How Unions Killed The American Auto Industry

Having been a member of a couple of unions in my lifetime, I can speak from experience that in today’s world, they are more useless then tits on a boar hog and I’ve often believed that their greed would destroy American Manufacturing someday.

Michelle Malkin received an email this morning from someone who has worked in the auto industry and points out the difference between the big 3 and the more efficient “Foreign” auto makers.  I’ve posted a teaser and you can click on the link to read the rest.  If you think your a huge fan of unions, you might want to read this.

From Michelle Malkin:

Dear Michelle, Thank you for taking the time to read my comments. I worked in the Automotive Industry for most of my career as a supplier to GM, Ford, Chrysler, Honda of America, Toyota, Nissan, and BMW.

You were exactly right with your comments on Fox & Friends this morning. The UAW has handcuffed GM, Ford, and Chrysler with unreasonable and unrealistic burdens. Their balance sheets will never improve until they shed this weight.

There is another aspect affecting their business and is not being talked about in the media very much.

Having dealt directly with all current domestic automobile manufacturers, there is a distinct difference in how the Big 3 do business with their suppliers as compared to Honda, Toyota, and other foreign automotive assemblers. Toyota, Honda, and Nissan in particular want to make sure they are entering a partnership that insures financial success to all parties.

GM’s business practices generally lead to no profit, tremendous oversight by their internal supplier quality watchdogs, who demand unrealistic expectations, and extremely slow payment in the reimbursement of tooling costs to start new programs. It is not unusual to see reimbursement for tooling costs years after the program has started.

Their business practices are not a tax payer problem, but a terrible management problem. It was a noble idea for the Federal Government to lend them $25 billion to help. It is now known 4 X’s that amount will not cure the root cause of the problem., but only buy them 4 X’s the amount of time.

I do believe that unions served a purpose in their beginning when manufacturing in America was increasing and abuse and expoitation of workers was widespread, but times have changed, but the unions have not. They have become nothing more then Greedy political arms that do nothing to represent the workers but simply that of their own.  I believe Unions have outlived their purpose and that they need to go the way of the Carrier Pigeon and become extinct before American Manufacturing and the American Manufacturing worker do!