While things are looking great for Canada's CEO- see previous post- they aren't looking so great for UAW members. Contracts with the Big Three Autoworkers expire this year, and many analyists predict that employees will have to take concessions in order for their employers to stay competitive with in the influx of the Axis of Evil (Toyota, Honda, et. al). Many workers were faced with the serious choice of accpeting a one-time buyout to severe all ties with the company- in the amount of $100,000. Accepting such a decision- which many workers did, fearing layoffs and plant closures- left them without a job, benefits, and of major concern to brothers and sisters in the USA, health insurance.
In an earlier blog, I urged all people to buy domestic this year and in future years. With such a cloudy horizon, it's the least you can do. As autoworkers gear up for battle, I hope they, along with their leadership, remember the climate faced by Canadian autoworkers in the early 1980s. Sta strong, no weakness and NO CONCESSIONS!
In the United States, I hope that the plight of American autoworks in recent years- and the manufacturing sector in general- becomes a key issue in the Democratic primaries, and carries into the presidential election. Since it's only time until the Tories fall here in Canada, I can only hope that the trade imbalance between domestic and offshore automobiles is properly adressed, which should be a stop gap until we can find a government who supports a scheme of a full nationalization of the economy.
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