Danielsangeo - per my post on Lisa Benson - the UAW has made GM, Chrysler and Ford uncompetitive through:
1) wages and benefits of $65-70 per hour compared to non-union Toyota at $35!
2) Work rules which ensure that more workers are employed to make each car, even when not needed.
3) Laid-off union workers are paid full salary and benefits forever (its called a “jobpool”), even while the company goes belly up.
My other example about unions is the railroads. Engines have long been automated and diesel-electric powered, yet the unions still require the railroads to employ “firemen” who are supposed to stoke the boiler, and there must be one crew per engine, even if the humans never leave their homes.
Add to that the rules on passenger train personnel - their workday cannot exceed 200 miles, which is what the average passenger train traveled in eight hours back in the 1880’s. So, for every passenger train that travels, say 400 miles, from Boston to New York, to Philadelphia, a trip that takes about two and a half hours today (or less), two full crews are paid for a full day’s work. NOW do you see why passenger trains are so uneconomical?
etocme about 15 years ago
Try and reform the UAW, you might end up at the bottom of the Detroit River with cement shoes
danielsangeo about 15 years ago
I think that the main reason that the right hates unions so much is not for any real reason, but for the same reason they hate government:
They hate people having a say over what happens to them.
WillBerry about 15 years ago
Danielsangeo - per my post on Lisa Benson - the UAW has made GM, Chrysler and Ford uncompetitive through: 1) wages and benefits of $65-70 per hour compared to non-union Toyota at $35! 2) Work rules which ensure that more workers are employed to make each car, even when not needed. 3) Laid-off union workers are paid full salary and benefits forever (its called a “jobpool”), even while the company goes belly up.
My other example about unions is the railroads. Engines have long been automated and diesel-electric powered, yet the unions still require the railroads to employ “firemen” who are supposed to stoke the boiler, and there must be one crew per engine, even if the humans never leave their homes. Add to that the rules on passenger train personnel - their workday cannot exceed 200 miles, which is what the average passenger train traveled in eight hours back in the 1880’s. So, for every passenger train that travels, say 400 miles, from Boston to New York, to Philadelphia, a trip that takes about two and a half hours today (or less), two full crews are paid for a full day’s work. NOW do you see why passenger trains are so uneconomical?
danielsangeo about 15 years ago
Can you provide citations for everything you’ve asserted, WillBerry?