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Politics : Right Wing Extremist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mr. Whist who wrote (3832)	1/30/2001 3:58:15 PM
From: Zoltan!	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 59480

You are absolutely wrong. In fact, your argument is less than simplistic and internally illogical. Especially this nonsense: Your argument is too simplistic. Also, I would point out that what might be a non-union workforce today might well be a union workforce tomorrow. Example: Recent employee interest in organizing Toyota's Camry plant in Georgetown, Ky. What a senseless, illogical comment. >>Another reason your argument fails: Many would say the best cars made in the world today come out of Germany ... BMW, Mercedes, etc. Members of some of the strongest labor unions in the world turn out those cars on a daily basis. I also purposely distinguished between Anglo-American style unions which have crippled their industries and by obvious implication German management of unions. Remember, not even BMW could work with the recalcitrant British unions that so much of the US labor leadership emulates. >>I suspect if Toyota is gaining market share and Chrysler is losing market share, the reasons lie much deeper than union vs. non-union workforce Sure it does, but I doubt you could understand. When I was in business school in the early 1980's,I did a study on the US industry. I found that the US auto makers had consistently and for years cheapened their product while at the same time giving union pay increases far in excess of their productivity gains. That could not go on w/o wrecking the product. Still, feckless management pursued a ST strategy of placating unions to the detriment of LT viability. And nothing has changed. Read that Cadillac article - GM is basically trying for salvation by having the cars preassembled as much as possible to eliminate labor at their plants. Still, it won't work, decades of feckless management allowed union demands to debase the product. At the time I predicted that unless management took on the unions that by 2010 GM would be out of the auto business. Seems they're more than half way there.

To: Mr. Whist who wrote (3832)	2/2/2001 12:57:32 AM
From: Selectric II	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 59480

I think that's even too simplistic. The answer lies partly in union/management relations and commonality of goals. For a brief, sweet period a few years ago, Chrysler management and labor shared common goals and worked together. And the light blazed -- albeit briefly, a flash in the pan, before reverting to the all too-well-known management/labor struggle. Glad I sold my Chrysler stock near the zenith. The warning that caused me to pull the trigger? When union labor, which already was being rewarded handsomely for its important role in the turnaround, declared that it deserved to share (more) in the success that it was already enjoying. Well, now it can share in the failure that it helped cause.