Not Your Father's UAW

Not Your Father's UAW


Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm


The ground shook a bit in Michigan last week, and it had nothing to do with the weather or the interesting results of a state primary election.

The speech of brand-new president of the UAW, Bob King, at the 45th annual Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Management Briefing Seminar at Traverse City sent tremors down I-75, right through Tennessee and down into Alabama and off to Juarez, too.

Bob didn't give an ordinary speech -- and he certainly didn't have an ordinary message. Yes, he talked about the UAW's gratitude to the Obama Administration for saving the auto industry, its continuing commitment to the middle class, and to its core mission to protect the interests of its members.

All predictable.

The quakes began when he said: "The UAW of the 21st Century must be fundamentally and radically different from the UAW of the 20th Century. The 20th-Century UAW tried to find ways to achieve job security, such as job banks, that in the end did not achieve the results we were seeking. The 21st-Century UAW knows the only true path to job security is by producing the best quality product, the safest product and the longest lasting product at the best price."
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-m-granholm/not-your-fathers-uaw_b_676772.html

and make no apologies. That was then, this is now. Times were different, we did what needed doing.

Yes, there was union excess. But there was, and still is, plenty of management excess. With the unions in such a weakened position today, we're seeing the result: wages getting lower, benefits disappearing, workers being treated like shit.