[Ducati] Strike at Harley (NDC)

[Kathleen Corgan]

On Feb 3, 2007, at 12:25EST, Scott Taylor wrote:

> There was definitely a time when unions were absolutely necessary  
> to protect workers from robber-barrons whose jobs killed the  
> workers, both literally and figuratively.

Look around you...that time is back with us now.  Health care costs  
are being shoved back to the worker, guaranteed pensions dissolving,  
CEO-worker pay ratios approaching and exceeding the Vanderbilt,  
Morgan, and Comstock era.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/ 
2006/07/10/8380799/

http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots_20060621

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/ 
CEOsNearRecordPayRatios.aspx

Incidentally, in joining a union, every member is fully aware that  
striking is a possibility if agreements cannot be made at contract  
negotiating time.  It is important to have that rainy day savings in  
the event that things go sour...or be perpared to move on if you  
can't wait it out.  With that in mind, some smart union leaders are  
careful to approach negotiations knowing what concessions their  
membership feels are worth striking over, and what ones are worth  
conceding for a possible compromise on the management side.

I don't know the details of the International Harvester or  
Caterpillar companies' negotiations, but don't rule out the  
likelihood that the breaking points of those contracts may very well  
have been based on a "line in the sand" that the majority of the  
union members themselves drew.  That the COMPANIES were not able to  
look elsewhere within their infrastructures for cost-saving  
solutions, could be just as much, if not more, to blame for inability  
to save workers' jobs as the possibility of poor union leadership.

As far as the auto industry is concerned...their problems are much  
larger than the unions...overproduction of bad marketing and design  
probably being the worst of it (people can't afford, or simply don't  
like the vast number of vehicles they are building). There may have  
been real abuse of power in the auto unions' leadership, but It's not  
the man or woman on the factory line who has held on to archaic  
legislation through handsomly paid sums to lobbyists to feed an aging  
dinosaur.

sorry for so much ndc...I too will be willing to take this offline if  
anyone else wants to discuss...

kath

Kath Corgan
kathis at mindspring.com
Hell's Kitchen, NYC
'03 999 Yellow Mono
STT/REDUC #199, NESBA #199