Union issues

In the face of these trying economic times, it boggles my mind that unions seem to be willing to cut off their own noses.

In his latest incarnation of the budget, the mayor proposes three days of layoffs for "nonessential" employees, and the unions are fighting it in court. According to an article in the Toledo Blade, they are filing for a restraining order to stop this because it didn't go to arbitration.

I understand the motivation. Technically, the union is trying to protect the workers' contract, but it seems that effort (like so many efforts that unions make) is quite short sighted. According to what I heard on WSPD yesterday, while the city may not have the legal right to do these three-day layoffs, union officials admit that the mayor does fully have the legal right to do permanent layoffs. What a great idea. Save the three days pay for those non-essential employees and put the city in a position where they have to permanently put some of your membership out of work.

Look at the automaker situation. In spite of the fact that the cost of labor for the US automakers is nearly twice that of their competitors in foreign and transplants (foreign companies who manufacture in the US), Ron Gettelfinger says that the UAW is unwilling to make any concessions. The simplest of economic theories says that if you leave your cost of making your product at an uncompetitive level, you will not be able to stay in business. So, again, save your people some money in the short term, lose them their jobs in the big picture.

Where I work, management put a freeze on overtime. Last year, I made about $7000 in overtime. This year will be considerably less than that, and next year will be lower still. It's a lousy situation that has caused me to find part-time work and tighten my household budget some, but the fact is that I and all my coworkers still have jobs.

A few years back, in my hometown, there was a foundry that went out of business, idling about 200 workers. The six management-level employees went out and found some small manufacturing contracts, put together some financing, bought the building and went about opening it up again. Their plan was to work the floor themselves and make whatever it was the contracts called for. The union said they couldn't do that because they weren't using the union workforce. The new management said that they couldn't afford to do it at that point. They said that if they could develop the business, the union workers would be the first people hired as soon as they were able to hire anyone beyond themselves. The union said that wasn't good enough and went to court. Fortunately, the judge saw things the way of the new owners and didn't put the new company in a position where they couldn't afford to start up. Typical union short-sightedness. They couldn't have what they wanted in the short term and they were willing to kill the potential of having jobs come back down the road. Today, that foundry is still open and is employing about 150 union workers.

What the unions seem to be unwilling to accept about the economy today is that, to quote one of my favorite movies, Full Metal Jacket, "it's a big sh** sandwich and everyone is gonna have to take a bite." The union leaders need to realize that a small bite for everyone is better for their membership in the big picture than putting a smaller number of their people in a position to take a really big bite.