The news just mentioned that the UAW and the UAW controlled General Motors have reached a very generous contract agreement (I’m shocked, I tell you!)
Back in the good old days, GM *wanted* to be the company that got selected as the strike target. That’s seems counter-intuitive, but here is why. That let GM define what the “industry standard” would be. GM could promise wages and benefits that it believed the weaker car companies could not match.
With the GM contract in hand, the UAW could demand that Ford, Chrysler and American Motors match the terms of the contract. If the other companies refused and were struck, when it ultimately would go to arbitration, the UAW would say “GM already agreed to this – so that’s the industry standard and the arbitrator should use that as the basis for what Ford should have to pay us, and the other non-monetary rules”.
In 1975 GM sold me a Vega. I boycotted GM for 35 years as a result. Finally, I tried GM again and bought a Saturn L300. Loved the car and the dealership … so much that I bough two more Saturns. Then came the great crackup and the failed Penske buyout of Saturn and THEN came the Guvment/Union takeover/rape of GM. I just bought a new Suzuki Kizashi, “well appointed.” Best car yet. There’ll be no Government Motors cars in my garage — none of the time.
Well, maybe in 35 years….
The refusal to string all of the visible actions (Euro and pvt. sector bailouts, regulation strangulation, decimation of tools of growth and so on) of this administration (any previous) is 100% foolish. The government news agencies (NYT, WP, WSJ, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox, AP…..) are in concert against liberty. I have wondered if there is a metaphysical parallel between those who would rather watch the Kardashians over trying to protect and grow liberty; and those who fritter away eternal life rather than fighting for it. I have to get the business open, just wondering.