What did UAW members at the "Big 3" gain with their strike? ( lemmy.world )

ThePantser , 7 months ago

Which will be passed onto the consumer in the form of more expensive vehicles. UAW should have included a stipulation that prices of cars should not suffer and the funds should come from the executives.

Jimmycrackcrack , 7 months ago

That doesn’t sound like a good idea at all. The union is there to represent it’s workers not set prices. If the company finds itself entirely unable to pay the increased wages and benefits without raising prices then those prices were artificially low by taking what the actual cost should have been and subtracting how much they were screwing out of their employees.

If there is money available to pay for the increased cost of their workforce in the form of reduced executive benefits or pay, then they should either do that, or not, but suffer a market penalty for having more expensive cars than their competitors. If it starts really hurting their bottom line then they’ll have to make some actual tough decisions about compensation at the top like the “tough decisions” they pretend to have to make when they announce wage cuts and lay offs.

While unions are great, they are and should be entities for a specific purpose and it doesn’t make sense for them to be expanding beyond that. They’re not charities or NGOs representing just general social good, they’re specifically about pay and conditions for the workers they represent which hopefully will translate to a lot of social good in general. If for example there are many strong unions across all sectors with most workers as part of one then consumers would have some actual money to buy a car at a fair price that reflects the costs of labour. Where this happens, big companies don’t pack up and leave despite constantly wailing that they will, because there’s obviously still money to be made but the environment is such that their options for profligacy are greatly constrained and they have to operate with some sanity.

princessnorah , 7 months ago

Same energy as complaining about getting rid of the tipped wage because dining out ‘would become more expensive’. If it does, it’s not on the workers, it’s on the manufacturer. Maybe be a bit less of a scab and focus the blame where it belongs?

ABoxOfNeurons , 7 months ago

This is based on a misunderstanding of how prices are set. The price is set based on what the market can bear. Costs pretty much only determine if the thing is worth making, given that.

It’s the same reason rent doesn’t go down when property taxes do. I mention this not to tear you down, but because it’s a common argument for bad policy.

prole , 7 months ago

See this everyone? Take note: This is how they pit workers against one another. This is how they undermine the solidarity that allows unions to even begin leveling the negotiations playing field.

Don’t fall for it.