Never ever let your leverage be diminished. Inherently unions are necessary and at times can and have been problematic and corrupt. In general though, I benefitted from union membership when I worked in NYC in construction and belonged to Local 79 L.I.U.N.A.
I was able to leave with an annuity that I used for grad school. Thank you Local 79!
115
@Norbert As did my father and does my husband. Even though both of them ended up in managerial jobs, their pensions and health care came from their earlier days as workers. Both lived through strikes, both felt and feel grateful for their union benefits.
6
Labor unions are our best chance for recovering our democracy. Collectively they serve a common good... something many of the wealthy have forgotten.
14
It is rigged.
The entire economic and political system in the United States is rigged from top to bottom, and it is rigged by the rich and powerful, who want to be even richer and even more powerful, against the common working stiff.
They do this by controlling not only the means of production but the political system, bending one to their will in order to dominate the other.
You say your vote doesn't count. Well, one vote might not make much difference, but if enough people vote, it will make a difference.
You say you are powerless in your work. You are, just by yourself. But if you and your fellow workers decide you have had enough and take action, things might change.
Vote. Demonstrate. Organize. Take to the streets. Make your voices heard. Work together.
Read your history. Read up on the Knights of Labor, the Industrial Workers of the World, Big Bill Heywood, the labor struggles in Colorado.
Our grandfathers had to do it, our fathers became complacent, and now we have to do it again. Fight and take back your lives. The plutocrats might get you, they might get me. But they won't get all of us.
Workers of America, you have nowhere to go but up.
When the Union's inspiration
Through the workers' blood shall run
There can be no force greater
Anywhere beneath the sun.
Yet what force on Earth is weaker
Than the feeble strength of one?
For the Union makes us strong.
Solidarity forever.
4
When do we start to address the obscene income inequality by going on a nationwide strike? It is the only thing the rent seekers and investor class will understand.
4
@Concernicus
Send the oligarch 'n plutocrats a message and rally, vote for Bernard Sanders.
3
Yeah, but these are the same guys who helped beat up the hippies in the 60’s and voted for Nixon and Reagan. Obama and the Democrats saved them with the auto bailouts and they voted for Trump. They are reaping what they sowed.
4
If the system wasn't rigged, the .1% wouldn't be our overlords.
7
Keep it up dems!!
Auto plants will continue to automate, charter schools will expand their already large footprint, and kiosks will replace overpaid checkout attendants. When you strike or organize, it gives business incentive to rid themselves of as many employees as possible. Unions are in it for themselves, the MASS CORRUPTION over decades has proven this over and over. This strike comes as multiple UAW officials have just been indicted. If you don't like your job, do something else to make more money. Improve yourself and you will improve your lot in life. Fortunately, we are not socialist here, the system is NOT RIGGED, it's called CAPITALIST. Accept that for what it is....
3
We need to make stock buy backs illeagal again (pre Reagan it was considered price manipulation). $$ went into equipment and employee pay, etc. CEO pay was much more in line with their actual worth then and not so bloated.
5
The current plight of workers, many of whom support trxmp, has several causes. A big one is the emasculation of unions by the right wing. It started in earnest under Reagan and union busting has been right wing doctrine ever since. They have successfully educated their base to hate unions even though many of them were union members and had unions to thank for many benefits.
Unions have been critical, even essential, to building a middle class that that allowed people to buy homes, get better educations, support local businesses, and lead healthier lives. It should be obvious that those gains are *not* guaranteed as more and more people are finding out.
The need for unions to moderate the abuses of the very rich and powerful is as great as it ever was. If you believe that corporations or the government (under its current leadership) are going to look after you, you're crazy; the evidence is unmistakable. You have to look after yourselves. How powerful do you feel as an individual?
7
Workers don't think the game is rigged against them––they KNOW it!
8
Companies also exploit middle managers who do not belong to unions. I worked in a sales job at a union hotel in New York City and the bellboys and doormen made more money than I did - some making six figures - even though I was expected to work evenings and weekends and dress like champagne on a beer salary. The union employees' job descriptions were rife with minutiae - ie he can carry a box, but he can't help you carry a chair - leaving the grunts like myself to take care of guests' requests. After this experience I believe unions encourage laziness. Employers should pay a living wage to ALL employees, not just the unionized.
3
Union workers may think the system is rigged. What's really rigged is the leadership in many of these unions. The rest of us are generally fine and have good relations with our employers. There is a natural tension, but most employers understand the need to motivate and empower workers, notwithstanding claims to the contrary.
5
One thing that seems to have got lost is that when GM were bailed out in 2008 I seem to remember that the Unions became part of the ownership of the renewed enterprise and would therefore share the responsibility for doth success and failure. Maybe I got it wrong. It seems this did not happen. Large industrial enterprises need unionization, but, it should be in the spirit of partnership in both good times and bad, This adversarial relationship we have right now is anachronistic. In Sweden and in Germany Unions are seen as essential, not something to be avoided by management if they can. They have representation at Board level and are expected to act responsibly. Why isn't this happening at GM? Without l/t partnership, the current boom from SUV and truck sales and the inevitable slow-down that's coming will only fuel more battles as profit=sharing (or not) is replaced by cost cutting
3
The system always has been rigged against them. The middle class made many great strides, ALL due to unions, between around 1870 until the 1950s. All of those gains are being eroded by the union-busting, greedy owners, managers and stockholders.
Union corruption has nothing on corporate corruption. The difference is that the unions do a lot of good for the labor force, and ownership/management never does unless they are forced.
5
Yes, well lots of strikes all over the world at the sweatshops producing stuff for Walmart, etc. would be a great idea... except that people in the slave nations -- let's call them what they are don't have any resources to support themselves during a job action. The current notion about capitalism and shareholders- doesn't seem to have informed Marx in his thoughts on the process. And for a while post 1950s labor was rewarded with stock -- just like executives... that was when personal income taxes were up at 90 -95% bracket and there was a luxury tax.
Actually, if more union members have to pay more for health insurance they may all of a sudden support Universal Single Payer Healthcare -- even with a small rise in their taxes. Like everything, we will see.
By all means, strike, strike -- and PS Charlie Chaplin's anti-"capitalism" movie "Modern Times" is on Youtube. Tempos Modernos... and Marx is on the WEB. (Alienation of Labor-- short).
1
Please fix the headline. It makes it sound like workers are uninformed children. They don't think things are stacked against them. Things are.
2
Have these GM workers figured out why no one wants their cars?
7
Many GM workers voted for con man Trump instead of supporting the party of workers which are the democrats. Now they complain they want a piece of the pie from GM who had $8.1 billion in profits worldwide last year and $35 billion in North America over the last three years. Trump gave GM huge tax cuts and kicked workers in the shins. Better wake up in 2020.
7
People are getting fed up with Reaganism, and the idea that people should be happy to work for peanuts, so long as they have religious freedom and gun ownership.
4
It's interesting to note that a $20.00 per hour wage would cost a profitable corporation $13.00 in after-tax expense at the prior 35% federal corporate income tax rate. This simple computation is: [(1 - TR)(Hourly Wage Rate) =
(1.00 - 0.35)($20.00) = (0.65)($20.00) = $13.00]. This is the after-tax cost of wages of $20.00 an hour with a 35% corporate tax rate. (Where: TR = corporate tax rate).
Now, when the federal corporate income tax rate is cut to 21%, the after-tax cost to the corporation of an hourly wage of $20.00 rises to $15.80; which can be computed as follows:
[(1.00 - 0.21)($20.00) = (0.79)($20.00) = $15.80]. This is a significant 21.5% increase in the after-tax cost of these wages to the company.
With recent annual wage increases reported per the DOL's jobs reports averaging at below 3.5%; this increased after-tax cost of wages after the corporate tax cut has not been a business press point of emphasis lately.
Also, when the Fed lowers its federal funds rate by at least 25 basis points tomorrow (Sept. 18, 2019), and since the corporate after-tax cost of interest expense increased too with the corporate tax cut from 35% to 21%, the Fed is also having to counter these fiscally contractionary aspects, or this overhang, from the tax cut, too.
[09/17/2019 4:55 pm Greenville NC]
3
The system is rigged. Read Elizabeth Warren's book - "A Fighting Chance." The super rich donate millions to the Republican Party who in turn do what the super rich want by continuing to lower their taxes and permit tax loopholes so the wealthy corporations do not have to pay their fair share of taxes. The boss' secretary pays more in taxes than he does.
The American worker is going to continue to struggle until this rigged system is corrected.
The only way to even the playing field and allow the American worker to earn a livable wage is to remove the Republican party from controlling our government. If they control just one of the three branches of government in 2021, they will prevent any changes that will alleviate this unfairness.
Vote in November 2020!
2
@Richard Phelps
Agreed, the system is rigged.
Including The Democratic Party.
Including Sen. Warren too.
They all are sitting at the table with their hands out for the money.
Dem's have had plenty of opportunities to raise the min. wage. It hasn't budged in over 10yrs.
It's not just the Red team. Blue does it too.
2
I have very mixed feelings about Unions. On one hand, they play a critical role in establishing and sustaining reasonable pay and rights for workers. On the other hand, they are often rife with corruption, use scare tactics and force to bully employers to avoid competition from private businesses, and collective bargaining is unfair to workers who do not want to join the Union. Under the right circumstances, Unions are critical. But like all other spaces, power corrupts and Unions are not immune to that corruption.
19
@John
"Bosses and workers both understand that through a trade union the workers can get better pay for their work than if the union were destroyed. They both see that, but each from the perspective of their own personal interest. The boss wishes to destroy the unions, while the workers want to strengthen them. And as long as personal interest remains the fundamental principle of business, we have to maintain that struggle faithfully. For as long as capitalism is the law of the land, trade unions will need to keep up the fight." - The words of Bernard Weinstein, "The Jewish Unions in America," 1929.
8
@John
It's basically two different systems, each corrupted in different ways by greed and power, balancing each other out. It isn't pretty, but it's better than just one system corrupted by greed and power.
7
@John You have to wonder if this is too little, too late. General Motors has shut a plant in Australia, sold its operations in Europe, Russia & Africa, will close four plants in the US and one in Canada this year at a cost of almost 6,000 jobs. The most important question to ask is how did we get here? At the 1993 NAFTA signing ceremony, President Clinton said the treaty would create a million jobs in the first five years and would be great for American workers. Clinton was absolutely wrong on all his rosy predictions. First, it caused the loss of some 700,000 jobs as companies moved their production to Mexico, where labor was cheaper. Second, NAFTA strengthened the ability of U.S. employers to force workers to accept lower wages and benefits. Third, and ultimately most importantly, NAFTA created a template for the rules of the emerging global economy, in which all the benefits would flow to corporations and all the costs to workers. NAFTA is an unfair treaty. It's been a disaster for the American working class. But would re-negotiating it change things? Probably not. Car ownership patterns are changing, and most analysts believe demand has peaked. Younger people are far less likely to see car ownership as necessary. Electric vehicles are the future. But electric cars have fewer moving parts than internal combustion engines & require fewer workers. Germany expects to lose 160,000 jobs due to electrified vehicles. This is a slow-moving tragedy that will only get worse.
3
Corporations do not have ethics - people do.
REPubicans are like a corporation and this works against good intent and ethical decisions. Unions are not necessary when people can make ethical decisions like DICK's Sporting Good on guns and the like. But Boards of Directors do not pat themselves on the back for being kind to works. Unions must rise up! We must crush the REPtiles under the ethical foot of fairness and spreading wealth! Those like tRump must not possess so much wealth and further corrupt the social body with the cancer of selfishness.
@stonezen. So when Obama bailed them out, it was okay to screw the bond holders? Please don’t tell us union officials have ethics. How is Trumka making $400,000 ethical?
3
@Jackson -- Are you a socialist? Making more money than you isn't unethical, it's the labor market. Those salaries don't come out of thin air.
2
well, of course it is, it has ever been thus, why do you think workers formed unions?!?!
1
Corporations and Republicans have worked very hard over the last 50 years to destroy unions and the culmination of that effort is the so-called "gig economy" in which workers do the corporations bidding without any hope of regular hours, salary, benefits or security. That is the Corporate Dream Workforce - people the Corporation does not have any loyalty to, that they do not owe anything to, who they can dispose of at will, who must take it or leave it in terms of pay.
So, why any surprise that people are finally waking up to the fact that it was the action of unions over many decades that brought about what workers had just a couple decades ago? And unions are the ONLY way they are going to get any power again?
If you want to live in a civilized society, NEVER EVER vote for a Republican and resist Corporations at every turn.
2
The oddity here is saying that American workers "think" the system is rigged against them.
The system truly is rigged against workers, thanks to so-called right-to-work laws and other structural measures that advantage capital and management over labor.
The Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court typifies the uneven playing field. The decision says the rich and their corporate proxies have an absolute right of free speech, which in practice gives them an absolute right to buy election results. Yet workers do not possess an absolute right of free association, which amputates the legs of their labor union proxies and prospective proxies.
4
I ask you, has trump used his twitter account to support the 50,000 GM strikers? Radio silence. The Midwest factory workers should deeply exam who has their backs when they vote in 2020. Actions speak louder than words; however, as bellicose as trump usually is his words do matter.
2
@Julie
Candidate Bernard Sanders was the first one, once again to pledge his support and backing to the GM strikers.
1
"Workers Think the System is Rigged Against Them"
Is there anyone out there who actually believes that it isn't?!?
2
It is rigged against them, and in favor of the 1%.
1
Hang in there, you Workers, you Producers, you Drivers of our Economy - an economy which will be healthier when you are paid decent, Middle Class wages and have money in your pockets that you can spend to support your families!
I'm old enough to remember when unions had power and were able to force Big Biz to pay living wages - pre-(R)eagan, of course. We must regain lost ground in the endless Labor/Capital struggle if we are to wrest control of our country from the 1% Plutocrats and Predatory Corporations and return it to the Working Citizenry.
Oh yeah, vote (D)! True, they aren't anywhere close to what Workers really need in a political party, but they're sure a huge step up from the Capitalist-owned (R)s!
1
It isn't only successful strikes that inspire.
It is also the very beginnings of finally rising wages, that members of big unions have not been getting until now as the management and stockholders have Bogarted vast growth in productivity and profit.
2
It's not just a question of wages and profits.
When Eisenhower was president in the 1950s, the tax rate on the richest Americans was far, far higher than it is now. As the Republicans have made the tax structure less and less progressive, income inequality has gotten worse and worse, working people are worse off, and the safety net for the disabled and the unemployed has been shredded "because they just have to stand on their own two feet..."
1
"Oh you can't fool me, I'm sticking to the Union,
I'm sticking to the Union till the day I die!"
5
Look at the results. Who is raking in the cash? Who is not?
2
Most of the US has been with the Teachers strike, the Stop and Shop strike, the Marriott Strike and the Earlier Market Basket Strike.
The difference with the DeMoulas' Strike was that the workers were striking to maintain one of the Owners, whose family was trying to kick him out. The reasons were very simple. Mike DeMoulas was always very supportive, respectful and believed in paying and treating the Employees well. Had them participate in profit sharing and offered generous benefits.
For all those companies who are not in favor of Unions and try to bust them up, if you did the right thing in the first place, Unions would be unnecessary. It is your greed and incompetence that is responsible for these strikes happening.
GM should remember Henry Ford's philosophy. He paid his employees enough so they would become customers and buy his products. Self-enlightment is a wonderful thing.
5
Obviously man needs to be saved from the darkest of his avaricious needs and pursuits. Since the churches can't do it and friends and family usually fail, it is up to the labor unions to bring balance to business and assure some dignity for their workers. Government has tried but more needs to be done. Unfortunately, he unions are also susceptible to greed and corruption and were partly responsible for the failure of the us auto industry a few years ago with their excessive demands (25.00 an hour for screwing an bolt on?). Its going to be difficult as well to compete with foreign companies and their cheap labor markets without imposing some tariffs and the US making a better car. Hopefully we are past the era of crappy detroit autos. DOnt blame Detroit for making gas guzzlers, the pblic is clamoring for them
When the Republicans cut taxes (again) for Corporations they promised that the Corporations would share the tax savings with employees with bonuses and higher wages. As with every other Republican tax cut based on Reagan's first big lie,"trickle down", American Corporations and America's wealthiest citizens keep the cash and nothing goes to workers or the middle class or the poor. Next will come the inevitable Republican Recession which will allow companies to screw their employees even more because: " A raise? Be thankful that you have a job". And "about those benefits? Sorry we have to cut them and you have to pay more for them".
3
GM simply can't compete economically with Korean and Japanese auto manufacturers in our free market where its products don't measure up in terms of quality. It's not taking the initiative aggressively in electric car development, preferring to rely on outmoded technology. Its questionable acceptance of bankruptcy and the attendant deals that it cut with its own labour put it under a permanent cloud that make this consumer wonder if it's too subsidised already...
2
Unions and labor leaders fighting for the rights of working people created the middle class back in the early 20th century. They may be able to do so again, but only if they fight for it.
5
What a joy to see American labor waking up and flexing its muscles! So many lies and promises from big corporate management and all the whining about labor costs.
Where does all the money go? Shareholders, CEOs, CFOs, etc. Labor is the only counterbalance to management's excesses, and I for one am glad to see this resurgence happening.
12
Strong unions mean a strong middle class.
10
Any union member who votes for a Republican needs to educate him/herself.
6
@theresa. The Dems will NEVER have the police unions.
@Jackson
Neither the police nor anyone else would have unions without the Dems.
1
@Jackson Ask a policeman if he likes that so many guns are in the hands of people who ought not to have them. The ones I’ve talked to and read about are anti-gun.
2
Seems like the Union should just build their own factory. Then they wouldn’t have this problem.
2
The system is rigged against them. Full stop.
No pay raises, and increasing healthcare and education costs, have crippled working Americans at a time when the top tiers are raking in obscene amounts of cash. And when one of the top tier cheats to get her daughter into college because she just wanted her to have a "fair chance".
I've played by the rules all my life, and now just think I've been a fool.
5
Many years ago, if you got a job at IBM you were pretty much set for life. The same holds true for a number of other corporations. They had a social contract with Americans - work for us until you retire and we will take care of you in your golden years with a comfortable pension and health benefits. Unfortunately, this has gone the way of the black and white Magnavox television set.
Corporations care about one thing: money. Make as much money as they can for the shareholders and executives, and the heck with the employees who were the backbone of the company and made it profitable.
Strong labor unions are a good thing. It is time for the pendulum to swing in their favor.
4
Stop and Shop wasn't propped up by the American taxpayer. The UAW at General Motors was kept alive by the Obama administration as a vehicle for continuing pension payments for retirees.
While paying reasonable rates for the labor provided is important, there's much less goodwill for workers who are already seen to have been recipients of taxpayer largess necessitated by their own greed.
I think of Chicago Public Schoolteachers impending strike in my own city and think the same thing as CPS teachers whose pay ranks in the top 5 for public school teachers in the nation on a cost of living basis.
1
Of course the system is rigged againsg them.
End of story.
2
Unions have historically helped build a strong middle class. We need new life breathed into the NLRB during the next administration, which I'm anticipating will be Democratic and progressive. Strong unions will have a voice in the future Green New Deal. Take note, Democratic candidates! Fight the oligarchs! If you're one of them, please step away from the podium and go count your money, but don't pretend to represent us.
It is we who plowed the prairies; built the cities where they trade;
Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid;
Now we stand outcast and starving midst the wonders we have made;
But the union makes us strong!
- Solidarity Forever, my favorite union song.
5
Sure, unemployment is low, because people take two (three?) lousy-paying jobs to stay afloat. Thanks Trump, you made the upper class even more fabulously wealthy than it already was.
6
Perhaps they think that because the system is rigged against them. Top 1% incomes have been skyrocketing for decades. Middle-class income has been flat for decades. Lower-class income has been declining for decades.
Weirdly, half the middle class thinks that the people who benefit most from the system, rich old white men, are the people who will restructure the system to help them.
They're wrong.
5
We should be grateful American labor is awakening. Without any counter-force, without the ability to fight back, workers would see 100 years of mistreatment and lower wages. Yet...
Unions have, indeed, abused their power when they've had it. The role of the union leader is to always demand more and to keep the troops upset about wages and conditions so that he, the union leader, gets a chance to appear strong and effective. I have seen union experienced union abuses in my own family when my father was refused re-admittance to a union because he took on another line of work for a few years.
The unions at the television networks have a rather bizarre history. One union required an engineer to operate a VHS cassette machine, something any 9 yr. old in America could handle. Why? More money, more power, more workers, needed or not. More waste. They were also rumored to have mob connections if they didn't get their way.
GM itself once had a building in Baltimore where workers who were waiting to be fired were told to go, sit around and do nothing, sometimes for years. It is no wonder that upper management hates unions because they sometimes insist on wasting millions of dollars and also cause workers to hate the company and, thus, their jobs, leading to poor quality. Yet...
The fact remains that we desperately need union power to counter that of corporations. Reagan kicked off the long decline of unions and, as they come back, perhaps they've learned some lessons. We can hope.
4
@Doug Terry GM had similar buildings all over Michigan. Everyone would show up intoxicated and play cards.
If by "the system" they mean union busting GOP politicians who are bought and paid for by the 0.01% then they're absolutely right.
6
Workforces without union representation in markets that don't have strong collective bargaining rights are at the mercy of the bosses. Wouldn't it be nice if all bosses held the interests of their workers at the same level of concern as the profitability of their companies but that is not the case. The bosses always have an eye on containing labor costs at the lowest possible level to enhance their bottom line and to keep their shareholders happy with dividend payouts.
There are plenty of workarounds the bosses use to weaken unions: greasing the wheels of states stripping away bargaining rights, contract workers, temporary workers and outsourcing to name a few. Bonuses sound good. Who wouldn't like a bonus? However, bonuses add little to earning power of an employee when compared to wage increases through time.
Finding the balance between the needs of the employer and the contractual/human needs of employees is what sparked the labor movement. When that balance can't be found, the right to strike is essential.
7
We need strong unions. Since unions have been week or nonexistent in some places inequality has risen. Unions are the only answer to the power of corporations.
6
It's very encouraging that a much higher percentage of workers now want to organize. But as a retired Union member, I think the labor movement has to change strategy. Right now, everything is focused on the bargaining unit as determined by the NLRBoard, and then the collective bargaining agreement, if you can get it. Often times, the owners will simply refuse to bargain on new contracts, while trying everything to decertify the new bargaining unit.
This is the old way, and it all hinges on the ancient National Labor Relations Act, and Taft-Hartley , and the result, imo, is the most byzantine set of regulations and court precedents in the world, with important precedent changing with the political winds.
I think the labor movement needs to move on from the 30s and 40s. Many like the author/labor lawyer Thomas Geoghegan point out that the NLRA protects "concerted action," but nowhere does it say that his has to be a bargaining unit. It can be ten employees out of 50, and they have the same protection to bargain without being certified by anybody. I also think that the national unions should establish storefront offices all over the country, and offer nominal fee workplace issue services to any person who walks in the door. It's time to be a social movement again, and this will get us back in the game fast. The money for this? How about unions stop campaign contributions (billions in my lifetime) which get us little in return.
5
It is obvious that the war on unions, environmental regulations and worker rights have come about through corporate lobbying. One has to ask, why wouldn't you want your neighbors to earn enough money to survive? And though the GM workers may not be the best example of low wages, the teachers in W.VA. were. Corporations have very successfully pitted workers against workers. This is why both Warren's and Sander's platforms resonate so well. I may not agree with every detail, but they are at least on the right track. Trump's strategy turns people against people, which is what corporations want, while progressives offer proposals that support the needs of workers and families.
I have never been in a union, but I am smart enough to recognize that no progress has been ever made out of the 'goodness' of a CEO's heart. Nowhere in the world have companies volunteered to protect the environment without first being regulated, paid workers fairly without protests, or improved safety before being sued.
11
The auto industry has too many competitors with too much capacity. The weaker companies are steadily shrinking and merging. GM is down to a third of the size it was, and they have huge legacy costs. It is rather possible that they won't be around in 20 years.
As the main argument of the union is that there should be a more equitable sharing of profits across the whole workforce in the company, wouldn't it make sense for the federal government to assume this function of a union for the American workforce in general; setting basic standards that prevent the ridiculously high and ever rising increase in CEO compensation at the expense of middle management and other worker's wages. The current imbalance undermines the country's ability to be as productive, innovative and all together happier and healthier as we can be. It seems one of the things holding us back from adopting such a logical policy is a desire to keep the ability to exploit when the opportunity arrives.
2
If you can't treat your employees well, maybe a company should invest heavily in automation and AI and reduce the number of employees. That way, companies don't get the bad reputations they deserve and workers aren't abused. Of course workers will have to find work in another field where automation hasn't replaced them. Yet.
Imagine our society without ever having had any type of labor movement to get better wages, working conditions, hours, and benefits. (Yes, organized labor increased wealth for everyone and brought you the weekend.) It does not take much imagination to conclude that a society without organized labor would be bad for business owners and wage laborers.
It also follows that the "American Century," which included creating a United States that is wealthier and more powerful than any society in history, would not have happened without a labor movement. (Imagine what we would not have produced during WWII without organized labor and it's not hard to imagine a very different outcome.)
Owners (who don't own, for example, cooperatives) always have and always will work hard to keep down labor costs; to keep a bigger "piece of the action." Very few, if any, will agree to better things for workers without pressure from organized labor.
4
"G.M. is about half the size of Volkswagen"
Both GM and VW sell about as many cars in China as they do in their home markets. China plus home market sales for these companies are over 80% of their sales by units. The China auto market is expanding while the US and EU markets are stagnant.
The larger question is how many factories will GM relocate to China or are they content to become half the size they are now.
Management has always viewed employees as expendable. I've never worked in a place that considered employees valuable assets even when they told us they did. Their actions towards employees when times were bad or good demonstrated how little we were valued. I've worked under supervisors who lied about things to protect themselves. I've worked in companies where sexual harassment was the norm. I've worked in companies where underpaying women was done even if I had more experience than a man doing the same job. I've witnessed mothers stress when they've had to check up on a sick child because they couldn't take time off themselves to care for that child. And I've seen the contrast when a man has taken two days off to see his child through an illness or surgery. He was congratulated.
Labor in America is treated the same way slaves were treated. Slaves weren't paid but that's not much of a difference when the company is paying a CEO millions more than it pays the people who make the company profitable. As one of the workers I don't expect to be paid millions. But I don't expect to be paid so little that I cannot survive and too often that is the case in this country.
Workers need to have their interests represented and they cannot do it by themselves. That's why there are unions. If companies want us to buy their products they have to pay us enough so we can purchase them. Don't and we won't.
9/17/2019 12:38pm first submit
7
Andrew Yang (Yang 2020) has been talking about this industrial automation shift in his campaign!
His Freedom Dividend gives $1,000/month to all adults, no questions asked to redirect the money from the corporations to the people. Let the people share in the profits of corporate America!!
3
"Everybody knows" - Leonard Cohen
1
While I fully appreciate the frustration of American manufacturing workers over wage stagnation and overseas competition, I would pause for a moment to ask, how many American consumers are willing to pay higher prices for the goods they purchase to increase manufacturing domestically? Or are we too addicted to maintaining our consumer based lifestyles and maxing out every dollar?
It is fundamentally less expensive to manufacture goods where labor is cheaper than the USA. And we love to pay less for the things that we buy. If we want manufacturing to come back to this country, we, the American consumer, need to be willing to pay the increase costs for goods manufactured here. Manufacturing wage rates in some countries are less than $2/hr whereas in the US its $25-30/hr, depending on the industry. And, depending on which economist or model you look at cost of goods manufactured in the USA could be between 5-20% more expensive, if not more.
One key difference between teachers, Stop & Shop and Marriott, is we cannot outsource educating our kids or service jobs. This is the unfortunate consequence of a consumer based economy combined with the global market and international capitalist companies.
2
This I agree with as long as the product I buy doesnt fall apart in 5 years — speaking specifically about cars as they are more expensive just about everything other than a house. I think our workers assemble cars very well, our engineers however leave much to be desired
1
RE: "because many workers thought the system was rigged against them."
It is. But to vote for those who rigged the system is insanity. They are simply rigging the system even more in their favor while they openly take what they can for themselves while in office. Most of the current office holders are in the position specifically to destroy the protections of the people against the rigged system.
And Trump? Who was going to fight for them? A man who has specialized in not paying for work done. For going bankrupt and not paying his bills. A man who has sought to isolate and distance himself in every way from his entourage to his private estates and clubs to his private jets.
OK, maybe those who thought the system was rigged felt abandoned by the Democrats. But was Trump and this current crop of corruption the price we needed to pay as a country and to come out with a system even more rigged than before as protections (those awful regulations) are dismantled?
2
American seems to finally be woke. Trump is not their savior. It is the unions. The Republicans spent years demonizing and restricting unions by legislatures and now the courts. The net result is falling wages. We are all headed to be Uber "workers." These are small but vital steps. Let's keep the momentum going by voting blue. BTW, we should also not tolerate corruption by unions.
6
The system is rigged against workers, more so since 2007.
Workers desperate for jobs were willing to work for less, do the work of two, be on call 24/7, forego benefits...whatever hardship the employer foisted upon them.
Why? Because upper management and stockholders wouldn't settle...for less profit. So, they squeezed it out of workers.
Now, most large companies employ thousands of temporary workers so they don't have to pay benefits. And, most companies now require workers to sign an agreement allowing the employer to fire them at any time, for any reason, and without cause.
All the while these companies/corporations were receiving millions in tax benefits - but they did not, in fact, put that money back into their businesses - while millions of workers and their families have never recovered the way of life they left behind in 2007.
For all those at the top, all those who work against unions, all those who are indifferent to the majority of American families for whom a $400 unexpected expense would topple their financial well-being...
...imagine where you would be if every worker paid $15 or less per hour went on strike tomorrow?
The truth is...the working class has the power to topple the world economy. Think about it.
5
@Kelly Grace Smith "...imagine where you would be if every worker paid $15 or less per hour went on strike tomorrow?"
The reality of the situation is that there are hundreds of millions of people in developing countries who have absolutely nothing that would love to replace the people making $15/hr and would even be willing to do that work for $2/hr. Compensation is based on how replaceable you are and globalization has made just about everyone a lot more replaceable.
If companies cared about employees, they would pay them better during these low-corporate-tax "boom" times. Things are sooooo rosy for corporate America, that now they consistently earn unprecedented profits (billions) per quarter. They pass-on very little of those profits to their workers.
trump has exacerbated this problem by giving immense tax write-offs to corporations & the wealthy. If trump cared about the middle/working class, his rewritten tax laws of 2018 would have required corporate profits to be shared with workers.
Autoworkers should blame trump's administration for corporate welfare to GM & others, and no help for Americans. trump's administration is so pro-business that they're willing to destroy our environment, our health, and now even our families.... all while "business is booming".
Another aspect of this problems is the low unemployment numbers. Unemployment is low because companies are hiring everyone they can, but at lower wages, and giving existing workers no/minimal raises.
3
If unions would get rid of featherbedding and corruption they could gain a great deal more support.
1
It is also worth noting that this new surge in union activity may (or may not) have been inspired by the actions of another New England supermarket chain. Market Basket (non union shop) workers went on strike just a few short years ago to stop a hostile takeover bid by a family member, Arthur S. Demoulas. His cousin, Arthur T. Demoulas was the beloved president of the company that the employees and workers went on strike to protect. A movie, Food Fight, was produced to document the action.
1
@PJ I’m a huge MB fan and shopper. One thing about that “strike” was that it was top management all the way to bag boy. Unions typically do not include managers. Also suppliers struck as well as customers (I didn’t go to store). It was a wonderful thing - but also wholly unique to this private company, unfortunately. But not sure that movie came out of this strike? I’ve read the book - it’s the classic tale of investors/owners who feel stripping benefits and pay will create greater profit than giving employees benefits and incentives to work harder to generate greater profits. As a consumer, I am so thankful the workers won, as my food bill nearly doubled once I had to go to StopShop and Roache Bros, and I suspect the Arthur S leadership would have raised prices.
1
Many people in this country and in other parts of the developed world, forget that it was unions for the most part that created the Middle Class.
If human nature were such that people were less selfish and greedy, we wouldn't need unions. But unfortunately, it's like trying to change the spots on a leopard.
2
When we look back at this time, at this strike, we will know that a seismic shift took place in American politics. This national strike will be viewed as the symbol that it rightly is - the time when workers finally decided to fight back. For their right to be treated like decent human beings, with employee benefits that recognize they are people first, and employees second. For the right to wages that will support them and their families. Folks, this is how most people in the West live. They see these things as the rights that they should be.
After decades of Republican control that have destroyed many of the rights peoples' fathers and mothers fought so hard for, they are finally fighting back. But I'm willing to bet that this strike will have a huge impact on next year's election. It will provide the impetus to candidates like Liz Warren, who has already made her solid case in support of the middle class. And it will shine a bright light on the likes of Trump and his cronies, who only consider people for as long as they need to use them - then toss them away like so much garbage when they're through.
This strike will be a rallying cry. It transcends race, ethnicity, religion and gender. It is one of the unifying causes that Democrats will rally around, and can rightly claim the mantle. This next election will be much more than a question of Republicans vs Democrats. It will be a referendum about the fundamental right of all of us to be treated like human beings.
3
@Donegal This strike is not special. It is but a mere chapter in the book of globalization.
There are now hundreds of millions more people in the labor market today than there were 25 years ago. Strikes are effective when a group (union) can control the labor market. This was tough to do when the labor market for cars was almost entirely surrounding Detroit. It is IMPOSSIBLE to control the labor market in a world where the labor market covers the entire globe.
One of the takeaways from The American Factory (Netflix or "Obama Netflix" if you prefer) is that the system is rigged against those who are poorly educated and barely make enough money to get by. There is nothing to put away for a rainy day. There is nothing to put away for making life changes that would result in better opportunities somewhere else. There is no way to get out from under the oppressive conditions that many people experience on a daily basis. It is in the best interests of the mega corporations and their shareholders to keep workers enslaved by making sure any other options are blocked. It is modern day serfdom and I believe the way out is higher education. Higher education teaches critical thinking skills and these are necessary for adapting to the many changes and challenges we all face in life. We need to rig the system in favor of the workers who make this country great every single day for all of us. #Vote2020
3
Have a boss? You need a union.
1
Such a naive article.
Sure American consumers support the strike "in principle".
But when it comes time for them to buy their new car, when given the choice of buying a Detroit union-made car or a $2,000 cheaper equivalent non-union Tennessee or South Carolina car, we know they will choose the latter.
And GM will close more plants and more "union" members will be laid off, and the UAW membership will continue to decline.
There is only ONE market. Detroit UAW workers are LESS productive, have higher healthcare costs, than non-union autoworkers. There is nothing they can do, long term, to keep their jobs other than accept lower pay and pay more for their health insurance.
These strikes just continue the decline.
4
@Baron95
People go for the cheaper alternative because their low wages offer no choice. The natural extension of your logic will be products made by slave labor.
5
Interesting how you argue here that the worker demand for decent quality of life through their labor in our supposedly “great” nation is evidence of a “decline”. Especially when that request is put forward in an era when the investor and CEO classes maintain that they “must” retain and not share with their co-workers the squillions in value they have channeled to themselves or they will simply have to move their manufacturing elsewhere where workers have no choice but to be exploited. So is it naive to imagine that these fellow citizens should aspire to more than the quality of life and subsistence available to the working class Mexican citizen... that this “dream” is the best an American can or should aspire to in 2019? Decline indeed! Let me guess ... this assertion of naïveté emerges from someone who would be easily able to afford an unexpected $400 expense (if it occurred tomorrow) unlike 40 percent of today’s working America... I disagree. It’s never naive to demand equity in a community that has become hypnotized by greed at the top. I disagree on the potential of consumer behavior to attack selfishness in the CEO, executive and investor classes. I think Americans are willing to start looking at who they buy their cars from, perhaps even paying more, for goods that come from companies that tamp down greed by promoting equity and fairness. Just sticking an American flag on a car wont make me loyal to it if the bosses are principles in the greed disease that ails is all.
3
The system is indeed rigged for the wealthy like Trump and McConnell to make more money. They suppress votes so that Republicans continues to control government although the majority of Americans do not support the party. With Republicans in control, the average American has little hope of getting ahead in life.
1
The interesting thing about this moment in history — once again with the UAW at the vanguard — is that it has the potential to refocus Americans more broadly on the “realistic opportunity for quality of life through diligent work” as opposed to simply “more pay” or “fewer taxes”. Appropriately in this case the target is the greed of the CEO, executive and large-shareholder classes. A re-examination of American life and culture is indeed in order in that regard, and this may be the start. Greed and selfishness embedded in our culture is the issue for 2020. However, no matter what the politicos say, you can’t legislate (effectively) against selfish behavior in business, on the street, or in govt. For example, who in government is to decide how much is too much to pay a greedy CEO (who somehow “needs” 40mil a year while laying off thousands of his neighbors) or how to call to account the small businessperson who holds down employee wages because he/she “needs” that 3rd boat next Spring? That is not government’s role and Americans won’t be moved by blame and shame punditry from the hustings. But when citizens begin refusing to accept selfish behavior out in our own little spheres — that’s when worlds can change. Maybe it does just start with using turn signals on the highway and making consumer decisions based on employer equity and employment fairness. So perhaps once again the autoworker can show us what we all should all be asking for on the street corner and in the workplace.
4
The Republican party systematically destroyed the American union movement. Trump is crushing what's left.
7
The author forgot to mention the $11,000 annual bonuses these striking workers received the past 3 years. And there is the nature of the competition. The non-union foreign based automakers who produce vehicles in the south, pay less on average per vehicle to construct one as their wages are lower on average. Then you have the American public who does not seem to have a sense of loyalty to American based automakers. The author seems to think the public will support the workers here, when the consumerist mindset is that a less expensive product is the best way to ensure affordability. And labor is a major component of that. The 7 percent figure for the percentage of the lower wage tier does not seem like a high figure. It would go up over time though when new hires replace retiring employees.
It would be nice if GM kept more plants going here in the USA and not rely so much on Mexico and Canada. But higher wages is not the way to go.
18
@Robert The seven percent is temporary workers. The lower tier permanent workers constitute around thirty or forty percent. All of this is new. The UAW, more than almost any other union, was historically committed to a flat wage scale for all production workers, with a relatively small differential for skilled trades (electricians, machinists, etc.). In other words, it was committed to equality.
34
@Robert: Companies like to substitute bonuses for raises because bonuses do not raise an employee’s base salary nor do they compound year by year as raises do. Also, bonuses can be changed or stopped at any time; they are not cooked into the compensation agreement the way raises are.
26
@Robert Are managers not workers? They seem to have given themselves hefty wages. If all you say is true, then it should apply to them as well. A dollar paid, is a dollar paid no matter who gets it.
14
It is rigged against the workers. The company gets the bailout and goes back to making gas guzzlers with big profits. the workers look for some part of the profit and preserve the healthcare plan, not to mention wholesale moving (almost like the Agriculture Department scientists be moved to Kansas wheat fields on short notice), and told that it is a good wholesome proposal by GM. A president who in campaign times railed against rigging went and rigged the country for the wealthy in tax cuts , where for those with money, more money makes more money that any worker could ever dream of. The workers know better than Trump about the (paraphrasing) line where the boss gets the mine and they get the shaft.
123
Stop treating part time workers as legal loopholes that allow multibillion dollar corporations to skirt labor law.
It's time for shareholders and boards of directors to provide these part time workers the pay and benefits that they deserve.
Legal loopholes aren't innovation, and the boards and shareholders shouldn't be rewarded for such behavior.
157
@Martin and I heard recently that Amazon is moving to stop providing benefits to part time workers at Whole Foods.
8
@Laura
he just did.
and Bezos is worth $110,000,000,000
yes- you read that right- one hundred ten BILLION
5
@Martin Corporations, hospitals, universities and many other businesses today are using part-time workers so they don't have to pay higher wages and benefits. Companies in America no longer care about their work force it is only about their bottom line.
4
When General Motors was hurting financially, union workers accepted cuts. Now GM is making large profits, union workers should share in the benefit. Unless you support even greater inequality, the workers deserve more. The pendulum has swung too far toward the wealthy, it's time to bring it back toward the rest. Unions built the middle class. We need them to be strong today.
267
This is why Unions and workers need a meaningful role in corporate governance boards.
34
@EdBx
I always find it rather ironic AND arrogant that when GM and other automobile executives came to appear in front of a committee looking for a taxpayer hand out to save them, each one of those executives flew into Washington on their individual corporate airplanes.
This is the kind of total disconnect that has increased between corporations, their role in society and those that work for them whom actually make the products they sell and clearly, if America as a viable country and economy is going to continue to exist, that attitude has to drastically change and change immediately.
Republicans are clearly not interested and there are only a handful of democratic Presidential candidates who have the political will and guts to stand up to the corruption and actually do something about it. The days of moderate/centrist/corporate establishment politicians who continue to serve the interests of these corporations at the expense of everyone else has to end.
24
@EdBx most lost their jobs not cuts. GM will be headed back to into the red and and worked will again lose jobs if they bow to unrealistic demands. Then the US Gov will bail them out and tax payers will, once again, foot the bill.
3
GM is profitable at this point. The workers want what they think is a share of those profits, just as the executive staff and the shareholders do. The workers are using the tool they have--a legal strike, just as the executive staff and shareholders use the tools they have.
A strong country needs balance. Time for labor to push back and see what they can get. If we had more balance in the economy Uber drivers wouldn't be living in their cars and Wal Mart employees wouldn't be living on food stamps and Medicaid.
293
@The Poet McTeagle
History showed that gains made by labor in the past occurred only when workers were willing to fight back using violence and threats of violence. Corporations did all they could to suppress unions and keep workers as near serfs.
Violence - or even threats - will not be tolerated today. The coal and copper miners of old would be classified as 'domestic terrorists' today. Even non-violent protests are treated as existential threats to the state. Look at how the 'Occupy' movement was crushed - a disorganized group who simply said 'Something is very wrong' when trillions bailed out banks and wall street.
5
@The Poet McTeagle Balance will only be acheived once the developing world catches up to the developed world. UAW workers have zero leverage when there are hundreds of millions of people in India, China, Mexico, etc. that are willing to do the same work for a fraction of the cost.
1
@AACNY partnership relationships require both sides to be invested in the partnership. Not just the unions.
1
If autoworkers thought that this “president” was going to be on their side, they deserve to be disappointed. HIs life-long record of cheating workers, cheating citizens, exploiting our tax system and government subsidies for his benefit, was all on record before the Russians helped him get elected. He’s never worked an honest day in his life; why would he be on the side of workers?
323
@Gustav Aschenbach
Do you think he ever actually spoke to a worker, except to chew one out? Standing behind a podium in an arena is the closest he ever gets to his supporters, who somehow beleive he's one of them. If he ever touched one, by accident of course, he'd have to bathe in Purell for a week.
32
Nobody “deserves” to suffer, to have a hard time, no matter what mistakes they’ve made.
8
@jkk - "Nobody “deserves” to suffer, to have a hard time,"
Really? You haven't been listening. That's not the case in GOP land where it is not enough to win it is to see others suffer for it.
Remember one of Trump's supporters saying "I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be."?
Remember Trump speaking about "pay back" and "hitting them hard"?
Remember the Republicans targeting blue states with tax increases?
Remember Republicans caging children and seeking to deport people to suffer and then die?
Part of winning, for Republicans, is to hurt people. They even say so.
38
https://www.amazon.com/Janesville-American-Story-Amy-Goldstein/dp/1501102230
I recently read this book. Not bad. Gives an interesting look at a GM company town and the resulting mess when they closed the plant down. A lot of people have taken the short road in these towns. Bailed out of high school to take a job at 'the plant' to make union money for doing a menial job rather than continuing their education and learning a profession or a trade. This has gone on for generations. It's expected. Back in granddad's time, manual labor was the only way to manufacture a lot of products. Those days have been going and are now pretty much gone. Sometimes the short road isn't the best path forward.
1
In this day and age, a strike by workers 'sick and tired' of the odious inequality of this capitalistic system, have been able to re-institute the 'motto' of 'Strength in numbers'. Unions, flawed as they have been (are?), have revolutionized labor practices and given 'jobs' a dignity sorely lacking before. The current strike is a reminder that 'any chain is only as strong as it's weakest link', and that, beyond democracy's legacy of establishing dialogue, seeks solidarity by integrating all elements of society; and justice demands it; without it, peace shall remain just a distant dream. However treacherous the times we are going through in these Trumpian times, we must remain firmly grounded in reality...and hold our politicians to the truth. Too bad republicans have become lap dogs to Trump's chaotic whims, but the people of these United States are waking up and challenging their demagoguery and organized destruction of this suffering democracy. It's about time.
3
Unions have declined in power mostly because the rank and file union workers are GOP supporters. Many were and still are Trump supporters. They like Trump because, just like them, he just makes stuff up and expects everyone to believe him. He is not fact based and thus to like him one does not have to be knowledgeable. I have often said that Trump is a common type of man. His type is very common among union trade workers.
There are things that are inexplicable. One of those things is that the union rank and file believe in the GOP. When such madness happens I think it is best for those who are in the grip of delusion be subjected to the reality they are incapable of seeing. We should not help unions, because their members are brainwashed. They must be taught the reality.
2
@Chris The main reason for their loss of power is globalization. Workers in different countries don't share the same values and would never agree to the same terms.
I was a shop steward in the Boston hotel industry in the late 70s-early 80s.
We pushed back hard against what we thought was a "rigged system" for one reason - it was rigged!
All we wanted was modest increases in health insurance, and a modest increase in wages. We got it. On the eve of a strike.
(something about management's fear of thousands of guests being tended to by untrained scabs ....)
The immoral disparity and rigging is not hard at all to deduce- just compare the net profit margin of the white guys at top (and yes, it is still almost always white guys) with the net salary of the workers. (looking at the net rate of income tax also paid by each would also be enlightening.)
Then ask 2 questions:
1) at what point is the chasm of disparity obscene?
2) who is really breaking the sweat ?
3) how much will it really effect the guy on top to shave off another fraction of a zero (see below) in order to take care of the people who hold him up.
Case in point today September 17, 2020-
Jeff Bezos, who is worth more than $110,000,000 ,000 (yes, that's right TEN zeros- $ 110 billion) just completely cut health care benefits for more than 2,000 part time workers. Why?
"to better meet the needs of business" he says.
Oink Oink Oink
Some things never change - unless we insist very loudly that they do.
124
@r mackinnon
My favorite thing about the low wage industries like hospitality, home health care, retail and food service is that they complain that it is next to impossible to get good and reliable help. Like they are shocked that no one is super inclined to be "dedicated" when they work for a less than living wage with a constantly changing schedule and hours and no benefits.
They are the "front line" and public face of these businesses, yet are not paid enough to live off of in major metro areas.
Hotels really aggravate me with their "fees" like $20 "resort fee" that covers 2 bottles of water and a newspaper- yet I know they pay so poorly that I feel guilty not leaving housekeeping a tip.
So it's like no one wins- corporations nickel and dime customers while grossly underpaying staff, while raking in record profits.
35
@MC Well someone does win. The CEO, and the congressmen/senators that he owns. That is by design. They don't WANT anyone else to have a chance to win.
25
My generation (millennials) and younger are just baffled by the country's anti-union sentiment for the last few decades. Whatever magic Reagan and his ilk worked on you guys to convince you not to stand up for your own self-interests is gone now. Good riddance!
13
@T. Now, if you would all PLEASE vote!!!!
My sympathies have always been always with workers. Too bad they don't realize which party's recorded history proves that it's the Democrats who will fight for them.
Vote democratic as if your life depended on them. It may.
7
The tagline to this article says "Workers think the system is against them" should be changed to "Workers know the system is against them.," in order to reflect reality.
9
It *IS* rigged against them
Globalization handed employers two new tools to hold down US wages
1. If you are not willing to work for the wages we offer, we
will move the factory to Mexico, or China
2. If you are not willing to work for the wages we offer, we
will import people from abroad, who are willing to work
for less
This was all wildly applauded by free trade economist. And still is - Krugman writes daily against tariffs
But in the US, as a worker, you can only go on strike, now
if your job can not be outsourced, or taken over by immigrants, or is protected by a tariff
And it is a TARRIF that allowed the UAW do GO ON STRIKE
Production of Pick Truck and large SUVs in the US is protected by a 25% tariffs since 1964.
5
@Woof Thank god someone else realizes the reality of the situation. There are literally 100's of millions of people who would do the work for a quarter of what the current workers are making.
The simple Neoclassical theory that wages equal marginal productivity seems to have lost its ring at the center of an increasingly complex economic environment. A tight labor market, aging population, increased automation, globalism, etc. all put upward or downward pressure on wages.
I believe larger corporations and business for the most part are able to afford the wage demands of employees, though I am less convinced of this ability in small and medium-sized businesses.
Here in Maine, we have the oldest population in the country. Many small businesses, particularly in more rural areas, simply cannot afford or attract labor in the current labor market. When labor force participant reservation wages are high enough to impact business profitability, business find themselves in a catch 22. They can 1) not hire and struggle 2) hire labor, but struggle to make a margin or 3) hire and raise prices (which has consequences of its own).
Maine will be a very interesting economic case study in the coming decade when, by 2030, 3 in 10 Mainers will be over the age of 65. The labor market is tight now? Just wait.
1
I recall US taxpayers bailing out GM and Chrysler 10 years ago. I would hope that GM would remember that before they moved plants out of the country.
1
@KLM GM isn't moving plants out of the country. GM is closing them entirely because they aren't building these models at all anymore.
Nice use of a strike by UAW officials to deflect from the recent corruption charges against one of their leaders. Meantime workers will make $250/week while the union ‘bosses’ will receive full pay during the strike. Sad
2
Think? It IS rigged against them. That's a fact. It's rigged against all of us. Whether you're sitting behind a desk or working in an auto factory.
1
It is rigged against us. As a nurse 2 cost of living raises since "08. Daughter has just graduated she is making the same starting wage I did on 1996. Meanwhile my management friends at United Health Care are living in million dollar homes....you tell me.
9
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master14 and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another,”
2
I thought Trump was fighting for the American worker. More likely the Saudis to me.
4
It would be valuable to compare the pay and benefits of the GM UAW workers against their US counterparts working in US plants making German and Japanese vehicles. Why are the Americans working in BMW, Honda and Toyota plants here in the USA happy, while employees at GM are not?
German auto maker BMW has a US vehicle assembly facility (BMW Spartanburg) located in Greer, South Carolina. It is BMW's only assembly plant in the US and it has a workforce of 8,800 employees.
In 2018, more than 60% of all Honda and Acura automobiles sold in the U.S. are made in the U.S., using domestic & globally sourced parts. Honda has 12 factories in the US & 14 R&D facilities. Honda employees more than 27,000 people in the US.
Toyota has more than $22 billion direct investment in the US, including 10 manufacturing facilities & 1,500 dealerships. Toyota USA has 136,000 (direct and indirect) employees.
What do the Germans and Japanese do, that GM management is missing?
7
Concession almost never work. Chrysler workers learned that in the late 1970s. Doug Fraser, the UAW president at the time, was dogged by this for the rest of his life.
1
The Unions in the USA, or anywhere really, might not function as well as they are supposed to, but what does?
In any case, without unions, workers are basically left to the mercy of the employers who in turn, to a higher and higher degree, has no face to complain to and no sould that can be merciful. So, it would then be up to the governments to step in, you know, like socialism.
And of course they are right, the system is, in fact, rigged against them.
5
" For 2018, GM CEO Mary Barra's total compensation was $21.87 million — about 281 times as much as GM's median employee's compensation of $77,849."
Positively obscene, when did it become okay for executives to gift themselves such salaries, we see this out of control greed all though out corporate America, the people on top skimming the big profits for themselves, while the people who actually do all the hard work struggle to make ends meet.
Is it any wonder why a simmering rage plays in the background of American society today like a malevolent tune, threatening to boil over at with the slightest push.
It's this sense of entitlement that runs through the minds of the rich, they have completely lost touch with the working class, and lost touch with right from wrong.
The average worker after the taxes are taken out of their checks, Federal, State city, after buying groceries for the family, paying the rent/mortgage, car payment, car insurance, phone bill, electric bill, gas, there is so little left over, that the slightest emergency, can break them financially. People doing, what they were told, was the right thing, going to work everyday, working hard everyday, still struggling and fearful of what might come. While the executives dip into the companies profits for any amount they want, doesn't the company belong equally to both? In many ways , its a dishonest system.
People who work hard feel cheated.
15
@Lonnie
Her salary is only 2.1 million dollars, actually. That full amount quoted includes stock awards, stock options, and performance awards. In other words her pay is mostly made up of stock in the company, meaning she's only wealthy as long as she does a good job and keeps the company valuable. And the 4.5 million dollar bonus she got was awarded by the board of directors, she didn't just give it to herself.
Her salary is also set by the board, they were the ones who hired her. They set her pay high in order to keep her at the company, because her skills are valued and they don't want her to leave. They give her stock awards and stock options to further tie her wealth to the company, to make sure she stays with them and keeps doing a good job for the board and other shareholders.
This is an entirely different world from rank and file labor, whose skills are not valued by the company, and whose compensation is given more as a way to mollify the union than to ensure retention. That's the main difference: Mary Barra has lots of options, many companies would be thrilled to poach her from GM and they know it, so they offer her a lot of incentives to stay, but there ain't nobody lining up to steal UAW away from GM.
1
Workers KNOW they don't count anymore because our rotten politicians on both sides continue to take massive bribes.
@joe Hall
Bernie or Liz 2020
I do find it rather ironic that when people criticize unions for wanting to improve their incomes and benefits, they forget that back in the 1930s when many were killed for protesting on behalf of their organization, it was the unions that actually created the middle class in America. I also find it ironic that those that make the same criticism seem to have no problem with the TRILLION AND A HALF tax cut that was handed out primarily to the benefit of the wealthy and corporations, TRILLIONS of taxpayer dollars handed out to prop up financial institutions that caused the economic collapse in 2008 which ultimately cost millions of jobs and hundreds of BILLIONS given to an already bloated military/industrial complex to fight never ending wars around the world, yet, these same wealthy individuals fight an increase in the minimum wage.
By the way, has anyone ever wondered why no one followed up with what happened to the missing TRILLIONS from the Pentagon? When are you finally going to wake up America? You have been the victim of a con job for over forty years!
28
Americans love to stand for the greatness of their country and their Democracy (Sort of a Democracy). Then somehow they become sold on the idea that a democratic organization that represents workers is an evil thing. All that while Corporate Executives layoff workers and reduce pay for employees to "earn" multimillion dollar bonuses.
Why is it so hard to understand that the poorest and weakest are only strong if they stand together with one voice in a "Union" of like minded people? It is the only way power can reasonably be shared between self serving 1% and the masses.
12
Effectively the UAW is putting a pistol to their heads and pulling the trigger. They may win in the short term though I doubt it. They are NOT irreplaceable they are expendable. They are NOT competing with folks in Nashville or Mobile anymore. People who earn nearly the same wages and benefits. Instead they are competing with people earning 10$ a day. In an era of "Free Trade", "Globalization" & very very limited tariffs in most cases. I got news UAW isn't profitable for GM. Although I suspect the nonunion auto plants, the Japanese & Korean automakers and the people in GM Mexico are very happy for the strike and hope the UAW keeps it up.
Organized labor better accept the fact that automation & the 3rd world are coming for THEIR jobs & make their plans accordingly. Welcome to the Global world! It isn't a good place for labor now & is only going to get worse in the future.
Lastly the UAW workers are doing better then 99.99999% of all hourly laborers in the country. So I honestly don't think there is a lot of sympathy among workers who don't even earn what GM temps earn. Do the words overplaying your hand mean anything to the UAW?
2
Ugh.
While there is no doubt that UAW workers are disappointed in what Trump has delivered to date, have we forgotten that Trump has also aggressively criticized GM CEO Mary Barra for her decisions? I know, I know Trump's only possible motivation for Mary Barra was sexism and misogyny, so therefore the fact that it came on the heels of her deciding to close US factories and lay off workers doesn't count.
The real question for Trump's supporters here is not whether Trump has delivered on what he promised, but whether he has made an effort. How much criticism of Mary Barra have we heard from Kamala Harris, Beto O'Rourke or Julian Castro?
1
@AACNY
A "Champion"? Give your head a shake. Is that why during his multiple bankruptcies he "stiffed" countless small contractors out of money he owed that worked for him and then told them if they didn't like it sue him?
Of course, most could not because they did not have the funds for lawyers to fight long court process and many of them went out of business. Trump has been involved in over 4000 lawsuits during his business career, he is an expert at it.
Just ask the farmers in the midwest if he is for the small business person. He only cares about fighting his "easy to win" trade wars, he couldn't care less about them
Big corporations day of ruling is coming to an end, without workers they are nothing. Take note.
1
"With many Americans angry about factories moving overseas, the autoworkers union also wants G.M. to reopen its giant plant in Lordstown, Ohio."
OK, do we get a big shout out from the NYT and its OP-ED writers to support this point?
The silence is deafening.
Perhaps Krugman could weigh in on this to give us his thoughts on this? Does he support this union demand? We know the answer. To him making this sort of promise is foolish. In the current OP-ED piece this demand a noble one made by salt of the earth workers.
And how many OP-ED writers and readers own a vehicle built in the US by unionized labor? This doesn't include VW, BMW, Toyota, Honda, Mercedes, Nissan. It also doesn't include Tesla located in progressive-minded California. Those vehicles are assembled by non-union labor in, for the most part, right to work states.
Perhaps we can all join in for a chorus of "Solidarity in Certain Cases Forever!". That about sums it up.
@Jp
If you notice, MSM rarely wants to discuss the issue of massive corruption in America which has gone a long way to create the atmosphere that now exists. Politicians take money from corporations in order to create policies that serve the interests of the corporation, neither the consumer NOR the worker and it is finally time for Americans to wake up and elect politicians who will do something about that now.
@Deus: All that may be true but the fact is the NYT on the one hand is paying lip service to striking GM workers and on the other hand is championing globalization that is in large part responsible for losing jobs in the US.
My main point of contention is whether folks walk the talk. For the NYT and apparently many of its readers that is not the case.
I can tell you that many of my friends who were Trump supporters (I didn't vote for the guy) will call out hypocrisy.
1
I hope this recent hot streak in labor protests can finally invigorate my colleagues in the games industry to unionize against rampant overwork and employer mistreatment. I'll gladly take to the streets for that.
4
"You won't get me
I'm part of the Union,
You won't get me
I'm part of the Union,
You won't get me
I'm part of the Union,
'Til the day I die!"
2
I started working for a paycheck at 14 (tobacco). I've been working my whole life (now 68) and yes, indeed, management will crush, bleed, and exploit workers every chance they get. It is the nature of capitalism in America. Profit is God. Nothing else counts.
7
I am SURE the system is rigged against me.
And I have no labor union or government to act on my behalf.
1
A "free market" means just this. Workers are "free" to negotiate for what they feel is their share of the profits that they have helped create.
It also means fair competition between multiple companies with no monopolistic practices and consideration for customers in value and safety and for the environment.
In present legal interpretations, current shareholder return is the primary and often the only consideration in business practices.
It got that way because of corruption in the US government with big corporations essentially buying politicians. That was culminated in the Supreme Court Citizens United decision which showed that the Supreme Court has degenerated into a bunch of elite shareholders becoming richer as a result of their decision.
It is time for a change.
4
@DGP
Too general. This came to be by the carefully crafted dissembling of Republicans and the use of religion and bigotry to gain support to do pretty much exactly opposite of what they were promising. What they did was to undo the New Deal that was purpose designed to control for these things you allude to while making things wrong and formerly illegal explicitly legal and promoting propaganda to make it seem they always were and the idea that they are wrong is just ludicrous crazy people who want something for nothing. Funny that because it is exactly what the GOOP has given themselves and those who buy them since 1980.
I taught college as an adjunct professor, or junk professor for $600/course/month per semester. No unions in Texas for that work, nor many others. On-line courses in community colleges replace in-house profs. AI, robots and moving businesses overseas have all added to the economic malaise all suffer. Yet NYT writes that houses in the USA are much bigger than others, world-wide. This article tells of a segment of our gig/segmented/workforce as we heedlessly and thoughtlessly head for Mars, see driverless trucks and cars on the road, view automated checkout at supermarkets, toll booths, all bypassing humans who need those jobs. What union represents that group/groups?
3
I used to be a Republican and vehemently anti union. I am a doctor and I naively thought that hard work will get you that nice job and pension. But then I slowly realized that there are many hard workers in America. Teachers are vastly underpaid for what they do. Not everyone can or should be a lawyer, doctor, engineer, entrepreneur, professional athlete etc. We still need janitors and teachers and labor in this country. Now, I don’t think janitors should make the same as a doctor or lawyer but I do think their work is vastly undervalued. As with all labor in this country. I happily now support unions and wish for less inequities in this country which will lead to a more stable and happy society. All the republicans talk about is how the poorest in this country still make more than others in socialist countries. My retort is that things are all relative. It doesn’t matter if your raw earning power is more when you have to also spend US dollars, when health care in this country is unaffordable even with insurance, etc.
27
@Brian
Agreed. Its like when people quote "I cried because I had no shoes and then I met a man without feet". I get what they are saying, but I want to point out that you still don't have any shoes. And its snowing. And you are standing barefoot in snow.
7
@Brian
Also, the AMA, which is, by almost any measure, a union.
3
@Brian
Without all those janitors and the little people doing their jobs well, you couldn't do yours.
You are only as good as all those working alongside of you. Even those you don't see.
Sorry, but doctor and lawyers are just using different muscles than that janitor that is keeping you safe 'n healthy.
That janitor is going to be used up by age 50. You on the other hand can still stand/sit there well into your 80's.
It's debatable that doctors and lawyers deserve to be paid drastically higher wages than those unseen keeping America running.
4
It is rigged. The workers get it done for little pay and long hours. The executives and shareholders are rolling in money. How about the workers pay include stock?
3
There is a bit of unreality here with striking GM workers relying on the UAW to protect them, while there is this massive fraud investigation of that same UAW. Over my 45 year career I worked with 5 different national unions, not one of them were honest. I'm sure that somewhere, there are unions that have the best interest of their membership at heart, its just that I haven't found one. Given that union membership is below 10% nationwide, it appears that a whole lot of other people feel the same way.
1
@Bruce1253
State employee union in Connecticut. Good people, doing a good job.
Given that management and the Republicans have spend years and millions to destroy unions I'm not surprised that union membership is low.
1
@sjs
I don't think that unions should be destroyed, I think that we need some form of worker representation particularly in large organizations. The current iteration of worker representation is on a death spiral because they are about money and power, not about their members best interest. Yes they have done good things in the past, but that was then, now they are mostly corrupt and living in the past.
We need workers representatives who will remind companies that workers are critical to their success. When workers are involved in making the company successful through their knowledge and skill, everyone profits. Those profits must also be shared with those who make the profits possible. If that is done, an organization will have an involved and committed workforce. Such a thing makes for a world beating company.
I see no conflict between having an organization that represents workers and an active and involved workforce. All that is required is flexibility mutual commitment on both sides.
@Bruce1253
I think the point is the corporations do think unions should be destroyed and have done their best to do so.
1
Although I tend to see union sentiments in the lens of old school corruption, the sense that the system is rigged against workers is very real. I hope that they will not be suckered, as they have in the past, with promises of gilded benefits and pensions. They should negotiate for higher wages that put money in their pockets now.
3
Labor is not valued in this country. There is an overabundance of cheap labor, and automation has made it so fewer people can produce ever more profit. As a result it's very hard for labor to negotiate unless they have an entrenched union. For a great deal of service industry jobs, they have no bargaining power. From the business standpoint labor is just an expensive, truculent function within the company that they haven't been able to successfully automate yet.
Then, in addition to this, you have ballooning costs for health insurance make hiring full time employees increasingly expensive. This is why the gig economy took off in the last decade, because it was a way to employ people without taking on most of the costs of actually employing them. The combination of labor being undervalued and its costs being inflated by health insurance obligations makes it extremely hard even for unionized workers to bargain against management.
For workers with no union, negotiation is entirely dependent on personal relationships with one's superiors, there's no secure bargaining position to speak of and any kind of push back against management usually results in firings. This is the reality of labor in the information and automation age, when your function makes you immanently replaceable and the cost of hiring you incentivizes businesses to avoid giving you a job in the first place if they can help it.
4
Speaking as someone who was an executive at Fortune 500 companies, yes, the system is rigged against the poor and middle class. Corporations own the government, pay little tax, excessively reward execs like me, and will lay off, cost reduce, and outsource without any regard for the people or communities involved. The only thing that stopped us from acting even worse was public opinion causing decreased sales and the threat (hollow as it is) of jail time. It was certainly fun riding around in the corporate jet, getting the bonuses, and having events at the Super Bowl, but I still feel guilty about it all.
19
@kramnot you know you can change by volunteering for political office or teaching college courses with values tied in.
3
@Calleendeoliveira Yes I try to volunteer now, contribute to charities, help others less fortunate. I still feel guilty but I guess that is my penance for being part of the corporate establishment.
1
Perhaps demand for Chevy Cruzes had declined because GM stopped promoting the model.
My family lives in Youngstown and I live in California. I have never seen a Cruze advertised on the west coast.
Are we sure GM is not manipulating the market... after all these years of shaping public demand?
6
Unions and strikers still walk a precarious road in the U.S. Over the last 30 (or so ) years, union membership has eroded- not because workers are loathe to join unions but businesses have perfected the art of union avoidance tactics; firing organizers and intimidating workers into compliance. There is always the threat of hiring "replacement workers" aka Scabs during a strike. And...there are always many willing to cross their own picket lines.
I am glad however to see G.M. workers willing to strike as they have giving up much during G.M.'s lean years and it is time for the corporation to give back. I wish them the best.
11
@AACNY
Then they are freedom of choice NOT to belong to unions. At what point did republicans advocate for unions rights. They're concern was only about donations not workers rights.
2
"Class warfare exists and my class is winning."
-Warren Buffett
Unions are good. If corporations are people, so are unions...
41
@JLT Love your last line! Yes, because unions actually represent many, many people, not just a ruling family or corporate board.
1
Nope, but then they and their relatives go out and vote for Donald Trump and the GOP, the very people rigging the system against them, they don't seem to comprehend that the loss of union power the GOP has undertaken for so many years has led to this, or that the GOP ultimately only cares about the very rich who benefit from making the middle class poor.
24
@music observer You are right, but rather than blaming the voters, the Democratic Party needs to look in the mirror and ask why it is no longer considered the party for organized labor. If it were to run candidates as such, especially like Bernie Sanders and in a close second, Elizabeth Warren, it wouldn´t have a problem getting the support of working voters and their families.
Though I don’t take polls, though I do sometimes read them, I feel a sea change in this country. Actually I’m surprised its taken this long for Americans who pride themselves on being independent and brave to realize they have been (I won’t say the word) over for almost 40 years. It happened so gradually, its like the frog in the pot of boiling water.
They are hopping out of the pot and fighting to be treated with respect. We haven’t been treated with respect for a very long time, more like serfs than well-trained workers that make American companies profitable. And yes, they are profitable.
2020 will be very, interesting, very interesting indeed. The day of the billionaire who has cut everything for workers to the bone is ending. On top of that, many CEO’s do realize that that sea change is here and know that it's time for American business to change how it treats its workers.
Stay tuned America.
18
The Stop and Shop strike hit home in more than one way, as many rabbis said that shopping there during the strike would render the kosher food treif, non-kosher. Fortunately I do not live in a food desert.
I find it odd that the piece refers to Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar and Warren marching alongside the striking workers but didn't ever mention Bernie Sanders' long history of marching on picket lines, even as a senator.
6
@Jacob Sommer Bernie is a pariah in the MSM.
1
@DG I still find it amazing that various news outlets try to downplay or ignore Bernie. Of course, it’s hard to beat the last election cycle time when one of the cable news channels kept a camera on Trump’s empty podium while ignoring Bernie Sanders giving a speech at the exact same time.
1
World trade agreements are the cause of all these problems
5
@DC
See Sir James Goldsmith on Charlie Rose in 1994 before GATT was passed. He correctly said that free trade was going to destroy the jobs base in western industrial nations, that they would be committing economic suicide.
'Free Trade' means an endless pursuit of the lowest possible labor costs.
Labor is viewed as a cost - not an asset. Instead of a future utopia where all benefit from automation and lower production costs, those that control capital benefit with increasing wealth going into fewer and fewer hands.
Even the well paid are little more than indentured servants these days - expected to work 60-80 hours a week, never take the vacation they're due, be available 24/7 while seeing careers end at age 50 to be replaced with younger cheaper versions of themselves.
17
@DC
Sure. And corporate greed has nothing to do with it.
2
@cynicalskeptic Exactly. "Free trade" is only free for Capital, not Labor. Capital gets to basically operate on an open borders policy, moving and profiting wherever suits it best, while the movement of Labor abroad is increasingly criminalized.
1
"The U.S. government spent $49.5 billion to bail out GM, and after the company's bankruptcy in 2009, the government's investment was converted to a 61 percent equity stake in the company."
4
When Stop & Shop workers went out on strike, I thought the limit of our support would be to not cross the picket line for a few days. I was so wrong. We, and many others in our small town bought the striking workers beverages and food. We stopped by to see them most days, and stood on the line with them for a few minutes when we could. We bought bus tokens and umbrellas. Stop & Shop is the only full size supermarket in our town, so we drove to the closest city to find another store.
The Stop & Shop workers are part of our community, their demands seem fair, and certainly I care more about them than I do Ahold in the Netherlands. It was an inconvenience for us for 11 days, but nothing compared to what the workers were going through. I was surprised and proud of the support our towns, and others across New England stepped up and gave. I wish the UAW success.
25
@MyjobisinIndianow That’s how it used to be before the Republican Party began to shred Unions. Just watch, they will do everything they can to demonize them, just watch.
2
All one needs to do is look at a chart of productivity growth vs wage growth by decile and you can easily see the balance of power has gone. In the 1980s, corporations got rid of pensions. In the 2000s, 401k matching shrank or disappeared. Now some want to hand social security over to the wealthy. The country is headed to a new age of aristocracy
29
@Marston Gould
You did not mention that many of these corps and the vulture capitalists like Mitt Romney stole the Pension and H&W funds of companies they bought because those companies had no debt and owned all their equipment and then they destroyed them so they could sell the equipment to China and other places and the people who worked for them were dumped on to the welfare rolls as if it meant nothing at all to do this to a fellow American. Good times.....
5
Maybe labor should have thought twice when they accepted Reagan years ago?
Maybe they should have watched "Roger and Me" by Michael Moore. The documentary which exposed GM's incompetence and greed.
Maybe it's a little late, after 20+ years of GOP union busting, to awaken?
Maybe it's hard to have empathy for self-destructive people.
13
@David Henry
20+ years of unions busting by the GOP? Try union busting since labor actually had the gall to organize back in the 19th century...and when armed militia and troops were sent against strikers, it almost always was a Republican politician. The GOP thinks labor should be vassals to the 'great' businessmen, always have felt that, always will. It is not exactly coincidence that labor didn't win the right to organize , recognized by the federal government, until the 1930's when because of the Great Depression the GOP laid on the country, the Democrats had the power to enact it.....the GOP has ruined labor by both legislative law, and putting judges like Scalia and the like on Scotus who believe that the country was founded to make the rich even wealthier.
7
@David Henry
The GOP has been union busting since 1967 at least.
I do not recall that "labor" ever was for reagan except maybe in the parts of the country he spent our money to buy their votes. I did not benefit from any of that.
3
@David Henry Agree with everything except your last bullet point.
Lack of empathy is exclusively reserved for card-carrying members of the GOP.
1
Yes, maybe they will wake up and acquire some class consciousness and not vote anymore for Trump and Republicans, who are their class enemies. And more workers will begin to realize that the only hope of confronting their capitalist bosses is through a union. And maybe, just maybe, they will realize that socialism is not a dirty word.
21
My dad was a UAW member working at Ford.
I remember UAW strikes in the '60s. They were a bargaining tactic--mostly brief and a formality.
Companies didn't replace workers or threaten to move. We never feared losing our home. Settlements were fair on both sides.
Don't fear the strike.
Fear corporate power and politicians who are against democracy and favor dictatorship in the workplace.
31
@Edward
Amen.
4
@Edward - Those were the days. My husband was a heavy equipment mechanic in the early 70's. Back then workers for The Big Three were earning as much money as journeymen plumbers. He wasn't making half what UAW autoworkers were. His union voted to strike, and the weekly strike pay was $75. Our mortgage payment was $343 and we had a newborn and three year old, utilities, food and a car payment also. The only we kept it going even then was the fact that he was a great mechanic and immediately started taking cars in for repair - cash only. The strike lasted four months. Google Caterpillar strike history in IL for other not so rosy endings. That economic area never recovered. Now you have the University of Chicago Health employees trying to bargain, with a strike looming tomorrow, and UOC has been moving their patients to other hospitals in anticipation, rather than work in good faith through the grievances. It has already signed up replacement nurses and healthcare workers for a minimum of five days, effectively locking their employees out before the strike has even been called. Their strike pay would be $150 per week. Good luck surviving on that today. A bit different scenario than in the Sixties. It's easy to tell them not to fear the strike when your experience of it was as a youth during much better times. I watched a mature woman begin to cry on the news last night, relating her shock that UFC was locking them out before a strike was even called.
1
I'd like to see a 20th century timeline which overlays some measure of income inequality (like % of income going to the top 10% of earners) with the number of labor strikes involving more than 5000 people.
2
Not exactly what you asked for but
Related:
A dramatic decline in the density of U.S. labor unions since the 1970s has resulted in lower wages for both union and nonunion workers, suggests a new study led by Jake Rosenfeld, associate professor of sociology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/phys.org/news/2016-09-labor-union-decline-wages-nonunion.amp
7
@Norm Vinson
It was not just Unions that lifted wages. It was also Rules and Regulations that kept business honest, prevented the gaming of markets, and otherwise made sure the economy worked for as many of the people of the US as it could possibly be made to instead of just for those who had capital or were willing to abuse their fellow man for profit.
2
I have no issue with trade unions, if they want to strike they can at their own risk. Good luck. I do have a problem with public unions who vote for the politicians who give them a raise for votes. This should be illegal. Look at Chicago teachers, they strike constantly and are the highest paid in the country. They still complain and are never happy thinking there is an endless supply of tax money.
6
@Ron - That's incorrect. The median wages for CPS teachers the highest in the state, not the country, when wages and benefits are factored in. Big cities city teachers almost always have higher salaries than those in the rural areas, and rural areas make up the majority of IL. There are even higher median teacher salaries in the N/NW suburbs, due to IL property taxes being the primary source of education funding. Which is the real problem. Nationally, Chicago teachers median income is bested by #1 NYC, #2 LA, #3 Houston. illinoispolicydotorg is an ultraconservative political site promoting the "highest paid in the nation" angle.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/karstenstrauss/2016/04/01/u-s-cities-where-teachers-are-paid-the-most/#3ac74caa4cb6
1
@Ron
I'm a public employee -- a librarian. I have a Masters degree. I make $17.98 an hour. This is why I am all in with the union organizing effort currently happening in my workplace. Maybe, just maybe, we'll finally see some improvement in our wages. It's not going to happen if we don't organize.
I'm curious. Why do you think public employees should not earn a decent living? Do you think we don't pay bills and patronize local businesses, maybe yours? I've never gotten a discount *anywhere* because I'm a public employee so why is it OK to pay me less? I certainly don't have "an endless supply" of money. Yes, I may have a pension when I retire but it is *in lieu* of Social Security, not in addition to it. And I pay more into it than you do into SS.
And I'd really love to be able to vote for someone who might give me a raise (see above, I really could use one!) but in the real world it just doesn't work that way no matter what Fox News tells you.
1
My view of unions has changed over my lifetime. I graduated from college in 1989 in a professional position and starting wage was $17 an hour. That year I watched a segment about a Teamsters strike. The guy they interviewed was only making $17 an hour after his 5 weeks of paid training driving a bus for Greyhound.
I was completely in favor of union-busting for 20 years. Now unions have lost so much ground I support their revival. I think changing a position based on the actual situation is admirable and appropriate.
10
@Mel
One of the things that white collar workers like to forget is that many of the benefits they take for granted came because blue collar workers got them..and it is no coincidence that for white collar workers, defined pensions disappeared in the 1980's, to be replace by 401k's with or without matching, or that things like health insurance and other benefits declined.
I also have heard white collar workers complain that a UAW worker was making let's say 70k a year while they were only making 50k. They are upset that a union member, who likely to make that worked there for many years and in their career they likely will make a lot more than that with experience. It is funny, a white collar worker will complain that a blue collar worker is making a decent salary, but will call it jealousy and 'class warfare' when someone questions why upper level managers and executives make millions of dollars a year, given they aren't working any harder than a typical white collar worker.
3
This lifelong union member cheers on the UAW and the strike. Let's not forget that our tax dollars saved the US auto industry several years ago. There should have been strings attached to that money stating that the GM CEO and senior executives could not make stratospheric salaries compared to the line workers. And that the company could not close US plants in favor of foreign plants. And that the company had to actually pay taxes in the future. Oh well, lesson learned. Strike!
40
Workers don't need to "think" the system is rigged against them, it is! The labor laws in the U.S. are heavily tilted toward management. NLRB decisions shift with the political wind and have generally favored management despite the NLRB's mission which is to encourage unionization. The gig economy deprives workers of statutory benefits like overtime and workers' compensation while shielding employers from the need to provide health care or social security benefits to their workers; while dishonestly claiming that these so-called independent contractors like being able to work on their own. Compare the labor laws of Canada and the U.S. and you will find that the Canadian work force is still about a third unionized because their labor laws are more progressive and have been for ages.
25
It has taken nearly four decades (!) of dismantling of the middle class for people to "get" that union representation is critically needed. Union wages for millions helped guarantee decent wages for employees of non-union companies; if it was up to corporate America, everyone would be paid $2 an hour!
Winston Churchill said, "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else." Now that many work multiple jobs for bottom wages, paying sky high prices for housing, rent, health care and education, people are waking up. Gigs don't pay the bills and everyone is not a 20 something software engineer with multiple job offers. Let's hope we have more than five minutes til the next downturn, for a little progress in the right direction.
34
Lordstown.
1
Its's about time the pendulum started to swing back.
11
The Sackler family’s Purdue Pharma has been responsible for close to 800,000 deaths, but not a single Sackler is in jail. Yet, private prisons are full of long-term serving convicts for relatively minor crimes such as being guilty of selling loose joints of grass.
Steve Schwarzman's Blackstone Group has been warehousing rent control apartments in middle class complexes they own, like Stuyvesant Village in NYC
Shareholder Activists, aka “vulture capitalists”, are squeezing as much profit as they can by blackmailing corporations, and when they don’t acquiesce, they force the selling through the dismemberment of the companies. This is the business culture that’s taken over the country. So, do everyday middle class Americans have a chance any more? Not when merchants have taken over the economy.
25
@Ted
Not to mention hospitals and doctors dunning patients for 10's of thousands of dollars in ER bills and medical bills even though the person went to a network hospital...and guess who is behind this money grab? You got it, private equity and the like who own the doctors groups that run the ER (little piece of knowledge, at many hosptials the ER is not run directly by the hospital, it has been sold to an 'emergency medical group')
1
You can tell the US economy is improving; workers are striking again.
10
Actually by every measure, the good economy started by Obama is starting to slowing down, despite last year's deficit-busting partisan tax reform as manufacturing declines and average monthly job creation lags to averages below Obama's last 30 months, the same number of months Trump has been iin office
15
In our investor/consumer society, should the GM workers strike not for pay and benefits but for part ownership? That idea emerged post WWII at a time when both pay and benefits were good... and the income gap much less. (and heftier taxes on the rich.. and the luxury tax). I don't know the history of part time labor, altho there were always summer jobs. By the late 60s adjunct positions became commonplace in college education (which unions did not try to stop: it was often said that adjuncts were happy with the situation!) By the 1980s we start getting the nonsense that capitalism means maximize returns for stockholders.
I really think it's time for universal single payer health insurance.. and frankly, having people who have health insurance as part of their employment lose it is one way to speed up the process towards this sensible plan.
What did GM actually pay in taxes? Nothing? like Amazon -- unbelievable all of it.
There was mention of rent going up. Because?? Why is inflation necessary?? (The US has been p0riced out of the world market in many ways for a long time.)
Basically, the system in wildly unfair. A double pay tier for the same job (that's existed in unionism for a long time- paid more for years on the job- instead of promotion to a better job), fewer benefits for new comers (at the time in their lives when starting families they need more benefits and money!)
Warren for president... and in the meantime impeachment hearings please.
12
@Auntie Mame
One of the possible solutions to the pay gap is that all workers, not just CEO's and the like, get some of their compensation from stock grants and options, so they benefit from the stockholder uber alles economy we have these days. We have a system where all that matters is stock price, and that directly works against the pay of most workers, by suppressing pay increases, by cutting benefits and most of all, laying off workers or outsourcing them, the stock price goes up and executive pay soars, while workers suffer.
1
GM's offer to add 5,400 jobs does nothing to help the current workers who have made the company profitable through their labor yet struggle with increasingly tenuous job security and let's be realistic, essentially stagnant wages.
More jobs at the same pay may lead to further increased shareholder wealth but will do nothing for the workers on the line.
12
While the public may have supported the teacher's strike and may support the GM strike, when asked to PAY for the added benefits and pay, most American's go "no thanks".
We are a country that wants our cake and eat it too. The answer always is "make the rich pay" except that in the timeless words of Margaret Thatcher, "the problem is you eventually run out of other people's money".
American selfishness is boundless.
7
@OneView
I dont think we are anywhere CLOSE to running out of other people's money. How many raises could the Waltons and the Bezoss of the USA provide for their workers?
41
@OneView
Americans are not being asked to pay for the benefits the UAW is asking for, GM is.
The problem we have these days do to the corruption teh GOP has introduced into our economy by de-regulation and creation of new rules to make legal what is obviously wrong, is that some people now think companies have the right to keep profit margins the same when they incur a cost, especially the cost of labor and frequently penalties for being bad actors. THEY DO NOT. Labor is entitled to a portion of the profit and a penalty is meant to reduce the profit as punishment.
The UAW is asking for GM to spend that $12Billion dollars profit in the US and keep US Plants open among other things. They aren't just asking for a raise.
34
@High school civics teacher
There are maybe 1800 families in that category. If you taxed them $500m each, that's 900 billion dollars which pays for 1.5 years of public education in the US (US spends 600b on public education).
While some Dems were actually talking about the long term effect of automation and global wage discrepancies in 2016 (and earlier), I've always wondered if Hillary chose not to seriously highlight this huge issue b/c of Bill's NAFTA legacy. All I know now is that tariffs and immigration controls are so obviously not the answer and that you can't tax the 1% enough to pay for these overwhelming, 21st century ills. It's going to take a lot more creative thinking than that which is non-existent in the Trump administration and marginally available from the Dems. Get on the clue bus, folks.
2
@AllisonatAPLUS
No one is talking about this other than Andrew Yang, the unions like Trump supporters pretend like you can go back to the 1950's, you can't. What no one, not Queen Hillary, not the radical firebomb throwers, and certainly not the party of Ayn Rand ie the GOP, is asking is what do we do in a world where labor simply is not needed? The problem is, to quote a friend of mine, we are heading into the world of star trek, where because of automation and AI direct labor isn't needed, but we also live in a world where those who are running things pretend like it is the 1950's, that jobs lost will be replaced by other jobs, and worse, where executives and shareholders reap the rewards of the increased productivity/lessening of labor and absolutely refuse to think about the workers no longer needed because wall street is rewarding them for getting rid of workers.
Capitalism baby, exploitation of workers to make money is just as integral as investments. The system can work only with regulation and fairness.
Now to my take, the unions (UAW) brought us the third party insurance system that we admire so much. It was a benefit they fought for and won, then the rest of corporate America followed suit. Without a third party health care benefit you could not attract workers. It’s broken and can only be fixed with all sides taking a cut. That includes executives, Pharma, doctors, hospitals, nurses and workers. Try selling that.
If this country could separate health care from employment that would be beneficial to all sides except a minority of union workers who feel entitled to unlimited , Cadillac style health care benefits.
I for one will never buy another UAW made vehicle again and it’s not because of being unpatriotic, jealous or vindictive. Their product costs too much for the quality they produce. 100 K for a pick up truck, give me a break. I want fuel efficiency, reliability and pride of craftsmanship. GM, laughable.
@Harry B
In 1990 you could buy a Ford F-150 with a 5.0 liter V8 that had around 200hp. Got about 16-18 mpgs You can buy the same F150 (well, in name. It's larger and heavier than the 1990 model) with an improved 5.0 liter V8 that makes around 650hp.
An increase in volumetric efficiency of about 70%. And I'm pretty sure it still gets better mileage. I wonder what kind of F150 you could buy if the suits at Ford had instead applied that 70% gain to the fuel economy instead of selling you 450 extra hp. That's delivering real value to your customers, a product I might actually buy. Why pay $60,000 for a new Ford when a 15 year old Toyota truck is 1/4 of the price, gets the same mileage and lasts twice as long?
A little perspective folks.
GM made $12Billion in profit last year.
They closed 4 US plants this year while building new plants in foreign countries.
Before de-regulation this would have been against the rules. The closing of a plant when they had so much profit and the moving of money outside the country before first investing it here to build here.
Just sayin, is this the United States of America a country for people to govern themselves and where we all are equal owners of our national resources or a colony for people to make money off of regardless of the harm they do to those of us who live here?
46
@magicisnotreal
'GM made $12Billion in profit last year.
They closed 4 US plants this year while building new plants in foreign countries.'
How do you think they made that profit ? By cutting overhead. They keep paying $30/hr to drive a forklift, maybe we're bailing them out. Again.
6
@sheikyerbouti
They made those profits before closing the plants so no it did not have anything to do with making those profits. What made those profits was the Union members agreeing to accepting less and their hard work making the plans the managers came up with work.
Cutting overhead is usually code for making things more unsafe or removing things that make repetitive motion injury or any injury more likely. It is not the cutting of useless things as the way you used it implies.
8
@sheikyerbouti
So you think it is OK to start paying GM workers $4.00/hr.? That is what they are paid in Mexico and when you go to the dealership to buy a new car is that model made in Mexico any priced lower than the one that is built in Ohio? I think not.
The only thing this behavior does is gradually lower the standard of living for all American workers and it has been happening for thirty years.
19
Unions used to be very strong--in the 50s, 60s, and 70s.
That's because most union workers were white middle class males, who had a lot of power at the voting booth.
Now, unions are filled with women and minorities, the very people big business cares little about, so, for decades, they've done everything in their power to weaken unions in any way they can.
We're at a tipping point between those at the top and the average worker, which is exactly why we need social democracy. That way everyone has a way to survive and no one goes bankrupt from medical bills.
But the last thing big business wants is healthy minorities and immigrants getting a paid-for education.
9
@Joe
Most teachers in elementary schools have been female; ditto nurses. In the first factories in the textile industry women and children were the favored employees. Garment workers -- had a union.
American labor was expensive - middle class people with a middle class life style... so CEOs outsourced nearly everything. In the 1980s computers would not have been allowed to be made by American companies in China. So the greed principle is what dominates here and has been codified. But let's hope that things can change and we can have a real Democrat (not a centrist Republican like the Clintons and Obama) back in the White House. Warren.
6
Yeah. No. Managment’s antipathy towards unions has absolutely nothing to do with the racial or sexual makeup of them. The post WWII boom alleviated the antagonism somewhat but it was always there. All those supposedly privileged white union workers of the thirties were actually beaten and killed fighting for a fair deal that many still enjoy today. So your prefabricated narrative does not apply.
4
@Joe
Study history and find out how labor got that power inthe 50s. You want something you fight a long time for it, and take serious risks.
3
The word 'think' in the title to this article is inaccurate. The system IS rigged against workers starting with Supreme Court rulings which have weakened them and continuing with Trump and GOP laws that favor their rich bosses. Think the incredibly growing gap between workers whose pay has remained static and the explosion of wealth for the few.
Let's cheer on unions and strikers who are on the front lines of righting this trend. Since Reagan unions have been fighting a losing battle and now that may be about to change.
56
Actually the strike in NE did not end as well as many think. I had alot of family in that strike. Now they no longer work there due to things like their hours being cut and them being replaced by machines. (which is coming for most manual labor jobs, My brother runs a Mc Donalds that has released all but 1 cashier due to computer based systems)
8
The fossil fuel industry is trying again to kill the electric car. But the electric car is the best transportation invention for society, because it is inexpensive for the consumer, it is easy to build, and it needs very little maintenance. Electric cars allow us to control our emissions into the atmosphere by choosing the form of electricity: renewable. How many autoworker jobs are not being created because of the oil companies?
My Chevy Bolt is a great car. Fast, quiet, roomy, comfy. Inexpensive to run. Maintenance: rotate the tires. No tune up, oil change, brake job, transmission service. Batteries are on Mohr’s curve, getting smaller and stronger every day. This car shows what the future is all about. This car is what we must demand, and the unions can help us.
The strike is the way industry leaders hear. If we don’t unionize, if we don’t strike, all they can hear is their Board. Now they hear US. The USA consumers need electric cars now!
29
I'm a worker and I feel cheated. Hard work does not pay off.
24
What to do? Our society has proven time after time that corporate objectives do not align with society's.
The only corporate objective for a publicly held company is to return shareholder value. Make no mistake. Everything, and everyone else, is a tool to achieve that aim.
To achieve that aim, U.S. corporations have outsourced jobs (payroll being the largest expense on the ledger) for decades. Those jobs are outsourced to places where the personnel is cheap.
Do we expect our fellow Americans to "compete" at those levels? To be paid so poorly, with no benefits? They live in America where expenses are large. So it is a ridiculous argument to suggest that American simply live like they do in countries corporations have outsourced to - because life is not feasible in our country at those levels.
That said - what do we do? Inevitably automation makes human labor unnecessary. Truck drivers, auto workers, miners - are all becoming obsolete. And its not a matter of retraining. It's as ridiculous to presume every man can become a computer programmer as a dentist.
To resort to a strike is the only way, at this point, the American labor force can exert any power at all.
But I'm afraid that's one reason jobs are outsourced. Foreign workers don't have that right. And as long as GM is worried about its share price - it will continue to shutter plants and remove jobs from Americans.
It's a vicious cycle. But we need a solution.
22
This is what Elizabeth Warren means by renegotiating trade agreements on terms like environmental concerns and worker protections rather than maximizing the value to the corporations and shareholders by minimizing costs. Either play on a level playing field or stay out of the game and the US.
5
@Iceowl
Unfortunately, except for the top 10%, one wonders, with the gradual elimination of jobs by automation or displacement by plant closings and the unwillingness of corporations to retrain its displaced workers for the jobs that will be needed in the future, perhaps one might ask if decent paying jobs are being gradually eliminated and 70% of the American economy is based on consumer spending, who will actually be in a position to buy the goods that American companies are manufacturing overseas or in plants with fewer workers?
1
@Mark Sure. It all sounds good.
But Wall Street controls corporations. And Wall Street controls the economy. Look at how much of our money went to bail out banks in 2008 - and what public good came of that?
Some would say, Paulson saved the world as we know it and we should stop complaining. Meanwhile none of that money went to low-interest loans or corporate funding that spawns jobs.
As long as stock price matters - the public interest will suffer.
2
It speaks volumes, or at least it should, to know that the workers that have the best job protections, the highest hourly pay, the best benefits, and the ability to force the hands of their employers through striking, feel that the system is rigged against them.
Imagine how the rest of us, who at the mention of the first 1 and a half syllables of the word "union" would be summarily fired, feel?
That should tell you how dire the labor situation in the US is for everyone, union or not.
50
@CB It may be not that the system appears to be rigged, but that it actually is.
Corporate profits trump all; are we surprised this is where society has come?
24
@CB
Yet there are plenty of workers, particularly in the South, who've internalized management, and reject unionization at every opportunity and yhey deserve whatever they get.
9
@CB I am a public school teacher in a union, but Florida is a right to work state. I strike at the peril of voiding my contract and even possibly losing my teacher certification. State laws are another obstacle.
12
The article states many workers voted for Trump because they believed the system is rigged against them. It is. The very man they elected is the Rigger in Chief. I know I'm just an elitist from Boston but you really have to wonder about the public education available in the mid-west and the south.
140
@Chris
The people he was running against (Jeb, Hillary, etc) have been rigging things against the working class for decades. You can't really blame people for voting against the same old same old. Change is necessary, they just supported the wrong kind of change.
47
@Chris
If the Democrats were so concerned about the working class and stagnant wages, they’d be against undocumented workers which empowers organized labor to offer lower wages and benefits.
Fewer illegal workers forces employers to hire more legal workers at higher wages and better benefits.
The status quo is a major factor for increasing wage disparity for America’s lower income citizens and legal residents.
11
@mike I completely agree that our choice in 2016 was not what I would have liked. I'm not exactly thrilled with the direction the democrats are headed in this time either. That said, I voted for Clinton and will vote for whoever the democrats put on the ballot this time around. It didn't and doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what a disaster our current administration is, but there again a lot of folks are seriously misguided here in the south.
23
So far, robot teachers (online degrees) are not very successful at replacing teachers. Really, abusing adjuncts is the main way higher ed sticks it to college professors. And no one is making high school largely online, except for a tiny segment that always needed alternative schooling (world level sports, child actors). But automation in other workplaces - blue and white collar - is a serious threat. And some places (eg. facilities needing nurses) are just dropping in quality like a stone instead of replacing their overworked staff. I hope this strike works to achieve the workers' goals instead of management goals of driving to the people-less workplace faster.
31
@Chip
One way to help with this issue is to offer incentivized tax cuts rather that across the board guaranteed tax cuts to big business. Tie the cuts to payroll of actual people. Make it more cost effective to employ people and pay competitive salaries rather than cutting personnel. Change the tax codes. And if corporations are people...they should be paying income taxes like people.
10
It's about time the labor unions resumed flexing their muscle. The power of the labor union had been on the decline, starting in the 1980s when Ronald Reagan broke the air traffic controllers' union. Then came the right-to-work movement. This decline in labor union power contributed to the decline of the middle class, as fewer workers joined and were represented by a union that could negotiate a living wage.
158
@MJZ
“ right-to-work”. Now there’s a fool the people some of the time oxymoron.
18
@db2 I call it the “right to starve and live on the streets."
8
@MJZ I have been fortunate enough to retire from a union job. I was able to earn a livable wage, while paying into a pension and 401k, and had decent healthcare for my family. I am still amazed by "fellow" workers who were anti-union while living well, sending their children to college and driving new 4-wheel drive diesel pickups in the city. They are trump supporters and watch "faux" news. Go figure!
Meanwhile, the koch brothers and corporate lobbying organizations are pouring money into anti-union propaganda and passing "right-to-work" laws.
8
Hope these folks realize Trump is using them? GM is moving production out of the US. China is gonna make our cars. Unless Congress acts, we will only have truck factories in the US.
8
The striking workers want more compensation, even though they're more highly compensated than workers in most competing labor markets.
They want the company to create more of these highly paid jobs, in the absence of a business case for them.
They want the company to reopen idle plants, to make cars nobody wants, more expensively.
They're demanding all of this at the likely start of a downturn, when their union and employer had to be bailed out during the last business cycle.
And, the tactic they're using is to inflict short-term harm on a company that, apparently, only plans for the short term.
These are just the facts of the case. I don't expect it to turn out well.
15
@Patrick - Just the facts. For 2018, GM CEO Mary Barra's total compensation was $21.87 million — about 281 times as much as GM's median employee's compensation of $77,849. Until about 1980 the compensation of the average high level corporate executive was about 50 times the average pay for all workers.
The government bailout of GM (opposed by the GOP) may have saved the workers' jobs, but it also enriched the management and the new shareholders. Another case of socialism for the rich.
128
@Patrick The conditions you cite are the result of poor decision-making at the executive level, choosing fast profit over long-range strategies. Meanwhile, thanks to Reagan's scapegoating of organized labor, those at the top have coasted on the exploitation of their workforce. These are the real "facts of the case."
69
@Richard
Interestingly, there is an article in Wired today about how the shift to electric vehicles is exacerbating the mismatch between labor need and labor supply. Electric vehicles just require fewer parts, less complicated assembly, and less maintenance, so the car companies need fewer workers.
Isn't that a counter-example to your point? A long-term strategy which most progressives would agree with, but which also renders the US auto worker less valuable?
4