The UAW’s big gamble depends on gas prices staying low.
Last week, it was noted how the new Ford-UAW contract gives Ford the ability to move production and hire ‘unlimited’ lower-paid workers.
This week, the Washington Post [WaPo] is declaring it has an ‘answer’ to the question of why the UAW is shipping jobs out of the United States:
It is in the UAW’s self interest.
It’s a case study in the difference between labor’s political rhetoric, which is all about working-class solidarity, and collective bargaining, which is all about self-interest.
[…]
Workers got a taste of the Big Three’s new prosperity through profit-sharing, but as this year’s contract negotiations approached, UAW leaders were under pressure to win permanent wage-rate increases and abolish “two-tier.”
To cut a long and complicated story short, the companies essentially agreed to solve that problem for the union, in return for which the union, which has a say on investment plans, helped the carmakers solve their problem: gaining access to cheaper labor somewhere in the world.
Roughly 70 percent of the Detroit Three’s sales this year are from the more profitable trucks and SUVs.
In other words, smaller-passenger cars are less profitable.
This is why, according to WaPo, the “future of North American auto manufacturing looks like this: big cars north of the Rio Grande, small ones south of it.”
As a result, “the UAW essentially decided to protect as many jobs for its members as possible at the highest wages possible.”
As was noted here last week, by gaining jobs producing trucks and SUVs in exchange for giving up small cars to foreign competition (while gas prices are low), the Washington Post also recognizes:
“The true wisdom of the UAW’s huge bet on large vehicles may not be apparent until the next gas price spike.”
Read the whole WaPo piece here.
Related:
- Ford-UAW Contract Gives Company Ability To Move Production, Hire ‘Unlimited’ Lower-Paid Workers
- [VIDEO] 2 Weeks After UAW’s Members In Kentucky Reject Contract, Ford Adds Up To 2K Jobs
Add comment