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Unions and Management Need to Join to Stop Michigan's Economic Decline

GM and the UAW Setting New Tone of Cooperation to Compete Globally

September 22, 2003       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

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What's wrong with Michigan's economy?

The same thing that was wrong when I wrote about this subject in 1983 -- Michigan's manufacturers need to learn to compete. And labor unions need to learn to cooperate.



For example, the Big 3 automakers require 45 labor hours at $52 per hour to build a car while automakers managed by Japanese firms in the U.S. need only 32 hours at $36 per hour. That is a gap that cannot continue if the U.S. auto industry is to survive.

There are strong signs that management/labor cooperation is the number one agenda item of the Big 3. Self preservation is the goal. One union commentator put it succinctly: You can't get paid if the company is bankrupt.

The recent UAW contract settlement with the Big 3 is a very positive sign. Both sides made concessions and indications are there is a new spirit of cooperation. If so, this cooperative attitude needs to spread to every aspect of social interaction. The first step is to accept the fact that wehave problems, and they're not going away unless we act decisively.

In the tri-county area we are seeing more signs of continuing decline. The announcement of the closing of GM's Malleable Iron plant and downsizing of Delphi are more evidence the process is gaining speed. And that's just what is on the surface. Much of the decline is unseen: One Saginaw area plant, for example, had about 800 workers a few years ago. Now? About 50 are left. There were no headlines, just pink slips.

A Republican leader verbally bashed Gov. Jennifer Granholm at a recent conference on Mackinac Island, blaming her for job losses in Michigan. President George Bush is routinely blamed by Democrats for the state of the nation's economy. A certain amount of blame can be placed on political leaders for not fostering the kind of environment conducive to global competition. But it's the men and women on the factory floor and in the offices of manufacturing companies, and other enterprises, who really determine the state of the economy.

If management and labor, and Republicans and Democrats, and conservatives and liberals, are continually at war philosophically, nothing will work properly with our economy.

Gov. Granholm has set the tone with her executive order establishing the new Department of Labor and Economic Growth, and naming former Lansing mayor David Hollister its director. The name speaks to the heart of the subject: labor means economic growth. Unless people are at work productively the entire economic engine breaks down.

Union bashing has become the fashion among business types in Michigan. However, blaming the unions for all the ills of the economy and society is avoiding the problem and pointing the finger in only one direction. Corporate corruption is at an all-time high. The cost to society of white collar crooks and management excesses far exceeds union abuses, in my opinion. It's in the news every day, personified by the insanity of the New York Stock Exchange's latheringof Chairman/CEO Dick Grasso with wads of unjustified cash. We don't even need to mention Iraq, the headlines tell us every day that our politicians and military have led us into an untenable morass.

Don't look just at manufacturing for corporatefraud, deception, and flagrant ineptitude: look at education, health care, athletics, retailing, utilities, the military and every corporate domain in Michigan, and America. The attitude that the corporation can do no wrong is destructive to society. Thepower of the corporation has grown far too great for our good, and that's an understatement. Look at one very visible sign -- the ubiquitous Nike logo on the uniform of every sports participant, not just every star.

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The old saw is ever true. We are the victims of our own success. Our leaders have begun to think they are omnipotent. Money has flowed so easily that everyone in the elite sees unlimited wealth as a God-given right. Economic decline will continue and excessive use of power will persist until, 1) the nation goes broke like in 1929, or 2) the citizens and voters speak loudly and call a halt to the current madness.



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Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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