On Tue, Sep 26, 2006 at 01:04:30AM -0700, Andrew Lentvorski wrote: > John Oliver wrote: > > >But now the pendulum has swung the other way. Unions have become an > >obstacle to success, as we see with the airlines and auto manufacturers. > >Ford, GM, airlines... they aren't "greedy bastards holding onto billions > >and billions of dollars, unwilling to share"... the market has changed, > >and the products they sell and the price they get for those products has > >changed. Competition abounds. But the unions haven't changed... they > >still demand high-five-figure salaries for line workers, massive benefit > >programs, full medical, their people can never be laid off or fired > >without Saint Peter and the Lord Jesus Christ appearing in person. The > >work that union employees do today can be done much, much more cheaply, > >and so it shall... either the unions will be broken, or the > >non-unionized companies will eat their used-to-be competitors for lunch. > > You are wrong. > > The problem afflicting GM, Ford, etc. is success. > > They have been around long enough to have a large base of retired workers. > > Once you remove pensions and healthcare obligations for retirees, US > companies, like steel mills, often become competitive again. > > The correct answer is healthcare and pension costs diversified across > multiple industries so that as one industry is declining another one is > picking up the tab. >
The correct answer is to emulate the Canadian health care system, the best in the world, far cheaper than ours, and no burden on industry. > However, the same people who whine about unions also whine about > portable pensions and universal healthcare. > > IIRC, it was Toyota who recently located a plant in Canada instead of > North Carolina and cited universal healthcare has saving them about > $2000 per worker. > > -a > > > -- > [email protected] > http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list -- Lan Barnes Linux Guy, SCM Specialist Tcl/Tk Enthusiast I was in Crawford and I said I was looking for a book to read, and Laura said, 'You oughtta try Camus.' I also read three Shakespeares. - George W. Bush -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
