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The UAW meets Darwin Barrett Kalellis Considering the present travails of the U.S. auto industry, it doesn't take an evolutionary biologist to point out that there is a survival of the fittest going on among the car companies and their suppliers, not only with offshore competition, but also with their labor unions. Back in the heady days of significant market share and less robust competition, risk-averse Big 3 management generally finessed threats of work stoppages and strikes by the UAW by simply rolling over and giving into what seemed to outsiders as increasingly extravagant demands by the union. As long as the market was good and profits were healthy, they reasoned, why not spread the wealth around? With the shocking announcement of Delphi's recent filing for bankruptcy protection, along with the parlous state of numerous other major suppliers and the sorry state of both General Motors and Ford profitability, the stage has been set for an industry-wide showdown with a union leadership that struggles to maintain its viability. Now that Delphi CEO Steve Miller has thrown down the contract renegotiation gauntlet – with wage and vacation rollbacks, the right to close plants, co-pays for health coverage, elimination of the notorious "jobs bank," among others – union members understandably fear the rug is about to be pulled out from under them. These concessions will inevitably lead to similar pressures from the car companies themselves, a death spiral for decades of union gains when confronting the reality of steady market share losses of U.S. automakers. Facing this onslaught, the UAW and allied unions are scrambling to mount a defense to protect wages and benefits. Two weeks ago, a coalition was formed to plan a campaign that will likely involve trying to persuade Delphi's suppliers, as well as local politicians and clergy in communities where the company has facilities, to pressure it to moderate its demands. The group represents the pent-up anger of union locals, and favors a potential strike if the UAW fails to broker a deal more favorable than current offers. Story Continues Below
The rank and file resentment of Delphi and GM management is almost matched by their disgust with UAW leadership, which is characterized as long having been corrupted by being in cahoots with management, with union members simply used as pawns. A joke making the rounds has it thus: "What's the difference between lemmings, sheep and Delphi workers?" Answer: "Delphi workers pay union dues." As the largest industrial bankruptcy in American history, the Delphi situation is interpreted by more radical unionists as an attempt to break the union movement in the U.S as a whole. They view upper management as nothing more than "ruthless grifters" who are determined to profit at workers' expense – incompetent, bungling managers who pocket millions while leaving behind a bankrupt company whose workers lose their jobs and whatever benefits are owed to them. The crisis at Delphi brings out the worst rhetorical caricatures of capitalism and socialism: greedy capitalists exploiting the poor, oppressed working class. But considering the lavish wages and benefits of unionized auto workers over the past decades, it is difficult to picture them as either poor, oppressed or even exploited. In fact, if Ben Hamper's attitude toward his employer General Motors, as revealed in his best-selling 1986 autobiography Rivethead, represents simply a portion of assembly line workers, there exists a palpable, widespread, adversarial relationship between these factory workers and management. As he relates it, company loyalty extends only as far as the next fat paycheck; otherwise, you use your wits to slack off on the tedious job, mock your supervisors, and spend the off-hours drinking and partying. A rank and file on-line UAW publication called "Future of the Union," while denouncing the "false brotherhood of capital and labor," actually calls for "democratic socialism" not only within the UAW, but across the entire country. Leaders of this faction want capitalism abolished and a socialist republic established, with massive tax increases for public services paid for by the rich, blah, blah, blah. If anything, Delphi's bankruptcy should be a tolling bell for welfare unionism and its collectivist roots. The most likely Darwinian model suggests that those companies that best adapt to the changing and difficult economic conditions ahead will be the ones that survive in a global marketplace. In this brave new world, when Delphi – or General Motors – can go bankrupt, then labor unions can no longer guarantee a comfortable middle class lifestyle, including generous wages, healthcare benefits and pensions. Instead, as economist Ben Stein has noted, workers in manufacturing industries will have to start seeing themselves as part of the working class. They can't count on the company to provide for their retirement, they will have to start saving and do it on their own. Barrett Kalellis is a Michigan-based columnist and writer whose articles appear regularly in various local and national print and online publications. He may be reached at kalellis@NewsMax.com.
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