Only In America: Workers Fight Their Own Union
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 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.
More by Bertel Schmitt
Comments
Join the conversation
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.
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.