Should the big 3 be bailed out?

[emayer]

Brian Minkin wrote:

Some facts to stir further discussion on the original topic.

The UAW contract that they say is full of concessions is not exactly so. In this contract new union members will work at wages competitive with non union plants such as Toyota. These people will make about $35 an hour including all benifits. Current union members however are paid $76 and hour including benefits and are not taking a cut to save the industry. Yes they have given back a little in the cost of health care and other benefits, but the biggest piece of the pie which is the hourly pay of current members certainly does not help the big 3 sell competitive products and make a healthly profit margin.

Agreed.

I'm not sure of the US structure, but in Germany a Union representative sits on the board of the automakers. Not that their structure is perfect, and one could certainly argue a possible conflict of interest, but having inside knowledge of the health of a company likely promotes more reasonable dialogue and a sense of ownership. What strikes me about all of this is that we've seen this situation evolving over quite some time. The desire for a quick dollar on both sides of the table has now crippled long term survival....

As an aside though relevant to this topic, what do you make of the proposal to end secret ballots for dertermining unionization? I'm not well briefed on this, but it seems rather undemocratic and a way for unions to pressure employees to sign on....