I agree! Wait until the Dems eliminate secret ballots for union elections and it won't be long before all American industry will be at a competitive disadvantage with the rest of the world. I've worked in a union shop and I've seen the derelicts get protected and rewarded while the hard workers just get a lighter paycheck because of dues. America will go bankrupt if it keeps up like this.
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Detroit Three--Thanks for the Memories
Date: Monday, November 17, 2008, 10:08 AM EST, 10:08 AM EST from Lori Roman
Lori Stillwagon Roman
President, RegularFolksUnited.com
Four generations of my family worked in General Motors Plants. My great grandfather, grandfather, father, brothers and I all worked for Buick Motor Division in
I have agonized over this at length. If my brother sees this editorial there won’t be presents exchanged this Christmas. Let me lead you, and my brother, through my torturous thinking process.
First, I believe that sending the government to bail out the auto industry or an industry at this time is like sending an arsonist to put out a fire. The government is partially to blame for the problem with the auto industry.
The government created the credit crisis by forcing lenders to make bad loans and the resulting credit crunch made it difficult to sell cars. Democrats in Congress (even some from
One would think that since the government created the crisis, they should fix it, right? No. They should STOP messing with the markets, not mess with them more! They should let lenders make prudent loans and let energy producers produce energy and they should let the automakers get out of this mess without government help or interference. They should not send folks with gasoline to put out a fire. Congress doesn’t just want to “bail out” the Detroit Three, they want to add on their own restrictions to make
Second, as a former supervisor of UAW workers at a GM facility, I will say that poor management and union malpractice made the Detroit Three uncompetitive long before the government sent in their arsonists.
To put it bluntly, the UAW takes the hard earned money of the best workers and spends it defending the very worst workers while tying up the industry with thousands of pages of work rules that make it impossible to be competitive. And the spineless management often makes short sighted decisions to satisfy the union and maximize immediate benefits over long term sustainability.
The strength of the union and the weakness of management made it impossible to conduct business properly at any level. For instance, I had an employee who punched in his time card and then disappeared. The rules were such that I had to spend hours documenting that this man was not in his three foot by three foot work area. I needed witnesses, timed reports, calls over the intercom and a plant wide search all documented in detail. After this absurdity I decided to go my own route; I called the corner bar and paged him and he came to the phone. I gave him a 30 day unpaid disciplinary lay off because he was a “repeat offender”. When he returned he thanked me for the PAID vacation. I scoffed, until he explained: (1) He had tried to get the lay off because it was fishing season; (2) The UAW negotiated with GM Labor Relations Department to give him the time WITH PAY.
I supervised a loading dock and 21 UAW workers who worked approximately five hours per day for eight hours pay. They could easily load one third more rail cars and still maintain their union negotiated break times, but when I tried to make them increase production ever so slightly they sabotaged my ability to make even the current production levels by hiding stock, calling in sick, feigning equipment problems, and even once, as a show of force, used a fork lift truck and pallets and racks to create a car part prison where they trapped me while I was conducting inventory. The reaction of upper management to my request to boost production was that I should “not be naïve”.
One afternoon I was helping oversee the plant while upper management was off site. The workers brought an RV into the loading yard with a female “entertainer” who danced for them and then “entertained” them in the RV. With no other management around, I went to Labor Relations for assistance. As a twenty five year old woman, I was not about to try to break up a crowd of fifty rowdy men. The Labor Relations Rep pulled out the work rules and asked me which of the rules the men were breaking. I read through the rules and none applied directly of course. Who wrote work rules to cover prostitutes at lunch? The only “legal” cause I had was an unauthorized vehicle and person and that blame did not fall on the union workers who were being “entertained” but on the security guards at the gate. Not one person suffered any consequence.
Another employee in the plant urinated on the feet of his supervisor as a protest to discipline. He was, of course, fired…that is until the union negotiated and got his job back.
Eventually I was promoted to a management position where I supervised salaried employees at HQ. As I left the plant I gave management a blunt message. I told them that I expected the union to act like the union, but I was disappointed that management didn’t act like management.
This is why, with deep regret and sympathy for the many fine folks who work in the auto industry, I think it is time for consequences. Let them file Chapter 11 and reorganize. Let management act like management and the union stop destroying our competitiveness. And let the government get out of the business of business.
I am stunned by the episodes you recounted, Lori. I guess it reveals the true nature of people when accountability and the work ethic are removed from the workplace. I wish the government would let them pay for their own mistakes but I don't expect they will since the unions own them. I read today that President-elect Obama promised the federal employee unions in writing that he'll reduce the number of private contractors doing government work. I'd like to see him try. Government can't function without contractors, who in many cases make up a larger percentage of the workforce than their civil service counterparts. Contractors also have plenty of incentives to work, unlike the government career workforce which is protected in much the same way as the UAW protects autoworkers. With massive retirements in the civil service and a lack of interest among the younger generation for government service, he's going to realize that cutting private workers is a fundamentally stupid idea...or will he?
The union has created a culture that discourages productivity. It is sad that regular folks must pay the price, but all of our jobs will go overseas if we are not productive. It must stop. What a sorry mess we are in!
On the nail, Lori.
And I post this as one who actually experienced the tax-bite of a federal bailout of a private company--specifically, Canadian government's bailout 1982-1988 of Dome Petroleum. As there is no Auto-industry equivalent of Amoco Canada (which eventually purchased Doom-Pete, ending the bailout fiasco), all a bailout will do is delay the inevitable collapse at a much higher cost to the taxpayer!
Great article Lori!
The following statements I believe are the reason as to why our nation is in the position it is today.
We need a total makeover!! And this can't happen if the Government continues to bail out every company and bank when they got themselves into their own messes in the first place with the help of our own Government.
We tell our children to look both ways before crossing the street so they won't get hit by a car. Why do we have rules in the work place to follow if the unions are not going to back them up? Do we make rules just to allow them to be broken because no one has the guts to hold anyone accountable? What ever happen to the way it used to be when we had to fill out paper work and have a back ground and credit checks before we were approved for a loan?
We have given and given and given without making people take responsibility for them selves. People will never learn to fend for them selves as long as we continue giving handouts to those who are capable of caring for themselves. The ones who truly need help such as widows with children, our wounded veterans, children who have lost their parents, senior citizens, those with disabilities, and others.
One word, accountability. We have totally lost the true meaning of this word. Honesty, many don’t even care about this word any more. Greed has taken over our country. We have lost the true meaning of charity, giving, and compassion in this world, and we need to get back these simple words of wisdom. May God help America.
Shirley
Let them kill each other.
Twice this week I have heard mid management people speak words that I never thought that I would hear. First from a human resource person her telling that decisions are mostly made in the best interest of management, that working people are used to support the management class. Now from Ms. Roman the despicable stories of self interested unions and management in Detroit. I can assure you that the problem is not only in Detroit but is all across America. I have lived it. Were the working people to rise up against this sick system being taught in management schools and union halls... this country deserves better. I blame management of both sides.
I dont support the argument that government made any one approve a poor credit risk. I have yet to see the evidence. I dont believe government made a bank lend money it didnt want to. Today the entire force of Congress and the White House is leaning on banks to loan and they wont. What evidence is there that they did before? What? Please dont tell me that Acorn made them do it. Get real about that.
You may have in mind some personalities in Washington that are 'gas on fire'. How about 100.000 people rioting in Detroit because the bottom fell out there. Or 10 million going to Washington (the inaugural) to speak their mind.
Write this down: the one short coming I read in editorial rants is the view that THE thing is black or white. No grey. MY thing is either this or not at all. Advocacy has become Audacious.
There are people in Washington who can make a positive effect with both Corp management and union management. You clearly dont think so, you have gone to work for yourself.
This article is a deja' vu to me. Nearly 40 years ago I was an administrator in a large nursing home with two handymen. After hiring them, I found out that each was a full time employee at the local Chrysler plant. I remarked to one of them that I was quite impressed he had the energy to put in a full day with me after working all night on the graveyard shift.
That tickled him. "Well, not exactly WORKING," he said. "I get a good 6-7 hours sleep a night." From that moment on, I knew it was only a matter of time before the industry would implode.
Similarly, in college I witnessed a local beer plant shutting up for good with no obvious public explanation. After a bit of research, I uncovered the real reason. The unions had demanded that coolers be circulating throughout the plant at all hours so the men could drink all the beer they wanted. And when inevitably some got drunk (usually on a regular basis), they were sent home WITH FULL PAY. And of course, the unions made sure they could never be fired.
Personally, I've been a member of three unions in my lifetime. And though they were likely quite necessary many decades ago, it seems obvious these days that they are more a detriment to the workers than an asset.
Lori, for some of the very reasons you have outlined, I am anti-union. I watched what happened to my mother and stepfather during the Communications Workers of America back in the early 80's. My mother and stepfather worked for Southern Bell in Charlotte, NC. Unions, like communism are probably ok in THEORY, but not reality. I am against unions or the oligarchy we are soon going to be under interfering with how a business runs. Heaven forbid someone cross a picket line. Good for you for getting away from it.
Unions were good when begun, however those in charge of the unions were tied to the mafia, thus they were corrupt at the beginning. When union constantly told the worker that the boss, owner, company they worked for was their enemy, they over stepped their bounds. When a person is allowed to be paid for 8 hours for 5 hours of work it is not profitable for any employer. I saw this in the building industry in Ca. I was shouted out of a meeting in Sacramento when I tried to tell the Carpenters they were pricing themselves out of a job. I was called Crabgrass.
I do not believe there is one union carpenter in the housing industry in Ca. now. From one of the strongest unions in the nation to zip now. 40 years.
It isn't just the UAW but other unions too. Where I work, union dues are the graft we have to pay to have jobs and like the UAW, the union strongly protects those workers unwilling to do their jobs and complain vociferously when others take over their work. The bad side of this argument is all of the collateral damage to all of the suppliers that will be done if a Ch11 is filed. Those suppliers are not going to spring back overnight. With Government corporate taxes as high as they are, the big 3 have plenty of incentive to move their business elsewhere. To add further fuel to the fire, there is no government direction for future automotive development. For example, hydrogen power will take significant infrastructural changed to become reality and will take governmental assistance to build it. Lastly, my 4cyl Toyota pickup does not get nearly the mileage tradeoff as my 6liter Denali (20 vs 17). GM has done a tremendous job.
I am a UAW member and have worked for GM for 38 years. Although I have never seen the things Lori talks about, I’m not so naive as to think they didn’t occur. What bothers me is that she has included most of the honest hard working union members into a group of thief’s and misfits.
Most, and I mean most, of the union people I have worked with like their jobs ( and pay ) and wouldn’t think of doing the things Lori described.
Unfortunately the unions do fight for the rights of these few bad apples, and many of them do go unpunished. But in every negotiation to save these people from rightly loosing their jobs, there is an agreed settlement by management and union. That’s right…both sides get something.
To think that the unions run the business and that management is helpless to stop abuses is just not true. Lori has been on the shop floor and is angry at the way she was treated by a few workers that she could not properly discipline. If Lori’s bosses had trained her in proper disciplinary procedures and then had the guts to back her up, I’m sure things would have been different and that she would have a better opinion of autoworkers.
To let and industry go into bankruptcy, or worst, out of business to right the wrongs of a fraction of the entire workforce is wrong.
In the last several years many automobile plants have negotiated huge wage and benefit cuts for their union workers. Wages of $ 17.00 to as low as $ 10.00, per hour, with no company funded retirement are not uncommon.
Wages of $65 to $75 per hour are being paid to such a few US autoworkers today, that it is unfair to use those figures when comparing the compensation of foreign autoworkers.
Great article - and excellent conversation with Kirby on KVI radio this morning!
Thank you! I'll be on Fox and Friends Wednesday morning 7:15 Eastern.
Hey folks Chrysler is still hiring for a job in DC if you want to send them your resume!!!
http://www.washingtonnetworkgroup.com/index.php?tg=addon/1/form&idx=3&id_app=3&id_step=8&id_form=3&form_row=1521&popup=0&parent_id_form=1&parent_id_step=6&form_menu=&trt_step=1&form_value=Public%2BPolicy%2BAnalysis%2Band%2BOutreach%2BRepresentative
Instead of hiring this "Public Policy Analyst" perhaps they should hire someone with some management skills from a company that knows how to compete in the marketplace. Microsoft and Target come to mind.
Todd
I agree Lori! I have similar experiences working at the GM plant in Flint. I have since moved on from GM and vowed not to work in another union environment. Weak kneed management bullied by UAW members is nothing new and will not change in the current environment. I think the best thing to happen to GM is Chapter 11 forcing reorganization and bring the UAW back down to earth. Like Lori, I have family and friends who are GM retirees and current employees, so suggesting GM go through Chapter 11 is not easy. I would also suggest that "Tricky" Rick and the boys be replaced with a management team specializing in turnarounds. Someone like Mitt Romney comes to mind. Yes this will be hard and people will lose jobs, but sometimes the hardest things to do are the best for us.
I too agree the Federal Government should not bail out the Big Three or anybody else but for different reasons.
I never worked in a union job that actually helped or protected the workers. I worked most of my adult life for Honda Of America MFG. There was no union and the way they treat people is terrible at times. I had health problems and they rode me until I quit. Saving them thousands when I finally had to have treatment and became disabled. Being a Team Leader at Honda for several years, I can imagine how it would be tonot be able to get your people to do their work.
I believe NAFTA is part of the reason for our problems. All we have exported is our jobs while importing things that American companies can not compete with because of cheap labor an no import tax.
I believe the Federal Govenment should have stayed out of the housing market/finance. I believe our government should have stayed out of the Air Traffic Controlers strike (Ronald Reagan).
I believe our govenment should not bail out any company. Divide the money appropriated for bailout and give an equal share to every Adult American Citizen. They would then pay their debt, pay their bills, and buy products which would boost the economy.
The American Working Class does the work, makes the money (for the companies), and pays most of the taxes. Yet our government does everything to help everybody but the American Working Class. it is like we are children and can\'t be trusted with our money. Our Government should try living on minimum wage as many good American workers are forced to do. The American Workers should be very proud of their survival due to the hardship our own Government causes.
I believe our government should control the health Insurance companies who have caused medical costs to get out of hand. The biggest buildings in every city are owned by Insurance companies and Banks. The highest paid officials in America are at insurance Companies and Banks. It\'s time those selfish people who have been a part of the cause of the recession lose their jobs or at a minimum take a huge pay/benfit cut.
I believe our Elected Officials should take a pay cut and stop their full pay retirement benefit as well as their healthcare benefits. Why should they get what the American Workers cannot?
While I\'m complaining, I\'m on Medicare which does not pay enough to be worth what I pay for it. My wife still works so my primary health insurance is what we pay for through her employer (used to be a benefit). Our health insurance company pays less than the charged fee and says the fee is above the usual and customary fee. Then medicare pays $0 and says my primary paid enough to satisfy the bill. They both say I should be billed nothing but I am. I have to pay something nearly every time. Basically double insured and still pay!
I am an American! We are is trouble! But please God Bless America!
Sincerely,
Bob
What will it take for this country to wake up.
Lori, thank you for your insights. My father was a Teamster and, as a shop steward, saw many abuses like those you noted by the UAW. However, I think that the problem with the auto industry is more complicated than just management being bullied by the union. Excessive government regulation, presssure from "green" advocates and exorbitant corporate taxes also contributed to the crisis.
That being said, I am not in favor of government bailouts either. Corporate welfare is just as wicked as individual welfare and it won't stop with the auto industry. On a moral level it is institutionalized theft and on a practical level it is just unrealistic. Taxpayers can't rescue every failed industry anymore than our military can save every third world country experiencing internal conflicts. Our resources are not unlimited.
I am now absolutely,sure that there is an Economic Civil War going on and it has been going on since the late 1960's. All my life(I was born in 1968)I have seen union jobs being destroyed in my home town. The City I live in has seen its population plummett from just over 500,000 to just under 300,000.One of the largest steel plants in the world was shut down and its jobs sent overseas.
I believe that the Union heads have gone out of their way to screw the workers they are supposed to represent. Now the workers are on the outside looking in.
Kudo's!!!
This is a piece that should be on CNN. It sure educated me about unions. Thanks
I remember being raised in a union household. I know how passionate mom and dad are about supporting the union and I respect that. On the other hand we must not be blind to how an organization can destroy the good parts to a company if that union gets too big and bold. I no longer support the unions as they are today. If the unions do not change some of their attitudes and practices it will be inevitable that they will be a thing of the past. This will have nothing to do will little ole' me not supporting them it will have everything to do with them not changing their ways and seeing the future for what it could be. I believe the unions could still have a big impact on our world trade but I also believe they can only have that impact is if they change some of their rediculous practices and over the top rules. How can a man get a 30 day unpaid suspension and then that union negotiate that it be a paid suspension. If I ever did what this man did I would be fired on the spot - righteously.
Theresa, the way that they turn a disciplinery suspension into a paid suspension is when they have a meeting with management and "Negotiate" the solutions to a number of problems. So if one person gets a paid suspension then somebody lost their solution in return, so the good employees lose ground while bad ones get special deals.
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