Re: Bankruptcy attack?
john taylor wrote:
Hello, I’m a retired autoworker, new to this list.
Hello, welcome.
I’m wondering what folks like you make of all the recent Chapter 11 filings and the attack on Labor?
I read that good article by Chris Kutalik from Labor Notes and another by Jane Slaughter on the Monthly Review and Labor Notes websites (I think the address is something like www.labornotes.org). They seem like a good start, but I just don’t know how we can best get things rolling around this. Need better minds then myself.
As much (and as long) as I admire Labor Notes, I’m afraid they’re not acknowledging that GM and Delphi have real problems. Their losses are real - take a look how badly GM has lagged the broader stock market http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=GM&t=my&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=%5EGSPC (on this chart, GSPC, the red line, is the S&P 500 index: GM stock is essentially where it was 43 years ago, while the S&P is up 1500%). Delphi http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=my&s=DPH&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=&c=%5EGSPC is even worse. If the losses were somehow a big scam to justify screwing the workers, then the stocks would be acting a lot better than this.
I’ve got to say, I don’t really know how the unions should respond. High auto industry wages - average hourly earnings (excluding benefits) in “transportation equipment” are over $22, with UAW wages much higher, compared with an average wage of $16 - are a relic of the long-gone days when the big three were a near-monopoly. They’ve been ratcheted down over the years, but it now looks like we’re in the final stages of the process. Short of really major changes in the economic system, I just don’t see how it can be stopped. Maybe some other folks can come up with some good ideas.
Doug