UAW: Why Should We Make Concessions When Our Bought-Off Politicians Will Bail Automakers Out?
That’s pretty much the message this is sending:
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Even as Detroit’s Big Three teeter on collapse, United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said Saturday that workers will not make any more concessions and that getting the automakers back on their feet means figuring out a way to turn around the slumping economy.
“The focus has to be on the economy as a whole as opposed to a UAW contract,” Gettelfinger told reporters on a conference call, noting the labor costs now make up 8 percent to 10 percent of the cost of a vehicle.
“We have made dramatic, dramatic changes and the UAW was applauded for that,” he said.
Previously I talked about how the proposed automaker bailouts, which are apparently supported by President-elect Obama, are being supported by liberals like Obama more to please the big-money union interests than big-money corporate interests. This development illustrates that point perfectly.
Think about it. Union enrollment in America ha been plummeting. The unions are desperate. The auto industry is one of the last remaining bastions of unionized labor (outside of government workers). So why would the UAW want to kill the automakers? If Ford or GM or Chrysler - or maybe even all three - go down the UAW loses tens of thousands of dues-paying members. And with those dues-paying members goes a lot of the UAW’s power and influence.
So at this point you’d think the UAW would want to moderate its position a bit so as not to kill off the hosts they’re infecting. But they aren’t. And why is that?
Because they fully expect Congress to put the automakers on life support so that they can continue to in their parasitic ways.
Make no doubt about it: The bailout will be supported by Democrats, but instead of bailing out greedy corporate giants they’ll be bailing out greedy union interests.
