>Hello,
>I'm a retired autoworker, new to this list.
Hello, welcome.
>I'm
>wondering what folks like you make of all the recent
>Chapter 11 filings and the attack on Labor?
>
>I read that good article by Chris Kutalik from Labor
>Notes and another by Jane Slaughter on the Monthly
>Review and Labor Notes websites (I think the address
>is something like www.labornotes.org). They seem like
>a good
>start, but I just don't know how we can best get
>things rolling around this. Need better minds then
>myself.
As much (and as long) as I admire Labor Notes, I'm afraid they're not acknowledging that GM and Delphi have real problems. Their losses are real - take a look how badly GM has lagged the broader stock market <http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=GM&t=my&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=%5EGSPC> (on this chart, GSPC, the red line, is the S&P 500 index: GM stock is essentially where it was 43 years ago, while the S&P is up 1500%). Delphi <http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=my&s=DPH&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=&c=%5EGSPC> is even worse. If the losses were somehow a big scam to justify screwing the workers, then the stocks would be acting a lot better than this.
I've got to say, I don't really know how the unions should respond. High auto industry wages - average hourly earnings (excluding benefits) in "transportation equipment" are over $22, with UAW wages much higher, compared with an average wage of $16 - are a relic of the long-gone days when the big three were a near-monopoly. They've been ratcheted down over the years, but it now looks like we're in the final stages of the process. Short of really major changes in the economic system, I just don't see how it can be stopped. Maybe some other folks can come up with some good ideas.
Doug