The gloves are off. This may be the year of the union revival. (Membership had been languishing at 6% of private employment in 2022.) As of 31 October, there were 354 strikes involving some 492000 employees. {That’s 8X the number for 2021and 4X those found in 2022.)
Continue reading Growing Labor Strength
Let’s consider what’s happened since the UAW and the Big 3 have settled on new contracts. Those contracts elevated wages by 27%, have cost-of-living adjustments, an eradication of tiered employment, better retirement, among other provisions.
Continue reading On the March!
How the mighty have fallen.
30 years ago, autoworkers were the highest paid folks among the rank-and file. If we used constant dollars their income today would be $ 43 an hour. Except their income is now only $ 32 an hour. That is about 30% below their peak income of 2003.
This GM strike is just like US politics– deadlocked. There’s bad positioning- coupled with the lack of honesty in explaining why that position was taken in the first place.
Continue reading 22 skidoo. Really- it’s time.
I remember how excited I was back in 1964. Finally, there would be a World’s Fair near me. (Seattle was just too far and too much money for me in 1962.) I’m pretty sure I relished the site at least a dozen times. And, not just for those new snacks- Belgian Waffles. No, the GE exhibit (despite the fact that Ronald Reagan had gone to the VERY dark side [Goldwater!!!]), Walt Disney (It’s a Small World After All), the various countries, and the ATT, Ford and GM exhibits.
Continue reading The Show Must Go On? Nope.
Before I begin today’s blog, I should tell you that I am a real Chrysler fan. My car rental agency only handled their vehicles. Chrysler was the firm with the best engineering in the business; maybe, not the best designs always, but… (I also stopped being an exclusive Chrysler guy when Mercedes Benz took them over.) And, now, as you can see from the pictures, Chrysler is back in the news.
Continue reading A peek behind the Chrysler curtains…