Unions are the reason American auto companies are forced to sell a car that costs on average 2K more than foreign produced cars.
NObama Wants Unions To Be "Part of the Solution", not "Part of the Problem" That's beautiful. Let's do it.
Unions are delirious over finally being back in the driver's seat. They own Obama and both house of congress. First order of business, passing a law that takes away the secret ballot for union representation elections. Unions have a tough time winning election these days other than in public sector jobs, so they would prefer to be able to coerce workers to sign union cards than have a real election. Next order of business, getting taxpayers to bail out the UAW. The Big Three are uncompetitive largely because they are liable for lavish benefits for not only current but also retired workers. Congress pretended to condition a bailout on the companies and unions working something out, but no way the UAW gives an inch with their man in the White House. They know he will never force them to give up anything meaningful. Let the taxpayers pick up the tab for those lavish benefits. Finally, get ready for a lot of strikes. If you can believe it, refinery workers may well go out on strike over the weekend. The companies will let them go. They can use managers and non-union staff to keep the refineries going, and the dirty little secret is they are running at low utilization rates anyway. Expect emergency action from Obama to force the companies to knuckle under, and expect legislation ASAP from congress to make it illegal for companies to use non-union workers to last out a strike.