Oh, the irony
- Author: susuk
- Filed under: Politics, The Economy
Dec 11,2008
Bailout? More like failout.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/12/11/auto.bailout/index.html
I don’t have a lot of time to dissect this, what with my torts final coming up and all, but I actually laughed aloud when I read about it.
Did anyone else catch the irony of the United Auto Workers’ refusal to drop domestic guaranteed pay rates to parity with the rest of the industry? That was, in large part, the cause of the bailout’s failure in the Senate. I’m so glad to hear that all of those union auto workers won’t be losing their salary level. You know, because they’ll still have jobs at which to make that salary. I’m sure GM, Ford, and Chrysler will still be in perfectly healthy financial shape without that $11B. Right? Those union guys are GENIUSES!
And on the political side, there’s yet more irony. The Republicans were bitching that the bailout proposal didn’t come with enough strings attached, and said bitching sealed the deal (or lack thereof). They seemed to ignore the White House’s warning that without the bailout, they’d likely divert TARP funds to the automakers. Those funds are likely to come without any strings attached whatsoever.
Basically, we’re looking at a clusterfuck of gargantuan proportions. The unions have, by attempting to protect their workers in the least sensible way possible, doomed thousands of them to having no job whatsoever. The government is probably going to step in and barely save the Big Three at the cost of billions of taxpayer dollars, not really force them to change the core of the idiotic policies that led to their near demise, and set them up for failure again in 10 or 20 or how ever many years until the global economy goes kerplunk again.
God save America from itself.
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One Response for "Oh, the irony"
No offense, but you might want to dig a little deeper before you conclude that the UAW is really the major culprit here. There’s been quite a bit of disinformation circulated against them.
Don’t take my word for it, though, look up the CSPAN coverage of the Senate banking committee’s latest hearing on the auto bailout. The CEO’s of the big 3 actually stood up for Ron Gettelfinger and the UAW, to the chagrin of Tennessee Senator Corker, whose response to every piece of information presented to him was a variation on “The only way to resolve this is for the UAW to take a big haircut.” When the CEOs are satisfied that the workers have made every sacrifice they can for the sake of saving the companies, it’s time to look for other places to make cuts.
The analysts CNN refers to are glossing over that the wage disparities they cite are cherry-picked examples, which are not representative of the industry as a whole. The wage-parity regulation they mention would actually require GM, Chrysler, and Ford to give UAW workers a pay increase in several states.
CNN also fails to mention that the GOP Senators leading the campaign to force more concessions from the UAW come from states in the South with foreign automakers’ plants. The push to force the UAW to take pay cuts has nothing to do with making sure that the big 3 are bringing costs under control and protecting the taxpayers’ investment. It’s about discouraging workers at foreign auto plants in their states from joining the UAW. The sticking point isn’t short-sighted, pig-headed union members, it’s an ideological determination to undermine collective bargaining. It’s no coincidence that what these Senators keep advocating is for the big 3 to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy, wherein the judge could modify the terms of the existing contracts without the union’s consent.
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