The UAW is Poised For Growth - Are Honda, Nissan, and Toyota Ready?

That's a great comment, especially considering you never followed the link and actually READ the article. While you're criticizing things you know nothing about, why not tell us what the future will bring as well? Second question: Why does this idiotic comment get 6 bumps? If you people spent as much time reading the articles as you do commenting on them, you might realize this concept has merit. Grow up.

One more comment about this idiot and then I'll move on - you said the article was "propaganda." Propaganda for who, junior? If you take the time to read the article, you'll see it's not really complementary towards the UAW, nor is it complementary towards the Japanese automakers. Maybe you should crack open a book and see what these words mean before you use them...but that would require reading, wouldn't it?

More great comments from "whatthe" - we're so lucky!

Hey UAW1...did you write this article?

Come on...we know you did.

How can UAW be poised for growth when there will be fewer plants that will be running as compared to prebankruptcy GM and Chrysler? Also, if a carmaker sees that it is no longer viable to manufacture the car in the US, it will simply import the car completely built up from a neighboring country.

If a company can sell millions and millions of cars, they are making a worthwhile product. To say that maybe the $73 an hour jobs wasn't the only thing that killed them is correct. The added fact that the unions kept constant pressure to keep plants open and over produce that compounded GM's problems. I still blame the UAW. GM/Chrysler/Ford were/are like race cars without brakes. If you can't slow down and adapt to the market you're gonna get fucked.

Good comment - the UAW was definitely part of the problem and I think that the new labor cost structure is going to make the domestics vastly more competitive. As for the UAW forcing the domestics to keep plants open to save jobs, I agree. I would also point out that the Japanese automakers have a "no layoffs" policy that has reduced profitability in the last year at Toyota and Nissan plants in the USA, so I don't know if the UAW's pressure to keep jobs is as crippling as we might think. I would argue that the UAW's emphasis on an "us vs. them" mentality was more damaging than anything, but that mentality has diminished in the last decade or so.

UAW should be dissolved like Patco in the 80's.

While I doubt they are at UAW's level of shamelessness, IG Metall in Germany exerts the same kind of pressure on auto manufacturers, regional and national governments. The difference is that both the union and the management over there have superior work ethics (and skills while we're at it) compared to Detroit.

One can get paid well and have all sort of benefits provided the product is good and profitable. UAW could work 3 days a week for all I care; if they make attractive, reliable and competitively-priced vehicles, we'll all buy them.
The sad thing is they haven't, are not and will not make good cars at least for as long as the government owns them. They have lousy management, can't hire any better since they are not allowed to pay them well, can't hire any better workers since the govt won't let them get out of Detroit and are currently focused on jobs preservation as opposed to building a desirable product. So nothing's changing really.

It ain't good and it won't be getting any better until the entire establishment becomes leaner and more customer-oriented. I fail to see how the UAW can grow in this environment.

Sad to see some taking pleasure in seeing other people losing pay and benefits. In reality when any thinking job can be done anywhere and we can move factories anywhere ... everyone who posted above and every American is way overpaid and getting way too many benefits.. hopefully whatever your doing whether you are self employed or working for someone else it comes around to you as well in the near future as we keep going down the free trade road. It is also interesting how ignorant most people are about the UAW. Sure they have their faults, but to lay the blame for the failure of these car companies at their feet shows that you don't know what you are talking about. In many ways their failure is a reflection of past success. The big three have so many legacy costs from retired workers pensions, healthcare etc... it has crippled them. They have had a lot of people retire in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s.... The companies thought they could live up to promises they were making all those years ago when they had no idea what the real future held for them. Sad to see them go down like this... but hopefully they can come back and pay workers good wages in the future.

I like a lot of what you've said here, but I have to disagree with the notion that the UAW is a victim of past success. I would argue that the UAW is a victim of past "excess" instead - both the excess of the union leadership (demanding more money and benefits despite a reduction in market share) and the short sightedness of the leadership at the domestics. Don't get me wrong - the UAW only gets part of the blame for these problems. Still, to say they're simply victims glosses over a lot of UAW abuses.

The Union killed the domestics, plain and simple. You can't keep all the pay and benefits when you're not selling any cars.

Not to be argumentative, but it takes two to tango: The UAW asked for too much money and benefits, but the executives they negotiated with signed the agreements. In 1998 GM had a chance to adjust their labor costs, and their negotiations lead to a protracted strike. Rather than fight the good fight for the long-term health of GM, one Rick Wagoner agreed to many of the UAW's demands and announced victory. GM share prices went back up, the investors were happy, and Wagoner earned a $400k bonus in his first year as President of GM. True story. I'm not saying that the UAW is innocent, but they COULDN'T ruin GM all by themselves - they had to have some help.