[st01en_lox]

Yep, the Swedes doing the smart thing here. Unfortunately, I don't see us being that wise.

[Scukonahuy]

The could possibly dissolve the contracts with the union. Depends on the judge, I would suspect.

[EscaCsamas]

SWeDEn: Now, more capitalistic than USA.

Fixed

[gueremaisse]

The end of the world must be near

[Toossehew]

Sweden

Interesting to see folks suddenly think it's good to look to other (gasp! European!) countries as possible examples of how to do things.

I think we will end up doing something similar, but not until we've fumbled about a bit (both regarding the automakers and the banks).

-Arrian

[JonnTEN]

If you show up the next time

[SiM7W2zi]

Sometimes in a transition like this, the Government does get to keep its promises by blaming the last guy in the chair.

[Abebpabeniemo]

If you show up the next time

I showed up for the last one at the burger joint so if I say I will be there for the next group, I will there.

[wmzeto]

Asher has marketable skills, Theben, and no doubt believes he would simply leave and find employment elsewhere.

I'm not saying an autoworker has no skills, but they cannot, as far as I know, go out and find job (at least another job making cars) that pays as well elsewhere. The two situations simply aren't comparable.

-Arrian

[vladekad]

Asher has marketable skills, Theben, and no doubt believes he would simply leave and find employment elsewhere.

I'm not saying an autoworker has no skills, but they cannot, as far as I know, go out and find job (at least another job making cars) that pays as well elsewhere. The two situations simply aren't comparable.

-Arrian

If the company isn't making as much money, then Asher's contribution to the total sales has also declined. In both cases, a company will cut costs.

All I'm asking for is the autoworkers get the same treatment as I do. No union, no inflated benefits, no inflated salary -- market forces.

A union is a market force.

[enencephoth]

Without various worker advocacy groups/acts, public and private, even 1st world (which wouldn't be 1st world) techies like Asher would be paid **** and live in hovels.

[RSAccountssy]

It is better to cut salaries.

If they are highly paid, then they can save money.

It is better that they spend almost all the money they make.

[Olympicdreams]

GM's going to be laying off people anyway, even if there are significant wage and benefit concessions. Admittedly, any wage and benefit reductions will help. There's a huge oversupply in car manufacturing. This was so even before the recent downturn.

[NiliSpuppypax]

How about not throwing highly paid workers out of work.

[realnilkless]

I wonder what the Union members themselves would say if given the choice.

"We can either:
a) Cut everyone's salary to 60% of its original level
or
b) Fire 40% of you (at random, no seniority protection)"

Isn't that choice already implied?

[qp0yfHOf]

Without various worker advocacy groups/acts, public and private, even 1st world (which wouldn't be 1st world) techies like Asher would be paid **** and live in hovels.

You can't be serious...

[ToifvT5S]

SAAB is going down, and rightly so. They have been a company on life support since GM took over, I'm flabbergasted that both they and SAAB let it go this far. You can't rely on two models ffs! Not for a consumer car (SAAB is not Koenigsegg... ) And noone has questioned this, not the management or the union. Now it' too late to do something about it. SAAB has failed as a company by not evolving and now they are paying the price, why should the tax payers have to pay for a company that's obviously not able to take care of itself? I support the goverments decision to let SAAB fend for itself. I feel sorry for the workers, but you can't go on producing stuff that people won't buy. That's simple economics...

[agrismhig]

The unions isn't the problem, not compared to the greadiness of the top brass...

[boffincash]

Not only the top brass, but the entire management tree has been a problem at GM. There are too many country club memberships and not enough folks who are fanatical about cars.

The UAW in the Detroit 3 plants have caused a lot of big problems because they became too greedy. Without getting into specifics, GM has been exporting jobs to non-unionized overseas plants for forever to get away from the UAW. Most Japanese and European car companies building plants in the US will not stand for UAW representation. This is an indication of how bad the UAW is. It's not as if the likes of Daimler-Benz are unfamiliar with union representation in Germany, after all.

[asharbiq]

Nobody brings in any profit at GM. Not the workers. Not the management. They haven't for over a half decade.