Working Life

   I’ve heard this talked about…well, as long as the grey cells can recall. But, this feels like it has some content to it: The United Auto Workers outlined a new push to recruit U.S. workers at one or more foreign auto makers and will bolster the effort by training and sending activists abroad to [...]

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   They are always looking for a new way to nickle-and-dime people: General Motors Co. wants pay for union-represented workers be tied to employees’ work performance and the company’s financial health—much like the way its salaried workers are paid—in what would be a major shift in how generations of auto workers have been compensated. GM [...]

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    I always shake my head when I read that the country no longer has industry and has evolved into a "service economy". That simple isn’t true. The main problem is that we have jobs–whether industrial or service–that don’t pay decently and are largely non-union.     Someone thinks we should do something about that: The [...]

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So-called "free trade" is part of the relentless class warfare under way in America. And the so-called "free trade" deal with South Korea is no exception. That said, a lot of the shallow criticism of the UAW’s support for the deal is–well, shallow. Here’s my view about how we should engage the UAW–my union–via an [...]

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   Some day, one would hope, journalists would stop accepting the usual erroneous assumptions. One of the biggest has to do with the unionized auto industry. Today, The Wall Street Journal has a piece that bemoans the lack of increase in workers hired at General Motors at a much lower wage, per recent concessions agreed [...]

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   A few days ago, I wrote about the coming crisis of retirement that could last for decades. Here’s another example: And even as its pension fund faces this giant bulge in payouts, G.M. is not putting any new money in — the company is not required to make any contributions to the fund until [...]

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   As I noted yesterday in connection with the bankruptcy of General Motors, I am in favor of spending money on trying to save peoples’ jobs–we are talking about the survival of communities and the lives of thousands of people. But, having now spent the morning reading various media reports about the GM bankruptcy, it’s [...]

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   I suppose some of us may be on the wrong side of this or perhaps weird…or maybe un-American…because we think that, hey, it isn’t a bad thing to spend taxpayer money on saving jobs and communities. If you gave me the choice, I’d be pretty damn proud to know that my money is going [...]

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   It is curious, if not maddening, to observe the unwillingness of our economic and political leaders to admit that the bankruptcy of General Motors is a verdict on a much broader failure of the economic vision of the country. Sure, the incompetence of GM management, over a long period of time, is stunning. But, [...]

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   My obvious failure to post in the morning was not due to laziness or sleeping late (oh, that would be nice). Rather, it was a hectic morning but, here I am, back at my post and…I will be on Larry Kudlow’s show tonight (7 Eastern time) to talk about the bankruptcy deal reached between [...]

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   Yesterday, I was back at CNBC debating the topic of unions and the auto industry. I don’t mind debating people who disagree with me based on solids facts. But, the discussion was entirely ludicrous. The premise of the debate: the UAW is employing a "double standard" because the auto industry is collapsing but, oh [...]

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   It is one of the great hypocritical aspects of the public debate in America–on the one hand, the politicians and talking heads who strut around bragging about how great our country is and, on the other hand, the complete thirst and glee so many of them seem to have for the weakening of unions. [...]

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The bankruptcy of Chrysler crystallized a pretty straightforward choice about which side you are on in our society: do you care about what happens to workers and their communities or are you more interested in making a few more dollars? The Administration made its choice. A few hedge funds made their choice and, along with [...]

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It is a pretty extraordinary scenario: in a blazingly short amount of time, the Administration has forged a deal that could save thousands of jobs at Chrysler–the major banks are on board, the UAW has made more significant concessions. But all that may come crashing to a halt because of a few hedge funds who [...]

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   There are really two things that jump out of the details about the Chrysler deal, via The Wall Street Journal: The United Auto Workers union would eventually own 55% of the stock in a restructured Chrysler LLC under the deal reached by the union and the auto maker, according to a summary of the [...]

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   You probably have heard that a deal was reach between the UAW and Chrysler. Like last week, though, it’s really had to tell from reading the traditional media what exactly the deal will be–other than workers are going to get the shaft. The Wall Street Journal doesn’t say much about enhanced pension protection (meaning, [...]

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