The United Auto Workers (UAW) union has finally done something right. After decades of working hard to destroy the American auto industry and, with the help of the ‘big three’ (Ford, General Motors [G.M.], and Chrysler) leadership, succeeding, the UAW has successfully done something to prevent the massive waste of money.
The UAW’s short-sighted, self-serving strategy has been to inflate employee wages so high that screw tighteners and power window testers are compensated better than most school teachers, software developers, and project managers in real world industries. UAW auto workers are paid significantly higher wages than the well-compensated workers at Honda, Toyota, Subaru, and Nissan factories here in the United States.
But, after digging the ‘big three’s’ hole, the UAW is doing little to dig them out. They are not making salary or benefits concessions, not agreeing to downsize, and generally not agreeing to anything that might help the ‘big three’ to survive. Now, it is the UAW’s hard-headedness (no surprise) that has derailed the ill-advised 14 billion dollar bailout plan where widespread public opposition couldn’t.
Union insanity has bankrupted many U.S. companies by demanding wages that are far inflated over a fair wage for the work done. They are the single biggest reason for the ‘big three’ failing. I have no love for the UAW, but for once they have done something helpful. Had they been rational, willing to do anything possible to save their members’ employment, then the Senate would likely have approved another multi-billion dollar boondoggle. For the first time I can remember, I want to thank the UAW: their selfishness finally had a positive impact.