re: #370 Sharmuta

The administration seems so fond of interfering with the contracts of management, but what about the labor contracts? This isn’t all on labor, true, but nor is it all on management. There is no way this administration will reign in the union, so I feel it’s unfair to not mention the role of labor costs to the overall issues with the industry.

The Administration has a distinctive favoritism toward labor. Comes with the territory. And the government is NOT in a position, at the moment anyway, to renegotiate current labor contracts. It wasn’t in a position to dictate management changes at GM, either, but GM decided to take the money the government was offering rather than turn them down and do…what they’re going to wind up doing, anyway, which is taking the company into bankruptcy. At least they get a few more weeks to convert their existing company shares into some other investment.

The unions, meanwhile, are about to be reined in no matter what else happens, because layoffs and plant closings are coming no matter what. And under bankruptcy protection, their contracts will be nullified.

Personally, I would have enjoyed seeing Gettlefinger publicly flogged - just on principle, and because it’s been awhile since there’s been a good public flogging - but the union’s aren’t begging the government for money (directly) so the government doesn’t have much sway when it comes to influencing union behavior.