Conservative Donnybrook

The most expensive truck-producing plant on earth has been slated for closure by General Motors and the Canadian Auto Workers Union is threatening dire consequences if GM follows through. The move was determined to be in General Motors’ best interest given the sudden collapse of the truck and SUV market due to rising oil prices. After the announcement, the CAW reacted angrily, “This decision is unfair, it’s unjust, it’s unwarranted, it’s illegal, it violates our collective agreement and we’re going to do everything in our power - and we have power,” Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove declared at a news conference. “This is not going to happen without a fight.”

Hargrove said the union wasn’t ruling out anything and “will explore all options.” He declined to be specific, but when asked whether the options included a wildcat strike or legal action against the company, the union leader said “everything is on the table.”

GM is not alone in cutting vehicle production in Canada and the United States. All of the major American auto makers have recently announced cuts. Meanwhile, their main rivals, Toyota and Honda, have been expanding their North American production capacity. The main difference: the Japanese plants have managed to avoid unionization.

The CAW’s threat to stage wildcat strikes and take legal action against GM is a direct threat to the viability of the company itself and reveals a short-sightedness that is alarming. In essence, the union is demanding that the company continue to produce vehicles that it cannot sell - in short, they are demanding the company eat the losses which would result from bad business out of “moral obligation to its workers and their families.”

I agree that General Motors has a moral obligation to its workers and their families. It is for this very reason that it must close unprofitable plants so that other plants, which are viable, survive. The issue, to the union, is clearly not the corporation’s workers or the union would understand that sometimes plants have to be closed in order to keep the company viable (and therefore provide income to at least some workers). And if GM Charley Wilson’s old quotable is correct, “What’s good for America is good for General Motors, and vice versa,” then the union’s demand is a direct attack on America itself.

The latest round of contract negotiations reveals how disingenuous the “workers and families” argument is. While the American union agreed to cuts of $25-$30 per hour from their compensation and benefits package, the Canadian union took only $5 per hour in reductions. Plainly, the Canadian union is in it to get theirs and do not have the good of the corporation (and, by extension, their brother workers throughout the organization) at heart. Ironically, the Canadian union’s intransigence at the negotiating table is now costing its members dearly.

I used to work with a guy, Willie, who would always tell me, “It’s better to get a little piece of the pie than to get no pie at all.” The workers at the Oshawa plant can attest to Willie’s wisdom. Of course, I think Willie was actually talking about pie.