lower wages for new hires and health care concessions that brought United States production costs on parity with Japan.
Meanwhile, the UAW continues to weaken, as annual dues fell by 40 percent to $115 million over the period between 2006 and 2012 with membership falling by 30 percent to 382,000 in the same period, having peaked at 1.5 million members in 1979. The union’s assets totaled $1 billion in 2012, making the UAW the wealthiest union the U.S., though $300 million in assets were liquidated in the six-year period to pay operating expenses while spending was cut 15 percent; $47 million in assets were sold in the last year alone to balance the union’s budget. Further, with lower wages from new workers unable to fill the coffers fast enough to make up the difference, the UAW may raise dues for the first time in 47 years.
In UAW president Bob King’s view, the union has no future without an organized South, where transplants such as VW and BMW have expanded in the region over the past decade as more and more factories in and around Detroit closed. King’s potential successor, secretary-treasurer Dennis Williams, has vowed to fight on, from higher wages for new hires to more organization battles in the South; the UAW recently filed an appeal with the National Labor Relations Board over the outcome of the Volkswagen vote.
Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.
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They dont know yet that the moment they will 'escape' from union boss control...they'll be ripped by their 'new' greedy VW bosses (..i.e: .. in few weeks wages cut by half .. and than fired, because VW'll close factory and move out to .. china or mexico..:) .. welcome to globalisation .. ... 'executive kinda guys' don't care about you (you are just 'human resources':) .. they care about 'company strategy/position', cost cutting, .. and their bonuses .. :)
The Big3 are in no way worried about the UAW going under, its just a nice thing to leak to the press, "oh jeez I hope you guys don't go under, cause we're such good friends and all". The fact that this was reported by the openly liberal and pro-union Freep says allot about its b.s. level too. As far as what xflowgolf is saying about rebranding the union, he's missing the whole point of the UAW to begin with. The entire existence of the UAW since its inception has been to take the lowest skilled, least educated, and laziest members of the American work force and give them simple repetition-based jobs at which they cannot fail or be fired from. Then through force of numbers make management pay them all upper middle-class wages. Absolutely no one who works for the UAW sees their membership as something to be earned, it is a birthright handed down by the gods to every GED or equivalent man and woman here in Michigan.