Look For The Union Label

May 8, 2007 by Jeremy.

This topics is where I get to directly step on a lot of toes, but keep in mind I look at things from a common sense perspective. Ford said on Monday that 25,000 factory workers had left its payroll after taking buyout offers, and it announced plans to close a Cleveland casting plant and idle a nearby engine plant for a year. Many people don’t truly understand why Ford and GM are having the current problems they are having in their industry.

There is a truly common sense answer and it can be found at the UAW website. Toyota has been taking over the automobile market. They are able to do so because they can offer cheaper cars to the consumer. This is great and its how the market was intended to work. Unfortunately, if you read that list on the UAW website, you will not see only two Toyota vehicles on that list and both of those cars are sourced from the United States and another country which also help keep the cost down on those particular makes of vehicles.

It may sound as though I’m complaining about Toyota having an unfair advantage because most of their vehicles are not made by Union Labor, but it is exactly the opposite. I am a Ford customer. Every vehicle I own is a Ford. I like the vehicles and I like the fact that they are made by American owned companies. That’s why you’ll never see me buy a Toyota. Ford and GM are both held back by their high cost from health care and pension benefits that they have to pay because they were forced years ago into hiring UAW workers.

That means, in order for Ford and GM to stay competitive with their pricing, they have to take a loss on profits. Toyota doesn’t currently have this problem. I propose, in order to fix this problem, that we dissolve the UAW and forgive Ford and GM from the benefits and pensions they are currently paying. I understand this is bad for those individuals, but at some point we have to decide what is good for the total job market and the U.S. economy.

I hope that one day I will live in a country in which I never have to look for the union label.

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