Unions Struggle With Auto Industry Cuts

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070325/D8O3FPA80.html

Unions Struggle With Auto Industry Cuts


Mar 25, 6:49 PM (ET)

By JAMES HANNAH

ANDERSON, Ind. (AP) - Fastened to the wall of a florist shop a block from where thousands of autoworkers once toiled is a black foil balloon splashed with musical notes and the words "Good Luck."

This central Indiana city - once pulsing with 22,000 auto jobs and a dozen auto plants - is hoping for some.

The last auto manufacturing job will disappear in July, ending a love affair between the city and the auto industry after nearly 100 years. Recruiting new businesses and diversifying the economy represent Anderson's future.

"It's going to be long and slow on the recovery here," said Troy Davis, owner of the Flower Hut. "It's better than it was. Five years ago, everybody was hemorrhaging."

Struggles of the U.S. auto industry have accelerated a drop in American union membership that is helping transform communities such as Anderson across the Midwest.

As foreign automakers eat away at the market share of their U.S. counterparts, unionized plants run by General Motors Corp. (GM), Ford Motor Co. (F), DaimlerChrysler AG (DCX) and their former parts operations have closed or downsized and some jobs have moved overseas.

Union membership in manufacturing has fallen 1.3 percentage points to 11.7 percent, the first time statistics have shown it at a lower rate than among the national work force. Membership in the UAW fell below 600,000 in 2005, from a peak of 1.5 million in the late 1970s.

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Between the union busting due to the corporate whores shipping good paying jobs overseas to the environmental devestation brought by the burning of fossil fuels, this industry has shown itself incapable and unworthy of operating in a civilized society.