In my best-selling book, Everybody Wins!, I quoted Benjamin Franklin, who wrote in 1776 that “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” And that must be the conviction of the UAW, its workers, and the management of General Motors.
The past is no longer an example for today’s auto industry and the UAW. No more must there be a confrontational approach between management and labor, no more saber rattling, no more threats of strikes, slow downs, and walkouts. Too much is at stake for the scenarios of yesteryear to be played out in these perilous times when bankruptcy looms for Delphi, sales of new cars stagnate, and revenues spiral downward.
GM is fast losing ground to foreign based companies as its market share plummets from 45 percent to 28 percent.
If a new paradigm is not put in place, we may see the end of the US auto industry as we know it. Just look at what happened to the steel industry as a result of high union wages and unbeatable international competition. The union and management realized that if they were to right their capsized ship they had to make some painful choices: The number of workers was cut, health benefits were re-negotiated, and pensions were turned over to the Federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. While such actions were difficult for the union to accept, they knew that rejection would mean the death of the domestic steel industry. Having made those painful decisions, the domestic steel industry is now prospering. This is the example that the General Motors must follow if it too is going to prosper.
