Are The Recent UAW Contracts Signaling A Move Towards Cooperation Rather Than Confrontation?

Whatever you may think about Detroit's automakers and their de facto partner, the United Auto Workers, both sides are delivering three things this town hasn't seen in a very long time: real profits, flattened fixed costs and more jobs-producing investment.

Less than three years after General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Group LLC collapsed into a federally induced bankruptcy, imperiling the UAW in the process, the Detroit-based industry is emerging from this fall's national contract talks generating jobs, cash, an optimism founded on the hard nuts and bolts of success.

And cooperation. Ratification of the union's agreement with Chrysler appeared almost certain Monday, as nearly 58 percent of 1,881 members at Jefferson North Assembly voted in favor of the third contract to bolster the competitive posture of Detroit's automakers for the next four years.

Steve - 10/25/2011 7:02:16 PM

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No. Desperation, not cooperation. The UAW's swagger has hurt them. Membership is at its lowest since the 1970s, in spite of an increased population and increased production. And before UAW fans start singing "efficiency", think instead of "mor efficient to make it without US labor and the UAW...elsewhere!"

The UAW is merely delaying their inevitable demise. How soon will it be before we hear of more UAW demands that sound like we're talking about a pro ball player?