Unions vs. management in Detroit (or Flint in this article) was always a case of if one side wins, then the other side loses. Never a joint partnership, never a sense of being in the same life boat. Throw in a sense of entitlement (they owe us) and some class envy and you have the perpetual attitude of Michigan autoworkers, unchanged to this day.

Always the paranoia that somehow we’re being cheated by management out of what is rightfully ours. And, in the case of the union, the helpless anger of the true parasite. The union wanted to grow fat off the host, like any parasite, but were always worried they might kill the host by being too greedy. And, if the host dies, then the union dies also. Same for the unionized autoworkers, they may as well become janitors or clerks at your local dry cleaners.

Weird mindset also. Imagine an industry that pays its unskilled workers so well they own vacation homes on beautiful Michigan waterways such as Houghton lake. Mr. Autoworker can learn his job for life in 30 minutes and earn more for his efforts than highly skilled journeyman and apprentices in most other countries. Yet, he knows, and prefers to know, almost nothing about running a manufacturing business competing against some of the toughest and smartest folks in the world. Always the endless bluster and demands with no real understanding of how to survive in business.

As of last week, the Detroit Free Press was reporting on the purchase of Chrysler by Cerberus Capital Management and apparently nothing has changed since Whitey Hale was a union boss. Cerberus paid a fraction of the cost (about 20%) the Germans paid to acquire Chrysler 9 years ago – but that fact means nothing in Detroit. Instead, there’s the same sense of entitlement and wearisome bluster from the autoworkers. Cerberus should do this, they shouldn’t do that, etc.
And, over at General Motors, there is no understanding by the autoworkers of what it means to compare GM’s capital worth to Toyota’s. GM is like a kid’s lemon aid stand compared to Toyota’s Wal-Mart, in terms of financial power. Yet, the Free Press is running optimistic drivel about GM’s comeback and designs on the world auto market.

After 100 years, American companies should completely rule the world’s automotive market. Instead, this autoworkers’ version of American socialism brings Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” to mind. Instead of asking what Walter Reuther would do, we should be asking “Who is John Galt?”

And, just for the record, Whitey Hale’s plant was never referred to as the “Coldwater road” plant. It was called Ternstedt’s by the folks who worked there and was located on Coldwater road in Beecher Township, a northern border suburb of Flint, Michigan. To see a horrific example of urban blight, complete with boarded up buildings galore, visit Flint, Michigan and view the kind of community folks like Whitey Hale created.

Wake up or lose all the jobs just like those idiots in the steel industry that went on strike in the 50s bragging they were going to bring the industry to its knees. Well, they did bring the industry to its knees and in the process eliminated all of their jobs. My father in law ended up as a janitor in a school earning a quarter of what he earned in the mill but he struck and brought them to their knees…ouch.