The UAW is holding its first convention in Detroit after 75 years. They must feel sorry for Detroit or that going to Las Vegas or Miami like they usually do in a depression would not look so good.
I realize that the leaders of the UAW have to sound tough in front of the members doing the electing so I discount the usual podium rhetoric and calls for getting back all our concessions now that the auto firms are doing so well but I think there may be some truth in that; are the unions back into their “greed” mode?
Yes, the unions made concessions but those concessions were made on pay and benefit increases that should never have been granted in the first place and I blame that on both sides. Unions just kept asking for more and more and threatening to strike if they didn’t get their way; the auto companies kept giving into them knowing full well that it will hurt their competitiveness in the “global” market and as predicted, the shit hit the fan and everybody was scared for their jobs and willing to do anything to keep their jobs. But it seems memories are very short since union members are clamoring to go back to the good ole’ days and use the threat of a strike to get their concessions back.
My brother-in-law, who has been in the UAW for over 40 years (now retired) thought that the election of Bob King as the new UAW president was a good thing since he is pretty bright and a realist and would not do anything to harm the employer (auto companies) that are struggling to come back stronger and smarter.
Listening to King today, he did stress (as he must) that the UAW will get their concessions back eventually but his goal is to unionize the foreign auto companies in the U.S. (located down South) who are now not unionized. He feels this is doable because Obama is in office and he is, after all, a union stooge and I am starting to think that he may be just that and this is not a good thing for this country and its frail economy.
Obama seems determined to allow the unions to legally bully non-union workers into joining their unions. This is a strong reason to elect Republicans to office since they would never allow something like this to happen.
King today announced that UAW members will protest in front of Toyota dealerships to urge Toyota workers to join the UAW.
Yes, unions were needed at an early part of our history but their usefulness ended many years ago. They are now doing anything in their power to survive. You probably heard about unions in Colorado spending $10 Million dollars to defeat a Democrat that voted against their wishes; that Democrat won and I hope this is only the beginning of the nation waking up to the harm unions do to our economy.
