First, General Motors workers, on the instructions of the United Auto Workers, went on strike. The union wanted some basic guarantees of job security, and they wanted $50-billion for its health care fund for retirees. They got some of the guarantees for job security and $30-billion for retiree health care benefits.
This week, Chrysler workers, also on the instructions of the UAW, went on strike, asking for the same things that their colleagues at GM wanted. The Chrysler strike involved fewer workers than the GM strike, and so the demands were for a smaller amount of money. The Chrysler strike ended in a mere six hours.
What’s going on?
Because the U.S. car makers are in deep trouble, they cannot afford long, drawn out strikes. And because workers know that their jobs may be hanging by a thread, they know that they cannot afford to be too adamant in their demands.
All they have to do is look at their Asian competitors which are operating non-union facilities in the U.S. and producing cars that cost less to manufacture than domestic models: workers can read the writing on the manufacturing walsl: if you don’t adjust your work environments to be like the Asian ones, you may not have a work environment.
Such is the future for much of U. S. manufacturing: if it does not adapt to a changing, non-union global economy, it will cease to exist.
